MBS: Will You Be Here?
Can you look this cute little Myrtle Warbler in the eye, and tell it that you're not going to be here? From beautiful northern Ohio, Kenn and Kimberly write: The big bird festival known as the Midwest Birding Symposium was held in Lakeside, Ohio, in September 1997 and again in September 1999. Then it migrated west to Wisconsin, Illinois, and Iowa, but it’s coming back to Lakeside this week: September 17 - 20, 2009.
When the symposium was held at Lakeside in 1997, Kenn gave a program and helped lead field trips. At the time, he was living far away, in the southwest. It wasn’t his first trip to Ohio, but it was his first detailed look at the migration on the Lake Erie shoreline, and he was very impressed by the area and the numbers of migrant birds.
When the symposium was held at Lakeside again in 1999, Kimberly attended the event and took in everything it had to offer. At the time, she was living in central Ohio. She had been birding for a while, but this was her first big bird festival, and she was very impressed with the energy and excitement of the event.
We didn’t meet until 2001, Kenn didn’t move to Ohio until 2005, but we’ll be going to this Midwest Birding Symposium as a happily married couple. This symposium is happening practically in our back yard. And we’ll be keeping busy while we’re there!
Black Swamp Bird Observatory (of which Kimberly is the executive director) and its youth program, the Ohio Young Birders Club, will be hosting youth activities at the symposium all day Saturday, Sept. 19, at the Wo-Ho-Mis building (yeah, Lakeside has funny names) across the street from South Auditorium. Kenn will be giving a keynote talk on Saturday from 10 to 11 a.m. in Hoover Auditorium. And in between other activities, we’ll both be spending time at a special booth in the vendors’ area, shared by Black Swamp Bird Observatory and Kaufman Field Guides.
Some bird-bloggers will be coming to the symposium and blogging from there. We probably WON’T be blogging there, because we won’t have time! But we’ll be around, and if you’re attending, we’d love to meet you.
But here’s the main point of this post: If you’re attending the Midwest Birding Symposium and you want to get out and see some actual birds, be sure to consult our BSBO birding pages! We have updates on migration, info about the latest conditions, and the best birding maps available for many of the local sites. BSBO is the authority on birding in northwestern Ohio, and we’re eager to share this area with others. Just go to our birding pages and check them out.
And if you’re not coming to the symposium this time, make a mental note to join us during spring or fall migration in some upcoming year. We are proud of the great birding here and we want you to see it too.
Great event and, Kenn, you gave an very informative and entertaining program. Loved the chickadee poem :)
ReplyDeleteIt was great - the whole weekend. Will def. return to the MBS in '11, but will visit Lake Erie many times between now and then.
ReplyDeleteMr. Mourning Dove, is your heart still broken from being rejected? Or are you pursuing other Doves these days?
It was a GREAT symposium! So glad we got to chat with you both. Really enjoyed your impersonation of the courting Dove, Kenn!
ReplyDeleteKim, Kenn, I didn't introduce myself to you all while there, but I enjoyed attending this year's MBS (my first symposium, and my first big birding event, period). I attended the banding demo Saturday morning, and loved every minute of it (even getting munched by the mosquitoes)! Seeing birds in the hand is just fascinating to me, and this is the first banding demo I have witnessed. I'll be blogging about it here shortly (it will surely make for a good Bird Photography Weekly post!). Kim, I posted a photo of you a few days ago with 2 thrushes in the hand. Good to see you both, and hope to see you at Magee in May '10!
ReplyDeleteHello, Kimberly! This was my first symposium, and I LOVED it. Being around so many birdy people was amazing. I also loved Magee Marsh and have informed my son and husband where we will all be in May! Thanks for dropping by with the information and links. We really are lucky to live in Ohio! (Loved Ken's Chickadee poem...and the Mr. Mourning Dove routine was hysterical.) Thanks, "Peanut"
ReplyDeleteJanet,
ReplyDeleteSorry we didn't get to go out birding again during the MBS! Man, I barely got to come up for air during the madness!
KatDoc,
This dove loves it when he hops around for her. ; )He never gets rejected!
RGP,
Great talking with you too. WHO ARE YOU?!! :)
Heather,
Guess what?! The MBS in 1999 was my first-ever birding event! I remember walking around Lakeside being totally blown away at how many other birders there were, (I wasn't the only one!!) and being starry-eyed at all the birding celebs hanging around! It felt really weird (but so cool!) to return to Lakeside for this MSB as Mrs. Kenn Kaufman. I mean, who'da thunk it?! My life has changed so much!
I love your blog, and I added a link to it from ours!
Hey, Peanut! : )
I'm going to start a Fans of Magee Marsh page on Facebook, and I'll invite you to join! The next thing I need is an "I'm addicted to Magee Marsh" support group. I just can't get enough of that place!!
I added a link to your blog from ours!
I would have loved to come to the event but was in British Columbia at the time. Hopefully next year I can make it!
ReplyDeleteThanks for adding me to your blog list Kim! It's amazing how much can happen in the span of a few short years. I would have thought you had been doing the whole birding "thing" all your life to watch you handle those birds with such ease. I'm excited to see where birding and nature adventures in general may lead me. Take care!
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