Birding with Kenn and Kimberly

Kim Writes: It's been quite a long time since Kenn and I have traveled. In fact, I don't think we've been on a plane for almost a year; much to the dismay of many birding clubs, groups and organizations that have asked Kenn to speak at events, meetings, and banquets. (I'm not afraid to admit that I love that my man is in demand!) Kenn has had to turn down so many requests because he's finishing a major overhaul of his first book, A Field Guide to Advanced Birding . The book is GREAT and I think people are going to be very excited when they get their hands on it next spring! I hope everyone understands why he had to say no to so many wonderful organizations! So yeah, we were in full-on "Just Say No" mode, and then Steve Kress called us. Steve announced that he had taken the reins of one of National Audubon's greatest treasures, a little island off the coast of Maine called, Hog Island. I'm not going to go into all the history behind "The Hog,...

From Black Swamp Bird Observatory's Secret Bird Cave, Kim Writes: There's been extensive coverage of nearly every aspect of the Biggest Week In American Birding, before, during, and after the event. From thousands of photos of warblers to blogs about the great restaurants in the area... our birding friends from around the world have helped share the magic of northwest Ohio in May. However, there's one BIG piece that hasn't received enough recognition, and I'd like to do my best to change that! The Biggest Week was touted as something "a little different" from other birding festivals. Events like this differ in the species of birds, field trip leaders, featured speakers, local flavors, and so on. But, there is one extraordinary thing that they all have in common... VOLUNTEERS! Without the time and talents of dozens and dozens of volunteers, The Biggest Week would never have happened. While we weren't able to capture every volunteer in a photo, we mana...

Kirtland's Warbler: the rarest songbird in North America From Oak Harbor, Ohio, Kenn writes: In my previous post on May 30, I mentioned that I'd been making predictions for the migration throughout the Biggest Week In American Birding: checking to see what birds were around, watching the weather reports, trying to predict which days would have the biggest arrivals of migrants. For the first 8 days of the event, this was an exercise in mild frustration, because the weather patterns just weren’t lining up to produce any major migrant wave. We were seeing excellent diversity of migrants -- and the guides from Tropical Birding were making sure that everyone on the scene got to see a lot of different species. But the kind of day that we dream about in northwest Ohio, with migrants everywhere, the trees filled to bursting with warblers and others, just had not happened yet as late as Thursday, May 13. Based on the weather forecasts, I had been predicting for days that Friday, May 1...

The dust is still settling (or perhaps I should say the mud is still drying!), but I wanted to thank everyone who joined us for the Biggest Week In American Birding. The official total for the event was 226 species, including highlights such as American White Pelicans, Upland Sandpipers, displaying Bobolinks and American Woodcocks, 37 of the 38 eastern wood warblers (the exception being the more southern-ranged Swainson's Warbler), one hybrid, the Brewster's Warbler, and of course, one very photogenic Kirtland's Warbler. Some fun facts include: sales of more than 80 Ohio Wildlife Legacy Stamps, Federal Duck Stamps, and Jr. Duck Stamps (that's just from BSBO, not sure of numbers sold at Ottawa and Magee), 44 states represented in the event registration, and people visiting from Spain, Kenya, Guam, Japan, Ecuador, England, Canada, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Sweden, Germany, Denmark, and Mexico; the Lake Erie Marsh Region was truly a melting pot during the event. Some p...

By all estimations, the Biggest Week In American Birding was a total success. The amount of positive feedback from this, our inaugural year, was tremendous! The number of new birders we generated was exactly the reward we all hoped for. ---and it was all made possible by some very generous support from our sponsors. Their generous support from Leica Sport Optics provided the foundation we needed to pull off an event of this magnitude. Leica not only makes a superb product, they hire superb people as well. The team from Leica was phenomenal. Jeff Bouton and Cameron Cox were with us throughout the entire 11-day stretch, and Jeff Gordon and Laura Kammermeier were there through the early/soggy portion of the “week.” The team helped with every facet of the event. If there was a task that needed done, a Leica team member was there to offer a hand. Ron Miller and Lynne Domokos and the entire staff at OurGuest Inn & Suites did so much for us that I hardly know where to begin. Ron and Lynne...