Birding with Kenn and Kimberly

Twas the Night Before the Christmas Bird Count

2011-12-19T20:15:00.002-05:00

From Homebase in Oak Harbor. Ohio, Kimberly Writes: My friend Katie Andersen is so creative. She wrote this great poem about the joy and insanity of doing Christmas Bird Counts to the theme of Twas the Night Before Christmas. I think you'll like it as much as I did - and I hope you'll share some of your favorite CBC stories with us!

Twas the Night Before the Christmas Bird Count

by Katie Andersen

‘Twas an hour before the Christmas Bird Count, when we left our warm house;

Not a songbird was stirring, not even a Titmouse.

Binoculars were hung over downy vests with great care,

In anticipation of the birds that would soon fill the air.

While our neighbors were still snug in their beds,

To the count circle we birders did head.

And I in my hoodie and my friend in her Tilley Hat

Had just hiked to the spot marked on our count map

When, alerted by a Winter Wren’s scolding chatter,

We snatched up our optics to see what was the matter.

Quite annoyed by the Wren, the Screech Owl flew off in a flash;

Both species’ numbers I noted with a quick, inky slash.

The rising sun glinted off the pale frigid snow,

And we searched for more birds as our toes slowly froze.

Then, what to our wondering eyes should appear,

But an unseasonably late flock of eight flying Killdeer!

She documents their presence with a quick camera click,

While I mark up the notebook with another scrawled tick.

More rapidly now with the dawn the birds came,

And in hushed tones we consulted, counted, and call’d them by name:

“Tree Sparrows – Twelve! No, wait, add seven more,

Oh! Grackles! Oh! Red-wings! Oh! Juncos to the fore!

Check the tops of these sumacs; I hear a Cedar Waxwing’s call!

Hey, don’t miss those Butter-butts, our only warblers since Fall!”

These small flocks suddenly took to the sky,

And off to new destinations they all did fly.

Our wind-swept field was now quiet and we both knew

It was time to head back to the car - and grab some coffee, too!

We remember not to leave field guides or optics on the car’s roof,

It’s a past lesson not soon forgotten - that’s the truth!

As we called our count leader and were assigned to new ground,

In the distance I thought an amazing bird my eyes had found.

It was dressed all in white, from its head to talon’d foot,

With dark breast markings, like smudges of soot!

We jumped from the car and she pulled out the scope from its pack;

Seconds later, she laughed as I gave my head a smack.

My brow – how it wrinkled! Then our laughter became merry,

And that silly moment we always will carry.

My prized Snowy Owl - can you guess? Do you know?

‘Twas an old rotten tree stump, covered in snow!

Back to the warm car to still our chattering teeth,

Before reaching our next spot, where we find a flock at a feast.

Flitting Kinglets and Yellow-rumps with round little bellies,

And White-breasted Nuthatches who ate sap as though it were jelly.

Look, there was the Sapsucker, himself;

Squawking at the raiders as he guarded his wealth.

With a glare of his eye and a jab of his head,

He told the free-loaders to go find their own food instead.

We spoke not a word, but went straight to our work,

Identifying and counting, this task we won’t shirk.

Species and hash marks in quickly scribbled rows

Noted a Red-tailed chased by some Blue Jays and Crows.

At day's end, we turned in our lists and wet our parched whistles,

While with the other birders we flocked, like Finches upon thistles.

And we exclaimed to each other, as we heard Tundra Swans overhead in the night –

“It’s not midnight, yet – we can still count those guys… right?!”

Happy Birding to All! ^_^

Hotel Birding - Fueled by Bird Friendly Coffee

2011-11-09T13:44:00.002-05:00

From a hotel somewhere in Harlingen, Texas, Kimberly Writes: Kenn and I are in Texas for the Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival where Kenn will be leading several walks and giving a special presentation tomorrow night.

We arrived yesterday afternoon, made a brief stop at the convention center where the festival headquarters are located, and headed for our hotel. As we were unpacking the second load from the car, I noticed a couple birds perched atop a smallish shrub in the vacant lot beside the hotel. As we stepped off the pavement to get a better look, we were stunned to see that they were two White-tailed Kites! Well, we took our white tails right back in to our hotel room to fetch optics and cameras, and when we came back there were THREE circling above the hotel. I managed to shoot about 30 seconds of video of one of the birds as it "kited" in one spot.

Wait for the 13 second mark and watch as the bird cuts out and heads for parts unknown. Look at those long, slender, powerful wings. What a gorgeous bird!

Not a bad way to start, eh?! We also had Yellow-throated and Orange-crowned Warblers in the trees in front of the hotel, too!

Kenn is out leading a six hour Advanced Birding workshop today, and I opted to stay at the hotel to try and get some work done. I decided that I would take frequent breaks to wander around the hotel grounds and see what birds I could add to our hotel yard list! First of all, it's chilly in South Texas today! The wind was really whipping and the temp is barely 70. It was 92 when we arrived yesterday, so a cold front is obviously passing through.

Here's what the habitat around the hotel looks like.

Yeah. Not exactly inspiring, is it? But I did find some decent birds. Of course there were Great-tailed Grackles, Northern Mockingbird was no surprise, and I saw a few Chipping Sparrows. A few Laughing Gulls flew over, a Loggerhead Shrike showed up in the same shrub that the Kites were in last night, and I saw another Yellow-throated Warbler (always a treat!). I was delighted when a Kingbird came in and landed on the wire right above me and I snapped a couple shots of him before he flew off.

I'm fairly certain this is a Couch's Kingbird (Tyrannus couchii). The yellow goes way up the chest; the tail is notched and dusky gray-brown rather than black; and it has a heavy-ish bill. Admittedly, I don't have much experience with kingbirds other than Easterns, so I could be wrong. I would normally ask Kenn for confirmation, but he isn't here, and I'm not afraid to misidentify something. So, here it is. Let me know if you agree with my indentification.

As I was standing there admiring the Kingbird, I was daydreaming about how cool it would be if I found some really awesome bird at the hotel while Kenn was away today. And no kidding, just as I was smiling at the thought, I heard these raucous calls coming over the hotel. I spun around just as 17 "something-or-others" came rocketing past. I was totally unprepared (and so was the camera!), but I couldn't resist firing off a few quick shots to see if I could figure out what they were.

Now, please promise not to laugh at how crappy this photo is.

Image Number One:

I know what you're thinking. "Uh, Kim, we hate to tell you, but you really suck at photography!" But wait. I've managed to learn a thing or two from Kenn as he works his magic in Photoshop. So I blew the photo up, cropped the image to focus in on one bird, and pumped up the light.

I don't expect to get any calls from Birdwatching or WildBird Magazine asking me to be their official bird photographer or anything, but you can at least see a bit more detail. I noticed that the bird appears greenish-yellow overall, has yellow undertail converts, and a smallish beak. After looking through the field guide and doing some research online, my guess is Green Parakeet (Aratinga holochlora). Do you agree?

If you'd like to see some truly spectacular images of Green Parakeets, here are some AMAZING photos by the supremely talented Greg Lasley.

I'm proud of the fact that I had a great time birding and the only fuel it required was some Birds and Beans - Bird Friendly Coffee that I packed in my carry-on (they also have it for sale at Festival headquarters!). All-in-all, not a bad day of birding for a person stuck in a hotel for the morning.

BIRDS RULE!

Bird Research - Point // Counterpoint

2011-10-29T15:00:00.007-04:00

Kimberly Writes: I've received a tremendous amount of feedback on my last post about bird research. I wanted to share a particular comment, because I think the points are so valuable. The following comment was made by by "Jude," and I thought it was important enough to share openly on our blog in order to generate some good, healthy dialogue about this subject.

The comment from Jude:

"I don't know the birder who sparked your response, but I'd be very surprised if their call to re-examine banding came from a place of not understanding the critical importance of the data being gathered. As a novice birder, I've already seen distressing examples of geese with overly tight neck bands, smaller birds with too tight leg bands, and birds with too many bands altogether. I imagine you have to have seen way more than I. Understanding the value of data gathering in conservation efforts and advocacy can and should be accompanied by compassion and a very high standard of performance for the practices that allow the data-gathering to happen. There is nothing wrong and everything right about not remaining complacent about the data-gathering practices currently in place. Wanting to lessen the impact of banding/collaring/etc. on individual animals increases the quality of the data returned and has nothing to do with not understanding that there are always trade-offs and imperfect decisions to be made in approaches."

Truth is, Jude, that if I had been responding to just one comment put in the context that you describe, my thoughts would have been different. I wholeheartedly agree that all methods of research on / with animals should be constantly, carefully, critically, monitored and reevaluated to ensure the safety of both the animals and the volunteers these projects frequently rely on.

In my blog post, I was responding specifically to those who make sweeping statements about how banding (and other methods of tracking / tagging birds) is bad, based solely on emotion, without any thought to the value of the data these studies provide. If there were any scientific evidence to back up the idea that these methods do more harm than good, I assure you that it would be considered very seriously.

Check out the rictal bristles around the bill on this Chuck-Will's-Widow.
Can you believe those are actually feathers?!

---and its specially adapted rear toe for cleaning the rictal bristles.

Rather than just let this balance on my opinion (even though my thoughts are based on years of actually conducting these kinds of studies, and also, I might add, being a soft-hearted animal lover, too), I thought it would be good to provide some additional insight.

In a recent issue of The Wildlife Professional, the journal of The Wildlife Society, they offered the opportunity to discuss the value of continuing to band birds in the [Point // Counterpoint] column. Marlene Condon, a natural-history writer and photographer, took up one position, commenting that. "At a time when nearly a third of the 800 bird species in the United States are threatened or in decline (The state of the Birds 2009), scientists should ask themselves: Is banding worth the stress it places on birds?"

Taking up the alternate view was Bruce G. Peterjohn, Chief of the Bird Banding Labaratory at the USGS Patuxtent Wildlife Research Center in Maryland. Bruce stated, "Despite the obvious benefits of bird banding, the practice has its critics. Recent studies show that most annual mortality in bird populations occurs during migration (Sillett and Holmes 2002). Some critics fear that migratory birds may be imperiled by carring a band, which typically weighs less than 1 percent of the total body weight. Yet that claim has never been substantiated."

Read the [Point // Counterpoint] in its entirety, HERE.

Any bird bander who's used mist nets was eager to learn the findings of a recent study on the threats of mist netting to birds. When the findings were released, bird banders were sincerely thankful to have this burning question answered with sound scienitfic answers.

The research, led by Erica Spotswood from the University of California at Berkeley, used data from organizations across the United States and Canada to assess the risk factors which could increase rates of injury or mortality including bird size, age, frequency of capture and the role of predators.

The results revealed that birds are rarely injured or killed by mist nets. Of 620,997 captures the percentage of incidents of injury amounting to 0.59% while only 0.23% of captures resulted in mortality. The authors then began to analyse risk factors which could lead to increased incidents. Read more about the study, HERE.

Watching birds: studying them through optics, or simply using the bird watching tools built conveniently into our own heads, will never go out of style or be replaced by mist nets, bands, neck collars, radio telemetry, or color-marking.

There will always be incredible value to the power of bird observation. If for nothing more than the way it enriches our lives- which leads to a deeper level of understanding - and ultimately, to a deeper level of caring and commitment to support bird conservation. There is room on the bird boat for everyone who wants the habitat that birds depend on to be here for generations to come.

Banding Together for the Good of the Birds

2011-10-27T23:21:00.003-04:00

From Homebase in Oak Harbor, Ohio, Kimberly Writes: Recently a well-known birder, admired by many (including yours truly), spoke out publicly about her belief that banding and color-marking is bad for birds. Of course this is not the first time these research methods have been criticized. Humans have active minds and diverse interests and beliefs; we are always going to disagree on some things, and that’s okay. But this particular situation felt like a blow because it drew such an emotional reaction from people who, I believe, actually know better.

Whether the topic at hand involves birds or some other issue, when emotion overrules facts it is cause for concern. This is a delicate issue, and to be honest, I’m not sure I’m the right person to take this on. Truth is, I would rather just ignore it and focus on things like the upcoming Ohio Young Birders Conference and all the other positive things BSBO has going on. But part of what creates this problem is the fact that we need more and better communication. If I simply walk away from this issue, I become part of the problem. So I’m going to share some thoughts and hope they will help people come to terms with the ongoing necessity for bird research.

You know, now that I think about it, maybe I am the right person to tackle this issue. This is as much about people and emotion as it is about science. I may not a Ph.D. ornithologist or biologist. But, I have been a volunteer bird bander for more than 12 years and have assisted with many kinds of bird research, banding, color-marking, radio telemetry, and others. But I am also a passionate birder, and I’m not afraid to say that I love birds and that I get pretty emotional about it sometimes. I’m not going to talk to you like a scientist, throwing around terms like spatial movements, site fidelity, or functional connectivity of habitats. Instead, I’m going to share my thoughts about the merits of research in my own plain language.

I have been blessed as a woman and as a birder. I am married to the love of my life and together we have traveled the world to study birds. I have been moved in ways I could never have imagined by our experiences with birds of every size, shape, and color. Birds inspire our emotions. There is a strong visceral response to birds that can be powerful enough to change the course of peoples’ lives. I know. It happened to me.

On a trip to the Antarctic, I knelt on the damp, spongy soil of South Georgia Island and wept as a yearling King Penguin waddled up within a few feet to investigate this strange creature that had suddenly arrived in his land. I felt a surge of overwhelming joy at my first glimpse of parrots in the wild – a flock of Maroon-fronted Parrots - gliding against the backdrop of a lush green mountainside in Mexico.

And I have been driven to my knees in astonishment at the sight of a Sword-billed Hummingbird in Ecuador. But some of the most amazing moments I have experienced with birds have had nothing to do with observations. They had to do with discoveries about the lives of birds, and these discoveries came through research.

Research is about learning. About gaining a greater understanding of what birds do, how and why they do it, and monitoring population trends. The more we know, the more insight we gain, the better our chances of helping birds. When something goes amiss on the wintering grounds or the breeding grounds, banding stations will be among the first to sound the alarm call. And let’s face it: some of this information is more inspiring, more fascinating, more moving, than any mere sighting could be. For example…

Think Northern Cardinals don't migrate? Think again.

On June 1st, 2009, BSBO banded a female Northern Cardinal at the Navarre Marsh Banding Station near Oak Harbor, Ohio. Ten months later, on April 28th, 2010, BSBO volunteer bander Julie West recaptured the same bird at her banding station at Shaker Lakes Nature Center, in Shaker Lakes, Ohio, 94 miles away!

At 60 years old, Wisdom, a Laysan Albatross, is the oldest wild bird known in the U.S.

Photo courtesy of USGS

First recorded in 1956 as she incubated an egg, Wisdom was wandering the Pacific when the first human was launched into space, when the Berlin Wall came down, and when the Black Swamp Bird Observatory was founded. Her most recent, and perhaps most impressive accomplishment, was surviving the tsunami that hit Midway Island after the massive 2011 earthquake struck Japan. How do we know that Wisdom is 60 years old? Because Wisdom is wearing a band.

Blackpoll Warblers make a mind-boggling journey each fall in route to their wintering grounds. These tiny birds, weighing less than an ounce when they’re all fattened up and ready to go, will make an 80 hour, nonstop flight across the Atlantic Ocean to reach their wintering grounds in South America. This fall, BSBO is smack-daddy in the middle of Blackpoll Warbler migration. We have banded a record number so far, and the season isn’t over. More importantly, we have recaptured seven Blackpolls banded in years past, including one that was banded as an adult in 2006. This tells us that for at least six years this tiny bird has been making a journey that we can scarcely even imagine. Also remarkable is the fact that the bird was recaptured within a few hundred feet of where it was originally netted in 2006. There are no magic optics that could tell us something as extraordinary as that. No expert observer could have recognized this bird as an individual and documented just how critical this habitat has been to this bird and millions of others just like it. Now, thanks to a tiny, virtually weightless band of aluminum, we know this to be fact.

There are still so many questions about birds and many ways to gather this data. Yes, we can (and do) stand on the edge of a flooded field observing shorebirds every day, for the same length of time, from the same location, and count the number of birds we see, documenting their presence / absence. But when that flock of 500 Dunlin takes flight and whirls out of sight, where do they go? Why do they move from one habitat to another? How long do they stay? What is their energetic condition (in other words, how much fat do they have) when they get there? How much fat do they need before they leave our area to continue their migration? How long does it take them to build up these reserves? These are questions no binocular on the market can answer. We’ve got to have the bird in hand to get at these details, and we need these details to garner support for habitat conservation, and to assist with managing these habitats.

With the battle for funding hitting everyone hard, we cannot simply say that there are “a lot” of birds in this area; that we need to draw down more of these diked impoundments because there are “a lot” of shorebirds depending on these mudflats during migration. Anecdotal observations will not cut it. We need documentation of these needs. We need science.

In a similar vein, if I walk into our congresswoman’s office and tell her that there are “a lot of birds” in this region, or that “a lot of birders” are visiting the area and spending “a lo of money,” how far do you think I’ll get in convincing her that conserving bird habitat is important? But when I present more than 500,000 banding records—more than 10,000 from last spring alone—it is irrefutable evidence.

When I can show her the results of our 2011 Biggest Week In American Birding post-event economic impact study, indicating that birders spent approximately 29 million dollars in her district, then I have more than just her attention. Now I have her district’s best interests on the table.

Learning is something that I love, and I especially love learning about birds. When we stop the learning process at the point where we can pin a name on a bird, then we do a great disservice to ourselves and to the birds. If we approached our interactions with humans in the same manner, we wouldn’t be much of a society, would we? We fall in love as we get to know something, and at BSBO we are as much about helping people fall in love with birds as we are about answering research questions. In fact, we use those detailed answers learned through scientific studies to help build that initial curiosity about birds into a passion. And it works. I’ve seen it happen, over...

and over...

and over.

It’s undeniable.

Bird banding is an invaluable tool for learning and for inspiring people to care more deeply about birds. As a teacher, as a bander, as a dedicated bird conservationist, I hope no one—especially those with big voices in the birding community—ever tries to take this powerful learning and teaching tool away from us.

We live in an age where with the click of a mouse, we can find a staggering amount of information on just about everything. The one answer that isn’t out there is the solution to these human dilemmas. Perhaps the best answer lies within us. Is it impossible to think that we could learn to respect one another, in spite of our differences, and do our best to achieve the highest level of understanding that we possibly can - before we send our opinions out into the ether? With bird conservation as our common ground, surely we can arrive at some level of compromise. When thousands of intelligent people who love birds enough to dedicate their lives to bird conservation all agree that research is necessary and that banding is safe, perhaps it is not out of the question to ask for a measure of faith and trust. Perhaps we can all work together for the good of the birds and all that they add to our quality of life.

The Big Year: and hopefully beyond

2011-10-15T13:45:00.018-04:00

From homebase in Oak Harbor, Kimberly writes: Last night, Black Swamp Bird Observatory loaded a bunch of birders into our awesome Bird Bus and went to see the movie The Big Year. I was excited to go to the movies with Kenn and a bunch of friends no matter how good or bad the movie turned out to be. To be honest, I was more than a little concerned that Hollywood would simply adopt the model perpetuated by the media for decades and cast us in the same stereonerdical role.

I was wrong.

Steve Martin's character, "Stu Preissler," is a powerful, wealthy, executive who is obsessed with birding. His colleagues all bow to his executive prowess and on more than one occasion, they actually beg him to rescue them in challenging business negotiations. He's a hero. But here's the beauty. He's also a really nice guy. He loves his family, and while on occasion (with some gentle admonishment from his loving and supportive wife) he skips a few family moments to see great birds (sounds familiar, doesn't it?), he's still a great guy.

To me, it was a spot on portrayal of the "friendly umbrella" that birders around the world always seem to be under. With a few exceptions, birders are just a nice bunch of people, and I thought the movie did a wonderful job of portraying that. Sure, the "Kenny Bostic" character played by Owen Wilson made some rather edgy choices. But even he had moments of sincerity.

And the Greg Miller character portrayed by Jack Black? Well, of course he was my favorite. I'm an intelligent woman, but I do love some crazy, slapstick humor, and Black happens to be one of my faves. I suppose the fact that we know and adore Greg Miller introduces at least some bias. But, Greg'll do that to ya. He's a pretty great guy. Black's character in the movie was that of the lovable underdog, and he even looks a bit like Greg, which is fun!

Jack Black and Greg Miller
Brothers separated at birth?

I'm going to be careful not to spoil it for you, so if you haven't seen it, GO! See the film, represent birders, drive the box office ratings up, and help send a message to the world that we are a mass consumer market and that what we want really matters. Maybe then, they'll start to hear our cries for conservation-minded products like certified bird friendly coffee.

Moving forward...
A question I've been hearing about The Big Year is, "Sure, birders will enjoy it. But will the general public, the non birders, get it? I don't think they have to totally "get" the whole idea of birding from the film. I think seeing three popular Hollywood actors obsessed with birding (and not looking like total dorks doing it) will be enough to pique the interest of some people. I think the real question is - how will we know? Will they become members of the American Birding Association? Will they buy Swarovski Optiks? Will they subscribe to WildBird magazine? All of which made appearances in the film.

At some point it would be good for "the powers that be" in the birding community to put their heads together and work on a collective marketing campaign. Make an effort to carry the movie's momentum beyond the initial surge of its release. National Audubon reportedly invested six figures in marketing the film. But what now? I believe there's an opportunity here, but we have to be proactive about it. I hope we will.

Her Majesty's Army

2011-09-27T12:46:00.000-04:00

From home base in Oak Harbor, Ohio, Kimberly writes: To say that I hadn't traveled much before Kenn and I got married would be a serious understatement. A lifelong Ohioan, I come from a family perfectly happy to set their roots deep in northwest Ohio and keep them there forever.  The idea of living any place else or traveling the world was something that had never entered my mind.

All that changed when Kenn and I were married in 2005. Suddenly, I found myself in love with a world-traveler who had experienced some of the most extraordinary places on earth.  In terms of deciding where we should make our home together, the world was on the table.

If you read this blog or know anything about me and Kenn, then you probably know that the bird migration here in NW Ohio is pretty phenomenal. I'm sure most people just assume that birds are the reason we decided to live in Ohio, and of course that's a big part of it. But, the main reason we decided to live here--of all the places in the world we could be--has nothing to do with birds.   ---It's the people.

NW Ohio is a great place to live. The people here are warm, friendly, caring, and fun. They'll also help a person in need --- even a complete stranger with a completely strange problem.
I can think of no better example than an incident that occurred recently when old friend of mine needed some serious help.

Working for a nonprofit is not without challenges. I've been involved with Black Swamp Bird Observatory (BSBO) for more than a decade, so I know by direct experience. BSBO has developed a very big reach, but in terms of bricks and mortar, we're still very small. Our building is modest, to say the least.

Black Swamp Bird Observatory Headquarters

This poor old building has lots of issues. But, two highly redeeming characteristics help make up for a lot of what it lacks. These two "old friends" have stood like sentinels, welcoming me each and every day, reminding me that there is beauty in all things, if we just look deeply enough.

The first friend hugs the southeast corner of the building. In spring she spreads herself across the front of the building like a lovely cloak, welcoming visitors with an eruption of beauty that holds the promise of all that spring in NW Ohio holds in store.

BSBO's Eastern Redbud Tree

No one can seem to agree on just how old our Redbud might be.
But everyone agrees that she is a glorious thing to behold.

Not to be outdone, the northeast corner of the building is graced by the
skyscraper that nature built.

Her Majesty: the Trumpet Vine

When Her Majesty is in full bloom, she is a towering inferno of orange-red blossoms that sets the landscape on fire. She is irresistible. Hummingbirds swarm around her, drinking nectar from her fluted trumpets like guests sipping champagne from the finest crystal. People love her, too, traveling from near and far to pose for photos in front of her majesty.

The fluted flowers of the Trumpet Vine

She has stood, grand and tall, for as long as any of us can remember. But, when the northeast winds blow fierce and strong off of Lake Erie, even the mightiest of warriors can grow weary. And sadly, I arrived one recent morning to find that my old friend had surrendered, and gently, ever so gently, laid herself down softly along the roof, coming to rest just as gracefully as she had stood.

Strongly she stood. Gracefully she rested.

I was devastated. When I arrived, a few of the BSBO staff were already huddled together trying to decide how to deal with me when I found out. They promised me that she would grow back quickly and that they'd cut her down when I wasn't there so I didn't have to hear the chainsaw. My reaction to all of this?

Uh, No.

Giving up on this old friend without a fight was unacceptable. I launched into action, taking everyone outside to assess the situation. Okay, she was not on a wooden utility pole as we thought, she was growing on a metal tower, much like the towers used to mount TV antennas. Okay, all we needed to do, I reasoned, was dig a hole, station a wooden utility pole near the base of the old tower, stand her back up against the new pole, and chain her to it. Simple!

The look on the faces of my rescue team revealed thoughts that bordered on "She's clearly lost her mind!" But, they loved Her Majesty, too, and they didn't want to have to deal with a sad and dejected director, so they allowed themselves to be convinced that it was worth a try, and we sprang into action to save our friend.

With Phase I (convincing the BSBO team this was necessary) complete, we moved on to Phase II: Convincing others that they should help.

Call after call after call was made looking for a pole; looking for someone to deliver it; looking for someone to bury it; looking for someone to check for buried power lines before we dug, and on and on and on. Eventually, help came in the unexpected form of public servants with big-big trucks!

First on the scene were the guys from Oak Harbor Public Power.

Without a moment's hesitation (or a single questioning glance in my direction), and with a really cool truck and a 35 foot pole, they sprang into action.

Phase III: My heroes from Oak Harbor Public Power delivered, set, and buried the pole.

They were so proud to be a part of the rescue operation that they agreed to pose for a photo!

The guys with soul and a pole: the Oak Harbor Public Utility Dudes!

Next on the scene were the guys from Magee Marsh / Ohio Division of Wildlife.

I was moved to tears at the extra time and consideration
they put into hooking the chain and lifting her as gently as possible.

Phase IV: My heroes, BSBO's Research Director Mark Shieldcastle and the guys from
ODOW hooked a heavy chain ever so gently around the vine and the old tower

Then, ever so carefully, they began to lift.

Gently...

Gently...

Until she stood

just as elegant and proud as she'd been before.

When I thanked the ODOW guys for going way above and beyond the call of duty, one of them turned to me and said, "Hey, Our job is to manage habitat for wildlife. This Trumpet Vine is habitat for hummingbirds, so we're really just doing our job." The next time someone tells me that the wildlife agencies only care about game species, what a story I'll have to share!

Thanks to some pretty remarkable people, my old friend is more beautiful to me than ever before. When I look at her now, I see more than just a gift from nature, I see a gift from caring, compassionate people. Heroes come in many forms. For some, they are NASCAR drivers, sports stars, movie stars, or the uber-rich. For me, the greatest heroes of all are everyday, real life people who will go to great lengths to help the natural world. I hope you'll come visit BSBO someday and see what heroes like mine can do.

MBS: Use Your Birder Power, part 3

2011-09-13T15:18:00.004-04:00

From Oak Harbor, Ohio, Kenn writes: With the Midwest Birding Symposium (MBS) only a couple of days away, here are some final suggestions for how to make the most of the experience, for yourself and for the birds.

All too often, when birders are asked to support conservation, we are just asked to send money somewhere. Of course, that’s often a good thing to do; but I prefer to focus on approaches that represent an actual, personal involvement.

So, in a post on September 10, I recommended that you should connect with Birds & Beans Coffee. That’s a personal commitment: if you’re going to drink coffee, why not go for the type that protects bird habitat, not the type that kills birds? In a post the next day, I suggested picking up the Duck Stamp and the Ohio Wildlife Legacy Stamp. This is a personal involvement also: we’re not just sending $15 off somewhere, we’re buying a stamp that we can show off in public, to demonstrate that birders are stepping up to the plate and supporting conservation in a visible way.

Those were suggestions 1 and 2. The following are four more suggestions, numbers 3 through 6. I hope we’ll see you at the MBS! And if you can’t attend, think about trying to adapt these ideas to your local situation, wherever you might be this month.

3. Let people know you’re here. When thousands of birders come to northwest Ohio in spring, local business owners (hotels, restaurants, stores, etc.) are all reminded of the major economic value of protecting bird habitat. During the MBS, we’ll be more concentrated within the confines of Lakeside, so we won’t be so obvious on the local scene. But you won’t spend ALL your time in Lakeside. When you’re out, when you stop at gas stations, convenience stores, restaurants, etc., let them know that you are birding. Wear your binoculars, mention birding, or hand out “birders’ calling cards.” You can get these cards from Black Swamp Bird Observatory, or print out your own from the BSBO website.

4. Support the Carbon Offset Bird Project at the MBS. Purists might say that this isn’t exactly a carbon offset program, since that would mean taking some specific action to counteract the CO2 emissions created by our visit (such as planting a certain number of trees to remove that amount of CO2 from the atmosphere). Instead of doing that, the program at the MBS will raise money to protect more bird habitat. But that is a tremendously important goal also, and indirectly it accomplishes the same amount of good. It also helps to make us all more aware of the carbon footprint of our actions, so that maybe we’ll do something about it. For example, we can reduce our per-person carbon footprint by carpooling, finding ways to drive shorter distances, or driving more fuel-efficient vehicles, and we can conserve energy (and thus cut down on CO2 emissions) in other ways.

However we define it, this is a very exciting pilot program. Only a few bird festivals have even attempted a carbon offset, and this is arguably the first time that such a program has had such a high profile. I hope all birders will get behind this project! I've been keeping track of the miles I've driven while scouting out the birding sites for the MBS, and I will dutifully go make my contribution to cover that carbon footprint. If we can make this a big success, other festivals may follow this example.

5. Contribute to Birders’ Exchange. This program of the American Birding Association does a tremendous amount of good by providing much-needed equipment – binoculars, spotting scopes, tripods, cameras, reference books, etc. – to researchers, birding guides, and others involved with conservation in the developing nations of Latin America. If you have recently upgraded your optics, why not bring your used optics to the MBS and contribute them to Birders’ Exchange? Please note that they can’t use junk – they don’t have the capacity to repair broken or poor-quality optics. But if you have some decent equipment that you don’t need any more, it could increase the effectiveness of a biologist, park ranger, interpretive naturalist, etc., somewhere in the American tropics.

6. Join the Black Swamp Bird Observatory. BSBO is recognized as the premier birding authority in northwest Ohio, but it’s more than that, too. For more than 20 years, the Observatory has been conducting essential research on all aspects of migration through this region, and for more than ten years it has been a major force for nature education as well. BSBO is the main sponsor of the Ohio Young Birders Club (inspiring and empowering the next generation), and also provides free programs for thousands of school students every year. BSBO is also a strong voice for conservation, speaking out on critical issues, and working with scores of businesses and agencies to highlight the economic value of protecting bird habitat. What’s more, it’s local: BSBO is headquartered in the very same county where the Midwest Birding Symposium is taking place! If you enjoy the birds at MBS, consider giving something back to the local area by joining Black Swamp Bird Observatory. Not only will you be kept up-to-date on all the local bird happenings, you’ll also be helping to preserve the quality of the local birding for your next visit!

MBS: Use Your Birder Power, part 2

2011-09-11T13:13:00.000-04:00

The current Ohio Wildlife Legacy Stamp: not only is it one key field mark of a good birder, it can also help to get you a significant discount during the Midwest Birding Symposium.

From Oak Harbor, Ohio, Kenn writes: This is a continuation of yesterday’s post about how to make the most of your visit to the Midwest Birding Symposium (MBS), in Lakeside, Ohio. But as I’d like to point out, you can take advantage of some of this advice even if you DON’T get to attend the MBS.

Yesterday, I wrote about how you could do yourself (and the birds) a favor by visiting the booth of Birds & Beans – The Good Coffee. Today, here’s another kind of approach:

2. Get Your Stamps On. Everyone who goes birding in Ohio should be a stamp collector to some extent, collecting at least two per year: the “Duck Stamp” and the Legacy Stamp.

This year's Migratory Bird
Hunting and Conservation
Stamp

The Migratory Bird Hunting and Conservation Stamp, popularly known as the “Duck Stamp,” represents one of the most wildly successful conservation programs in history. Since its inception in 1934, money from Duck Stamp sales has allowed the purchase of nearly six MILLION acres of prime habitat to add to the National Wildlife Refuge system, providing a priceless resource for populations of birds and wildlife of all kinds. Right here in northwest Ohio, most of the land in Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge was paid for with proceeds from Duck Stamp sales! If you have enjoyed birding on the refuge itself, or on any of hundreds of other National Wildlife Refuges, you obviously have benefited directly from this stamp program. But even if you never set foot on a National Wildlife Refuge – which would be a sad thing for you! – you have probably seen birds that were hatched on a refuge, or that made essential migratory stopovers on refuges.

So the Duck Stamp is not just for ducks; it benefits most birds and all birders, and I believe that every birder should buy this stamp every year. At the moment it’s only $15, and 98 cents of every dollar goes straight into buying bird habitat!

The Ohio Wildlife Legacy Stamp is a newer program, but it holds tremendous promise. Unlike the Federal Duck Stamp, which is based on paintings, the Legacy Stamp features a photograph. In its first year it portrayed a Baltimore Oriole, photographed by Russell Joseph Reynolds; this year’s stamp features an Eastern Amberwing dragonfly, photographed by Sharon Cummings. The photo for next year’s stamp, chosen in a contest just a few days ago, is a Spotted Salamander taken by Nina Harfmann.

The Legacy Stamp costs only $15, and at least $14 of that will go straight into supporting the work of Ohio’s Department of Natural Resources – Division of Wildlife. This Division is a leader among state agencies in paying attention to the whole spectrum of wildlife and plants, not just game species. They publish very popular little field guides to many groups of living things in Ohio – butterflies, reptiles, spiders, owls, and many more – and they have active programs for the conservation of everything from salamanders to Sandhill Cranes. And let’s face it: Magee Marsh Wildlife Area, one of the greatest warbler-watching sites on the planet, is administered by Ohio’s Division of Wildlife! That in itself is a good reason for birders to buy the Legacy Stamp.

So – if you buy these two stamps, what’s in it for you, aside from ensuring that we’ll have birds to watch in the future? Well … at the Midwest Birding Symposium, these stamps are good for MAJOR DISCOUNTS!

That’s right. During the Symposium, September 15-18, 2011, come to the Black Swamp Bird Observatory (BSBO) booth at the Symposium vendor hall or to the BSBO Center and Gift Shop at the entrance to Magee Marsh, and show that you have both stamps, and you’ll get a 15 percent discount on purchases!

Come to the booth or the shop and BUY both stamps during the event, and you’ll get a whopping 25 percent discount on your other purchases!

(And, hey – if you already have both stamps for yourself, wouldn’t it be good to buy them as gifts for someone else, and collect that discount?)

For more information on this program, see the Black Swamp Bird Observatory website.

A point I want to emphasize is that BSBO does not make any profit by selling these stamps. They sell them at cost. Therefore, by offering a discount on other purchases to stamp holders, BSBO is actually losing out on a chance to raise much-needed funds for their organization. Why would they do that? Because everyone at BSBO is passionately dedicated to conservation. The Observatory is putting its money where its mouth is, supporting these conservation programs in a concrete way, and hoping that you will want to do the same.

So come visit Black Swamp Bird Observatory at the vendor hall or at the entrance to Magee, show your stamps with pride, get a great discount on quality items for yourself or for friends, and help us prove that birders really will step up and support bird conservation!

MBS: Use Your Birder Power, part 1

2011-09-10T11:36:00.015-04:00

From Oak Harbor, Ohio, Kenn writes: In a few days, the Midwest Birding Symposium (MBS) will roll into Lakeside, Ohio, for the fourth time. I spoke at the first one there, in 1997, and Kimberly attended the one in 1999, but we didn’t know each other then. We were both involved when the MBS came back to Lakeside in 2009, and we’ll be even more heavily involved this time: for example, we’re giving a keynote talk together on Friday morning, September 16th. And Black Swamp Bird Observatory and Kaufman Field Guides are sharing one of the major booth spaces in the vendor hall. We’ll hope to see many of you at the Symposium!

If you attend, you’re bound to have a good time, no matter which of the many alternative activities you choose. But there are a few simple things you can do that will make your visit good for the birds, as well as for you. I’ll describe a few of them, in separate posts.

1. Go talk to Birds & Beans. This company is a sponsor of the Symposium, and will have a presence in the vendor area. But their impact is felt throughout the Western Hemisphere, because what they’re “selling” is the concept of helping birds by drinking the right kind of coffee. (The “beans” in the name are coffee beans.) In the American tropics, organic shade-coffee plantations that have been certified as Bird-Friendly by the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center support tremendous numbers of birds, both residents and wintering migrants from North America. Factory farms that grow coffee out in full sun support essentially no birds at all, and they’re also far less healthy for the workers and local communities. Switching from standard grocery-store sun coffee to Bird-Friendly coffee is one of the most powerful, yet simple, things that you can do to ensure that we’ll see migrating birds in the future.

So – check out all the fine vendors and exhibitors at the MBS, but make a special point of going to the Birds & Beans booth.

Also, be sure to catch Bridget Stutchbury’s keynote talk on Friday night. Bridget is a talented ornithologist and conservationist (she wrote the compelling book Silence of the Songbirds), and she’s also a major advisor to, and spokesperson for, Birds & Beans. (By the way, Birds & Beans is also strongly supported by famed nature author Scott Weidensaul, by Wayne Petersen from Massachusetts Audubon Society, by Ken Rosenberg from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, and others. And the American Ornithologists’ Union has just come out with a strong endorsement of the Smithsonian’s Bird-Friendly certification. This stuff is seriously important!)

Also, go to the Rhein Center “travel talks” from 4:10 to 4:30 pm on Friday or Saturday, to hear Jefferson Shriver talk about a wonderful Bird-Friendly coffee plantation called the Gaia Estate, in Nicaragua. Jefferson is a friend of ours, Gaia Estate is one of the most inspiring places that Kimberly and I have ever visited, and their coffee is delicious!

And if you can’t attend the Midwest Birding Symposium this year, be sure to check out Birds & Beans online to find out more. Please do this for the birds, and do it for yourself!

Roseate Terns

2011-07-03T14:53:00.000-04:00

Adult Roseate Tern on Eastern Egg Rock, Maine, in June 2011.

From Oak Harbor, Ohio, Kenn writes: Terns may be the ultimate summer birds. They are related to gulls, but gulls thrive in cold weather, some even spending the winter north of the Arctic Circle. Terns, by contrast, love warm climates. In much of North America, they are most prevalent during the summer.

About ten days ago, thanks to the generosity of Dr. Steve Kress and his highly successful Project Puffin, Kimberly and I were able to visit Eastern Egg Rock, in the Gulf of Maine. We did see puffins there, and many other birds as well; maybe Kim will blog about the puffins (hint, hint). But I was most pleased by the opportunity to look closely at Roseate Terns.

Some treatments of tern identification focus on bill color. The mostly-blackish bill of Roseate Tern can be useful for quick ID, but it’s tricky, too: other terns have blackish bills for part of the year, and in transitional stages they can show color patterns much like that of the Roseate’s bill. The SHAPE of the bill is a better confirming point. It’s relatively long, thick at the base and tapered to a fine tip, with the gonydeal angle on the lower mandible located fairly close to the base of the bill.

Wing pattern is one of the best ID points. Summer adults typically have dark outer vanes on only the outer three primaries. When the wing is folded, this shows up as a limited dark area on the wingtip.

Here’s a closeup of the wingtip from the previous photo. Looking at the top of the near wing (the one on this side of the bird!), we can see dark gray on the three longest feathers, while the rest of the primaries (stacked up toward the left) are paler silvery gray.

The wing pattern can be even more obvious when the wings are spread. In this photo, on the far wing, the dark gray is clearly limited to only the three longest primaries. On the nearer wing, we can see that there is no dark trailing edge to the wing at all.

Compare that underwing pattern to the one shown by this Common Tern, photographed at the same place and date. The black trailing edge to the outer primaries is obvious at a glance.

Adult Common Tern in flight, Eastern Egg Rock, Maine, in June 2011.

Roseate Tern also has a noticeably long tail, and lacks any black or gray on the tail (Common and Arctic terns both have narrow black outer vanes on the outer tail feathers, and Forster’s Tern shows some gray on the inner vanes). The faint rosy blush on the breast feathers, the source of the bird’s name, is a fleeting phenomenon of spring, and barely a hint of it shows in our photos from late June. Regardless, Roseate Tern is still a beautiful bird, and well worth the effort to find and identify! For those with a keen interest in the subject, more information on identifying terns can be found in two chapters of my new Kaufman Field Guide to Advanced Birding.

Roseate Tern is a widespread species, found from the North Atlantic to the Indian Ocean, but it is not abundant anywhere. Its North American populations have declined seriously, so it is now listed as Endangered in the northeastern USA and eastern Canada, and as Threatened in the southeastern USA. The nesting Roseates on Eastern Egg Rock (along with about equal numbers of Arctic Terns, and many more Common Terns) are closely monitored and protected by Project Puffin, a great program that deserves the support of birders everywhere.

Every Warbler Tells A Story

2011-04-19T22:16:00.000-04:00

From Oak Harbor, Ohio, Kenn writes: Here in northwestern Ohio, “the Warbler Capital of the World,” the warblers are just beginning to show up. They will be flooding through here, in dizzying numbers and variety, in just a couple of weeks. Right now, we’re in the peak stage of eager anticipation for these tiny, active, colorful birds.

Our friend Liz McQuaid recently had a Yellow-throated Warbler in her yard in the Cleveland area, a little east of here. (Not this one; the bird in the photo above, poking about in Spanish Moss, is one that Kimberly and I photographed in Texas.) Yellow-throated Warbler is mainly a southern bird, uncommon this far north, but what was really fascinating about Liz’s bird was that it was coming to her suet feeder. Warblers in general are not feeder birds. Although Pine Warblers often come to suet feeders, especially in winter, this is not a well-known behavior for the Yellow-throated Warbler.

Hearing about the feeding behavior of this individual set me to thinking about warblers in general, and about how each species has its own distinct personality. When I was a kid, struggling to learn the warblers, I somehow got the idea that they were all pretty much the same aside from their markings – as if Nature had taken a basic warbler outline and filled it in repeatedly with different colors. Once you get to know them, though, you realize that’s not the case. Each warbler is unique, with its own surprising life story.

Take a good look at a Yellow-throated Warbler and ignore its yellow throat, and you’ll notice that it has a long, strong bill for a warbler. That bill shape is a key to its feeding behavior. On the nesting grounds, it spends a lot of time poking into crevices in bark, or into clusters of pine needles, in search of insects. And on the wintering grounds it searches in a wider variety of locations.

When I was in my late teens and early twenties, I spent a lot of time in Mexico every winter: travel there was cheap, the weather was warm, and the birding was superb. So a lot of my early experience with Yellow-throated Warbler was on the wintering grounds. This bird spends the winter in various habitats, including some areas of upland pine forest, but the situation where I found it most reliably was in palm trees. Whenever I checked out a grove of coconut palms or other palms, as likely as not there would be a Yellow-throated Warbler poking about among the bases of the fronds.

But the other typical location for it was more surprising. This was far and away the most likely warbler to be seen foraging around manmade objects. Once when friends and I were in Catemaco, Veracruz, for the Christmas Bird Count, we would see a Yellow-throated Warbler foraging around the street lights outside the hotel every morning, no doubt finding insects that had been attracted to the lights overnight. On other trips, I’ve seen these enterprising warblers searching around the light fixtures at gas stations in Yucatan and Tabasco, and around the edges of hotel windows in Chiapas and on Cozumel Island. Plenty of other warbler species were wintering in these same regions, but the Yellow-throated was the only one exploiting these manmade bug-attractors.

So the Yellow-throated Warbler at Liz’s feeder may have just been exercising the natural propensity of the species to check out human artifacts. Or maybe the other warblers just sent it on ahead to remind us that every warbler is different, every species deserves to be appreciated for its own unique character.

Separate Ways...

2011-03-27T13:46:00.005-04:00

At home on a quiet Sunday, Kimberly writes: Yesterday, Kenn and I did something that we rarely do. We really don't like being away from each other, but yesterday, we went separate ways to deliver talks at two different events. Kenn headed north to Detroit, MI, to lead a field trip and give a presentation for the Detroit Audubon Society 2011 Conservation Conference, while I headed to Shreve, Ohio for the Shreve Migration Sensation (SMS).

Kenn and I both delivered completely new talks at these respective events, and the 24 hours leading up to yesterday were pa-retty hectic, to say the least! Both of us really feel blessed to have the opportunity to speak about birds and bird conservation, but it also feels really nice to have yesterday behind us, and to be home together on a quiet Sunday morning. I'll let Kenn fill you in on the details from Detroit, but I'd like to share a few thoughts about the SMS.

The Shreve Migration Sensation is, hands down, my favorite nature festival. The event is community based, offers a wide variety of nature-related activities for families, is organized by great people and organizations, and, I just have to say, the whole "feel" of the festival is wonderfully warm and welcoming. They get an impressive number of people at the festival, too. This year, I heard that they broke last year's attendance record, and registered 1200 people! And, get this - the entire population of Shreve is only 1500.

Here's some coverage of this year's event that our friend Cheryl Harner posted on her Weedpicker's Journal blog!
Shreve Migration - A Sensation!

And here are some great posts from past SMS's from our friend Dave Lewis from his Birds From Behind blog.
Migration Sensation
Sensational Shreve

I was so honored to give a talk at this event. I was a speaker last year, too, and they actually asked me to come back again...amazing! =) In my presentation this year, "How To Be A Better Birder - Even if You're Already an Expert", I wanted to share some of the most powerful moments I've had with birds, and end by encouraging people to do more to support bird conservation. In addition to talking about Proper Siting of Wind Turbines, wind turbines and birds, encouraging birders to buy Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center (SMBC) Certified Shade Coffee, the Federal Duck Stamp and Ohio Wildlife Legacy Stamp, Take a Kid Birding, and Keep Cats Indoors, I spoke about the importance of continuing to learn about birds beyond just matching them up to a picture in a book.

If ever there was a time when we needed to learn more about birds and their habitat needs, it is now. http://www.abcbirds.org/aboutabc/guide/index.html The natural world is under seige. If birders stop caring about birds at the point where they can identify them, we'll never really know enough to be proper stewards of the natural resources that birds -- and humans -- depend on. Identification is an important first step. People have to care enough to wonder, "What's that bird?!" before they can take that critical next step and explore its life history, and understand how to care for its habitat properly.

I'll leave you with an environmental quote I read recently from Dr. David Suzuki, award-winning scientist, environmentalist and broadcaster. The quote really resonated with me, and I hope it has the same impact on you.

"In reality, there are no externalities, there is no environment 'out there', with humans 'over here' trying to manage our relationship with the biosphere. We are the environment. We take a breath of air and some of that air stays in us. The environmental crisis is a crisis of humans and we are treating ourselves as a repository for all the pollution we send out through our chimneys and exhaust pipes."

~Dr. David Suzuki
The Nature of Things

Trinidad and Tobago Adventures

2011-03-02T23:54:00.000-05:00

Kenn and I are leading an 11-day trip to Trinidad and Tobago this July and there are still a few seats available. Click HERE for the trip itinerary. The deadline for deposits has been extended to March 7th.

Here are some pretty compelling reasons to consider coming with us!

Scarlet Ibis at Caroni Swamp

Common Potoos (this is a baby Potoo!) right behind the Asa Wright Nature Center!

Leatherback Sea Turtles

Here are links to blog posts about our last trip to T&T.

Eyeburners of Caroni Swamp
Touching the Graceful Monsters
Green Season in Trinidad & Tobago

Saturday Night Feeder

2011-02-19T22:08:00.012-05:00

From Oak Harbor, Ohio, Kenn writes: I don't like to brag, but one thing I can say for Kimberly and me -- we have some really awesome friends and neighbors.

For example, in our neighborhood there's a young lady named Delaney, an elementary school student with a sharp mind and a lot of artistic talent. Recently she has developed a strong interest in birds and other nature subjects, and she has been studying them and learning fast. As evidence of her powers of observation, a single Pine Siskin showed up in the neighborhood last month, and Delaney spotted it before Kim or I did. And her enthusiasm must be contagious, because her parents, John and Tiffanie, are now paying more attention to birds also.

We had had a number of conversations about birds with their family, and we had given them a couple of copies of our field guides, but we were stunned and thrilled recently when they knocked at the door and presented us with a beautiful, hand-made, personalized bird feeder that they had made just for us.

Here's another view of the feeder, hanging up outside and filled with seed, ready to attract birds.

Does the feeder work? Does it ever! We had just filled the feeder and put it up outside (and photographed it, of course), and come back inside the house, when we glanced out the winter and saw that an American Goldfinch was already checking it out:

Within a few minutes, the goldfinches were all over it. (Sorry about the picture quality -- I just grabbed the camera and the telephoto and was banging away at the feeder, through two panes of dirty window glass. These are documentation photos, not works of art like the feeder itself.)

Delaney and her family told us that they have started making bird feeders for other friends as well, so don't be surprised if you start seeing these elegant feeders popping up all over the place. And this talented family is pursuing an interest in birds beyond the backyard, too. Earlier today (Saturday February 19) I was out at the Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge, looking at a distant eagle nest, and our neighbors pulled up to say hello. The whole family was out looking for birds on the refuge, and they had even brought along a couple of friends to enjoy the day.

Thanks to Delaney and Tiffanie and John for the beautiful bird feeder, and for sharing the excitement of birds with us!

Help us prevent paradise island from becoming paradise lost...

2011-01-14T09:29:00.003-05:00

From Chilly Northwest Ohio, Kim Writes: Hello again, everyone. I don't know how many people still read this crazy blog; we're not exactly "regular" bloggers. But we should at least get points for always having the best intentions. If I had a dollar for all the times I've said, "Oh Kenn, I can't wait to write about this on the blog"...

We've certainly been blessed with experiences that [would] make outstanding blog-matter. (Our recent trip to a shade coffee plantation in Nicaragua, for example! -- We ARE going to blog about that soon!) But, it's simply time that we lack. We've always got way more to do than seems even remotely possible.

But this morning I dropped everything I was working on to post this message. I hope that once you read it you'll share a link to it and help us preserve one of the most remarkable places I have seen on the planet. Its future is in jeopardy, and all you have to do to help save it? Just register for some of the most incredible nature-related experiences of your life!

The place is called Hog Island, and I've run out of superlatives to describe it.

See what I mean?! Imagine, you are standing on the coast of Maine, ready to board a ferry that will deliver you here. Can you understand why we love this place so much?! And the beauty goes far deeper than just the image that blesses the eye. The knowledge this island has to share will change the way you look at the natural world. If that sounds like hyperbole -- it isn't. But if that kind of thing is a bit too "over the top" for you -- you might want to consider that they also give you the opportunity to see these creatures...

Gratuitous Puffin Photo

Without going too deeply into the situation, the island needs our help. It is imperative that all of the camp sessions be filled this year to send a message to National Audubon and Maine Audubon about the value of keeping the camp open. Please, do me and Kenn, the island, and yourself, a favor, and come to camp this summer!

They're offering earlybird discounts, too, but they end at midnight this Saturday (January 15th)! All registrations made online or postmarked by the 15th qualify for this discount.

Here's some information about the camp:
While the puffins are floating far at sea and terns are at their winter homes in the southern hemisphere, the Project Puffin staff is busy organizing for the coming summer. To participate in hands-on field work at Project Puffin islands and learn more about seabirds, consider joining us for a five day program at Hog Island this coming summer. If you have been considering joining us, but needed the New Year and longer days to bring your plans into focus, then sign up now and take advantage of our early bird discount.
Your instructors will be some of America’s best known birders, including Kenn Kaufman, Pete Dunne, Scott Weidensaul and Steve Kress. Bird lovers of all abilities will enjoy boat trips to visit the restored puffin and tern colonies, guided hikes to freshwater and saltwater marshes and blueberry barrens. Even the 330-acre spruce forest surrounding your cabin home on the island is superb birding habitat.
---and we haven't even talked about the food. OMG...the FOOD!

To learn more, register, or just look at the pictures visit HERE. For more information or questions, contact Erica Van Etten, program coordinator and registrar, at (607) 257-7308 x14 or email at evanetten@audubon.org.

Here's a link to some blog posts and YouTube videos about the island experience. I think they'll give you a sense of just how incredible the place really is:

First, a superb video by Lang Elliott:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=le_CjB4F_Ks

A compelling post from Warblings, a blog written by Benjamin Van Doren, a teenage birder from NY State.
http://warblings.wordpress.com/2010/06/25/hog-island-2010/

And, from this blog:
http://birdingwithkennandkim.blogspot.com/2010/06/kenn-and-i-are-getting-ready-to-leave.html

These are a few of our favorite things...

2010-12-14T23:40:00.083-05:00

Many of our recent posts have had a very serious tone, so I thought it might be nice to take a breather and think about something a bit more light and festive. Kenn and I would like to share some cool things that we'll be gifting to the people we love this holiday season. We hope you'll consider some of these wonderful gifts, too!

Winged Journey: a 16-month calendar of birds.

With lovely photos from photographer Bryan Holliday (I mean, come on, his name's "Holliday" for goodness sakes!), and beautiful poetry by Sally Deems-Mogyordy, this calendar makes a perfect gift for anyone on your holiday shopping list: birder and nonbirder alike! One calendar fan told us that she bought a calendar for all of her friends and family and wrote in reminders of all the special dates, like birthdays and anniversaries. Isn't that a great idea?! And, as if you needed any more reasons to order your copies right now, a portion of the proceeds benefits Black Swamp Bird Observatory, so you get a wonderful calendar AND support a great cause, too!

Hand-turned wooden writing instruments made by
Galen Frank-Bishop, a young birder from Massachusetts.

This picture just doesn't do them justice. These pens are fabulous!

If you're looking for the gift for that person who has everything (or maybe even a treat for yourself), this is it! These are more than simply "writing instruments." These are fine works of art. The barrel of each pen is hand-crafted by Galen himself and the "innards" are by the Cross Company - so they're refillable! Choose from Spalted Maple, Mesquite, Bloodwood, Cocobolo, Kingwood, Rosewood, and Zebrawood. Purchase Galen's works of art, HERE!

Buy yourself, and all of the coffee drinkers on your holiday gift list,
some certified shade-grown coffee.

As you might imagine, Kenn gets asked to endorse a lot of bird-related products. He usually politely declines, but when the folks at Birds and Beans came calling, Kenn looked at the company's mission and agreed to become a spokesperson. If you'd like to introduce someone to a great tasting cup of coffee and support the Birds and Beans mission to make sure that people who enjoy coffee and care about conservation can get great coffee that they know is good for bird conservation, family farmers and the environment. Then visit their website and order some of their wonderful, bird-friendly coffee today: Birds and Beans: the Good Coffee

Give the Gift of Wildlife Conservation This Holiday Season:
purchase a conservation stamp, like these:

The Ohio Wildlife Legacy Stamp

Impress the wildlife enthusiasts in your life with an Ohio Wildlife Legacy Stamp this holiday season. When you purchase this attractive gift, $14 of each $15 stamp sold supports:

* Habitat restoration, land purchases and conservation easements
* Keeping common species common
* Endangered and threatened native species
* Wildlife and habitat research projects
* Educational products for students and wildlife enthusiasts, such as the Division's popular field guides and CDs.

Migratory Bird Hunting and Conservation Stamp:

also known as "The Duck Stamp."

But, purchasing this stamp doesn't just help ducks! Ninety-eight cents of every dollar from the sale of this stamp goes directly toward habitat conservation. Since 1934, the sales of Federal Duck Stamps have generated more than $750 million, which has been used to help purchase or lease over 5.3 million acres of waterfowl habitat in the U.S. These lands are now protected in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s National Wildlife Refuge System.

The Junior Duck Stamp

The Junior Duck Stamp (JDS) recognizes the conservation efforts of young people and supports environmental and conservation education programs in the United States. The stamp design is selected from a national art contest administered by the Junior Duck Stamp Conservation and Design Program. The first place national winner of the art contest graces that year's JDS and is sold in a variety of places for $5. All proceeds of the stamp are used to fund environmental education programs, award the students for their work, and market the JDS program.

These stamps make GREAT stocking stuffers and you can get them all in one convenient place: RIGHT HERE!

Gift Memberships to Your Favorite Birding and/or

Bird Conservation Organizations. For instance:

Black Swamp Bird Observatory

Ohio Young Birders Club

American Birding Association

Give a kid (or a beginner of any age!) the gift that will last a lifetime.
Give them the joy of birds and birding this holiday season!

Here's a great way to start!

Get them a Kaufman Field Guide

The best guide for beginners!

Team the Kaufman Guide with some great optics from our friends at
Eagle Optics - we recommend these:

The Eagle Optics Raven is the perfect binocular for young kids. They fit even really small hands, but they also work great for kids of all ages (adults love them, too).

Another great binocular for beginners of all ages is

The Eagle Optics Ranger

A Kaufman Field Guide paired with quality optics like these makes the perfect combination for beginning birders!

Wishing all of you a holiday season filled with peace and joy,
and of course, lots of birding adventures! ~ kimm and kenn

The Quest for Responsible Wind Energy Continues

2010-11-29T20:12:00.001-05:00

From Homebase in Oak Harbor, a very tired Kimberly Writes:
Today, Black Swamp Bird Observatory hosted a meeting in Port Clinton, Ohio, to discuss the far reaching implications of wind turbines in migratory bird stopover habitat. We approached the issue from several angles, with experts speaking on ecotourism and the preservation of our last remaining scenic landscapes, the bird and bat mortality issue, and even the efficiency and economics of these machines. We gave a large gathering of community leaders--as well as representatives from the wind energy industry who were in attendance--a great deal to consider. Certainly no one there today can continue to claim ignorance about the fact that wind turbines in this region will share the air column with millions of migratory birds, including the critically endangered Kirtland's Warbler, the state endangered Sandhill Crane, and one of the largest concentrations of Bald Eagles in the lower 48 states.

Today, we took the first step in working toward some reasonable solution to the need for renewable energy and the need to be responsible stewards for migratory birds, ecotourism, and the scenic vistas that we must cling to so fiercely if they are to be preserved for future generations. We have learned that nothing is sacred in our quest to generate more and more and more electricity. Nothing is sacred -- unless we kick and scream that it is.

An example of some of the information brought out today: Thanks to one of our experts, Bill Evans, the audience learned that the plan to target schools in the Lake Erie Marsh Region as places for wind turbines (many deep within the area deemed by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources to be the highest area of concern for birds and bats) has some serious flaws. School yards are frequently lighted throughout the night for safety purposes. The combination of large banks of lights -- that have been proven to attract nocturnal migrants -- coupled with 300 foot structures with spinning blades is a potentially lethal combination.

Many organizations and agencies were represented at today's meeting, including: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Ohio Division of Wildlife, Ohio State Parks, Ducks Unlimited, The Nature Conservancy, the American Birding Association, two of the three Ottawa County Commissioners, the Mayor of Port Clinton, SureEnergy, Erie and Ottawa County departments of tourism, Audubon chapters, Ottawa County Community Improvement Corp., and local business owners. We also invited the press, and reporters from The Beacon (Ottawa County) and The Metropress (Lucas County) were there covering the discussion.

Here are the seven items we presented as desired outcomes from today’s meeting. These points resulted in some great dialogue and left us with at least a glimmer of hope that we can continue to work together to ensure the integrity of the quality habitat (for birds and humans) in this region.

Desired Outcomes:
• Support for our three-year moratorium on additional wind turbines within three miles of the Lake Erie shore in Lucas, Ottawa, Sandusky, and Erie Counties until research on nocturnal migrants (including radar studies) can be completed

• Expansion of the current voluntary wildlife review process for industrial turbines to include midsized turbines 100 feet or more in height and/or 10 Kilowatt or greater

• Explore the potential for consortia of local schools to install turbines in areas outside the zone of highest concern, sharing the energy benefits

• Explore the potential for other sources of renewable energy within the zone of highest concern

• Explore the potential of bringing economic growth to the area by encouraging wind turbine manufacturing plants to locate here

• Permanent ban on any wind turbines 300 feet or higher within the zones of highest concern as identified by Ohio Department of Natural Resources

• Development of a local level Western Basin Wind Working Group

Being a part of the birding and conservation community means that you are frequently blessed by the outpouring of support from your fellow warriors. Today, our team at Black Swamp Bird Observatory, Ohio Ornithological Society, and Greater Mohican Audubon Society, was bestowed great gifts of knowledge and expertise from none other than:
Ted Eubanks (http://www.fermatainc.com/)
Bill Evans (http://www.oldbird.org/) and (http://www.towerkill.com/)
Keith Lott (Ohio Division of Wildlife)
Dan Boone (http://www.VAwind.org/).

---Talk about the bird conservation dream team!

Also part of today’s dream team were Kenn Kaufman, Cheryl Harner, Jen Sauter, Mark Shieldcastle, Julie Shieldcastle, Ken Keffer, Paul Baicich, Dana Bollin, and Guy Denny. Larry Fletcher and the staff at the Ottawa County Visitors’ Bureau hosted today’s meeting and we offer them our gratitude for their hospitality.

I’d also like to mention that our online petition is having an impact. I know most of you have signed it, but if you haven’t please do, and consider encouraging others to as well.
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/924/482/794/

You can also visit http://www.bsbobird.org/wind_energy.htm for more information.

We’ll keep you posted as we continue to work toward a solution.

Thanks! ~kimberly

Marsh Mellow

2010-11-25T12:38:00.012-05:00

The past few months have been among the most challenging of my life. I have never fought so hard for something that seemed so unattainable. I have never been more angry, frustrated, bitter, confused, and even depressed, as I have been since BSBO decided to speak out about the wind turbines that are creeping their way into migratory bird stopover habitat in northwest Ohio.

That's certainly a neat and tidy little term, isn't it? "Migratory Bird Stopover Habitat." All scientific and clinical.

This is what it really is...

It is a part of our history

The Lake Erie Marsh Region of northwest Ohio is all that is left of what was once referred to as The Great Black Swamp

It is our heritage

The marshes were historically owned by duck hunting clubs before eventually being transferred to the state and federal wildlife agencies. Think what you want about duck hunting, but were it not for the foresight and absolute respect for the resource shown by hunters, these marshes would have been developed long ago. If you have ever enjoyed a day of birding or nature observation at one of these areas, then you have duck hunters to thank for it. Purchase a habitat conservation stamp!

It can represent the difference
between life and death

The Lake Erie marshes are of global significance for thousands upon thousands of shorebirds, waterfowl, and songbirds: like the Blackpoll Warbler.

These remaining patches of habitat allow birds like Blackpoll Warblers to rest and feed during an astounding journey that we cannot begin to comprehend.

The fall migration route of the Blackpoll Warbler includes an 80 hour, nonstop flight over the open ocean.

It is a place where life, and joy, and beauty
gather in epic proportions

A gorgeous male Black-throated Blue Warbler
by Brian Zwiebel

The flame-throated (male) Blackburnian Warbler in Spring

The lovely little Pied-billed Grebe

The magnificently elegant Northern Pintail Drake.
My favorite bird photo of all time: by Brian Zwiebel

A retina-burning, joy-inducing Prothonotary Warbler

It is an economic boon for the Lake shore communities

Here, in this magical place, one tiny bird (in this case a Golden-winged Warbler), has the power to gather the masses and hold them spellbound. Every year, thousands of birders visit this area to enjoy the spectacle of songbird migration. While they are here, they spend millions of dollars, and make a significant economic impact on the local communities.

It's a place to celebrate

Students from the Fremont, Ohio Migrant School visit BlackSwamp Bird Observatory to celebrate birds and learn about bird migration and stopover habitat!

It's a place where you will find the bizarre...

The "Mr. Potato Head of the Bird World"
The American Woodcock

...and the totally cool

The specially adapted comb on the toe of the Whip-poor-will for cleaning the rical bristles around its massive pie hole!(Is that the coolest thing, or what?!)

It's a great place to raise your kids

Adorable Black Tern nestlings
banded in the Metzger Marsh Wildlife Area

Even some big honkin' kids!

Bald Eagle Nestlings

It is the opportunity to teach

Perrysburg High School biology students learn about bird migration research, the importance of conserving stopover habitat for migratory birds, and potential careers in wildlife conservation.

And an opportunity to discover

A female Connecticut Warbler in breeding condition, banded July 26th, in the Navarre Marsh, a first July record for Ohio.

It is a place to find inspiration

Each year, volunteers like Vic and Lois Harder donate thousands of hours to wetland research, education, and outreach in this area. They make the work of nonprofit organizations and state and federal wildlife agencies possible, and in the process, they provide an endless supply of support and inspiration.

And it is a place where I have witnessed
the depths of the human spirit

This is me with my friend, Michael. Michael comes to visit me and the marsh with his friends from Lotts of Nature, a program for folks who are dealing with special challenges. The program is sponsored by Lott Industries and organized by my friend Helen Polachko. (Helen is amazing!) When they arrive, I am waiting for them in the parking lot, because I know that, practically before the van has stopped, Michael will come crashing out the door to hug me. Michael and the rest of the members of the group face challenges that we can't even begin to imagine. But, in spite of all the obstacles they must overcome each and every day, there is still room for happiness. The look of unabashed joy on Michael's face when he gets to touch and release a wild songbird sears itself onto my heart like a tattoo. It will stay with me forever and it carries me though some of the darkest days. This magical place has brought so many amazing person into my life and into my heart.

It is the only documented stopover habitat
in the world for this bird

The rare, and critically endangered, Kirtland's Warbler

The stopover habitat in the Lake Erie Marsh Region is many things to many different birds and many different people.

It is NOT...

A place for these.

I hope you will join me and Kenn and Black Swamp Bird Observatory, Ohio Ornithological Society, and Greater Mohican Audubon Society in expressing how thankful we are for the few remaining places on the planet that provide the critical stopover habitat that connects birds with their breeding and wintering grounds, and provides us with such joy and beauty. Please sign this petition and let the politicians know that this matters to you. Protect Migratory Bird Stopover Habitat in Northwest Ohio

Thank you!
Kimm and Kenn

The Battle of the Blades

2010-11-17T08:45:00.000-05:00

Six months ago, all of us here in northwest Ohio were at the center of the birding world. Six months ago we were awash in a whirl of warblers and their watchers. Vast numbers of migratory birds poured in from the tropics, while semi-vast numbers of birders poured in from all over the United States and beyond to celebrate the “Biggest Week in American Birding” here in the “Warbler Capital of the World.”

Six months in the future, in May 2011, we expect it all to happen again. But right now, as fall migration fades in November, the scene in northwest Ohio is getting quieter. The traveling birders are mostly elsewhere now, celebrating specialties in south Texas, chasing rarities in California or Florida. They haven’t necessarily forgotten about us, but at the moment, we might not be on their minds.

And that’s unfortunate.

The timing of this is bad for the birds, from one particular angle. Right now there are threats to the stopover habitats here in northwest Ohio, the very spots that sustain all those migratory birds when they pause here on their travels. Various energy companies are pushing projects to set up noncommercial sized turbines very near the Lake Erie shoreline, some of them practically right on top of critical bird habitats and it's important to note that these "smaller" turbines can still exceed 300 feet.

Many of them are being proposed for schools, which is particularly problematic. Many schools in this area are in serious financial trouble and searching desperately for ways to reduce costs. Wind turbines (especially when the wind energy company gives them at no cost, as they have in some cases along the lake shore) seem like the perfect solution. And in the right location, maybe they are.

Unfortunately, some of the schools involved here are deep within the areas of highest concern for migratory birds and within a mile of active Bald Eagle nests. When you speak out about these concerns, many people simply label you as "The crazy tree huggers who are more worried about their little tweety birds than they are about helping kids learn."

Building wind turbines on school grounds is also a brilliant marketing plan and it's worked very effectively. That is, until they started proposing them in areas of migratory bird stopover habitat, and the ideas of science and due diligence became the proverbial "flies in the ointment."

And as we are discovering, there are virtually no regulations of any kind controlling where such noncommerical, "midsized" turbines can be erected. Compounding the problem is the fact that there's currently no data available on the impacts these "midsized turbines" have on birds and wildlife. Many people we've talked to question just how much damage a single wind turbine (even one 300+ feet tall) can really do. While we don't have hard data, when asked this question, we share this true story.

Several years ago, when the first cell phone tower stabilized by guy wires was erected in this area, the farmer who had leased that section of his field to the communications company for the tower came into a local wildlife research facility one spring morning with a bushel basket filled with dead adult male Rose-breasted Grosbeaks. He had picked them up until the basket was full (he said there were lots more, but he only picked up what the basket would hold) and brought them in to see if anyone could tell him what they were.
One night.
One tower.
One set of guy wires.
One bushel basket of dead birds.

So, the answer is, yes. One wind turbine (or any tall structure) in an area of major stopover habitat like the Lake Erie Marsh Region has the potential to do significant damage. Now just imagine if there's another, and another, and another.

The people of this area are intelligent, caring, superb people. They understand that Lake Erie is a precious resource that brings billions of tourism dollars to the area each year and they are passionate about caring for it and protecting it. And yet, many remain unaware of the massive bird migration that takes place here or the amount of ecotourism dollars generated by visiting birders.

Black Swamp Bird Observatory, along with the local visitor's bureaus: Lake Erie Shores and Islands, and other organizations, is working very hard to raise awareness of just how essential this stopover habitat is for the birds and the marvelous asset it represents for the region.

The good news is that it's not too late. We still have an important opportunity to get this right and, rather than view this as a challenge -- one side versus the other -- we're trying to present it as an opportunity to prove to the world that we can find a reasonable solution. If we can make this work here in northwest Ohio, it could set a valuable precedent and send a powerful message about the potential for responsible renewable energy.

Here's how you can help.

1) Tell Others
If you're a fellow blogger, we encourage you to share this issue with your readers. If you're a writer (or you know someone who is) please consider an article about this issue.

2) Sign a Petition
Black Swamp Bird Observatory, Ohio Ornithological Society, and Greater Mohican Audubon Society have created an online petition and we urge you to support our efforts by signing it, here: Protect Critical Migratory Bird Stopover Habitat in Northwest Ohio

3) Write Letters of Support
For more information, please visit BSBO's website at: http://www.bsbobird.org/

And please read: A Long Night's Journey Into Death.

Thank you so much! ~Kimm and Kenn

New Day at ABA

2010-10-04T09:55:00.006-04:00

From Oak Harbor, Ohio, Kenn writes: Readers of this blog will know that I’ve been very preoccupied for the last three months by the current situation at the American Birding Association. (In fact, I’ve been so preoccupied that the blog hasn’t been updated since the end of August.)

In early July, I was asked to be on the search committee for a new president / executive director for the ABA. This fine organization had just gone through some tough times, owing to a few bad decisions and a lot of bad luck. The previous president had been fired, the staff was upset about a variety of issues, membership had been declining, and the financial situation was going from bad to worse. Things were looking shaky for the ABA. But because this organization had done so much for me in the past, I agreed to try to help.

It has been a time-consuming and complicated process, as you might guess if you read the previous entries on this subject. But ultimately we had over a dozen serious applicants for the position, and four finalists who were all eminently qualified. At that point things got really difficult, because all four of the finalists were friends of mine, people I had known and respected for a long time. But after extensive interviews and discussions, the search committee came up with recommendations, and the ABA board of directors voted at the end of last week. As of today, they’re ready to announce the decision, and it’s just going up on the ABA website.

Ladies and gentlemen: Mr. Jeffrey A. Gordon, currently of Lewes, Delaware, soon to be in Colorado Springs at the ABA offices. I first met Jeff in the early 1990s, when he was a young naturalist and tour leader new on the scene, and we worked together teaching some intensive bird I.D. workshops set up through Victor Emanuel Nature Tours. A couple of years later, Jeff and I took a group of teenaged birders to Mexico, on the VENT / ABA sponsored Camp Cielo. Whether we were scoping sandpipers on the Texas coast or pursuing parrots in Mexican mountain forests, Jeff displayed a remarkable set of skills as a birder, organizer, teacher, and leader, and he had such a warm and engaging personality that everyone was drawn to him. I figured at the time that he was destined for great things.

In the years since, Jeff Gordon has become a popular speaker on the bird festival circuit, has written a very popular blog, has written many articles for Bird Watcher’s Digest and other publications, has been a major consultant to the Peterson Field Guide Series, has done innovative things with ecotourism and with new media such as podcasts and video, and has generally established himself as one of the leaders of the birding community in North America. And now he’s going to be the President of the American Birding Association. For more information you can go to the ABA’s website.

Congratulations, Jeff, and thanks to all of the fine people who helped with this process! There are still challenges to be met, but I'm confident that the birders will rally and that Jeff Gordon will lead ABA into a bright future.

For what it's worth...

2010-08-27T07:39:00.009-04:00

A message from Kimberly: I have watched in awe as Kenn and many others navigated some turbulent seas to get the ABA on track. Kenn and I have had some "lively" discussions about the issue, ; ) and while I was not directly involved in the process of searching for the new Executive Director (I'm officially casting my vote for axing the term "President"), I have been actively engaged in studying the whole process and have learned a great deal from it. Thank you to everyone for the outpouring of support for the ABA---and for Kenn. If the dude wasn't so determined to write field guides that help people discover and enjoy nature (and so wonderful at it, I might add!), I'd encourage him to take the job himself. But, whomever the next ED is, I'm sure they can count on Kenn as a resource and I certainly hope that they will do just that.

So, consider this my "shout out" to Kenn and all those who are working hard to get the ABA back on its feet. I'd especially like to thank the staff at ABA for hanging on in spite of the rough seas that have threatened to drown out all the solid things they're continuing to accomplish.

And here's a little something to remind us all of why the effectiveness/success of every bird and conservation organization is worth working hard for.

Lincoln Sparrow

hope for the future of birds and birding

Magnolia Warbler

Loggerhead Shrike

Bay-breasted Warbler

Pied-billed Grebe

ABA: Let's Look Forward

2010-08-20T02:00:00.005-04:00

From Oak Harbor, Ohio, Kenn writes: Six weeks have passed since Dick Ashford, chair of the board of the American Birding Association (ABA), contacted me out of the blue and asked me to be on the search committee for ABA’s next Executive Director (or President, as the position is currently called). Being part of the search has been far more time-consuming than I had expected initially, but it has given me some rewarding insights as well.

Shortly after getting involved, I wrote about the ABA’s situation on this blog, and the outpouring of comments was remarkable -- highly detailed comments came in from more than 40 people, including no fewer than seven former ABA board members and other well-known leaders of the North American birding community. During the same time period, I had conversations with most of the current ABA staff, dedicated long-term members of the organization, and many others.

After the first couple of weeks my outlook on ABA’s future was not very positive, for three reasons:

1. Many of the comments -- including some from birders with detailed knowledge of ABA’s history -- were very negative.

2. Some aspects of the current situation were worse than I had realized.

3. At first there were very few applicants for the President position, leading me to wonder if the best candidates had been scared off by the situation or by the rhetoric about it.

But as I said, that was just my initial outlook. As things have developed, I’m now seeing a much more positive picture and a much brighter future for the American Birding Association. These are the things that have changed my perspective:

1. Even in the midst of intense outside criticism, the ABA board of directors has continued to do its job. While some harsh critics were calling for the resignation of the entire board, several board members continued to work behind the scenes to deal with current problems and move the organization forward.

2. Although there have been few official responses, the ABA board of directors has been paying close attention to the ongoing discussion. Case in point: several people raised questions about the ABA bylaws, so board chair Dick Ashford established a committee to review these bylaws. The committee, chaired by Lynn Barber, includes staff and board representatives, plus outside individuals -- such as Rick Wright, who had criticized the bylaws in the first place. This is clearly a case of listening to the concerns of critics rather than shutting them out.

3. The professional staff of ABA has continued to do a superb job. The upheaval and uncertainty of recent months have affected them more than anyone, but they continue to put out wonderful publications and carry out worthwhile programs. These dedicated and talented people represent a major asset for the organization.

4. Although I’m not at liberty to discuss what I know about this, there are some positive changes in the works regarding the infrastructure of the organization, including the workings of the board of directors. The board recognizes its own problems and is quietly but actively working to correct them.

5. Finally, I am tremendously encouraged by the fact that several highly qualified individuals have applied for the ABA President position. At first I was worried that no one would apply, but fortunately that turns out not to be an issue, and ABA has the luxury of trying to make the best choice from among several very strong candidates.

And it is energizing to read the comments from the leading candidates. They’re all aware of the significant challenges in the short term, but they are all brimming with optimism as they look at the extraordinary potential of the organization. They see that there is a huge role for the American Birding Association to play, serving to promote birding, to advocate for birding, to provide a strong voice for the whole community of birders. To read their comments, the glass isn’t just half full, it’s overflowing with potential. That’s the kind of attitude that we need as we go forward.

I respect everyone’s opinions, and I recognize that some long-term ABA members have a right to be angry about some recent missteps. But as for myself, I prefer to look forward and to focus on the amazing possibilities that still lie ahead. I’m optimistic that within a few months we’ll be looking forward confidently to a bright future for the ABA.

Incidentally, I’m not alone in this attitude. When I had this piece mostly drafted, I ran across two very recent blog posts that are well worth reading. Rick Wright at Aimophila Adventures wrote about the qualities he would like to see in the next ABA President -- a consideration that wouldn’t be necessary if the organization had no future. The essay is here.

Over at The Drinking Bird blog, the ever insightful Nathan Swick has a very thoughtful essay about the online conversation that developed this summer over the ABA’s situation. Nate makes the point that this conversation was significant in several ways: not only did it prove that a lot of people were interested in the ABA, not only did a lot of ideas come out of it, but the very nature and format of the online discussion served as a demonstration of the ways that ABA can communicate and act in the modern birding community. This must-read essay is here.

The American Birding Association was very important to me when I was a kid birder -- I was an ABA member long before I had a driver’s license. I’m not a kid any more, but I’m still an eager ABA birder. Now I’m looking ahead to the ABA’s 50th-anniversary bash in the year 2019 -- it ought to be a doozy. I’ll hope to see you there!

ABA: Inclusiveness

2010-08-15T12:17:00.007-04:00

Mallard on the park pond, Yellow-bellied Flycatcher at the migrant trap, Wandering Albatross over the Drake Passage: would you enjoy looking at any of these birds? If so, you're a good birder.

From Oak Harbor, Ohio, Kenn writes: The intense discussions this summer regarding the future of the American Birding Association (ABA) have led some people to question just who the organization should be for. Predictably, a few have suggested that it should be a group designed for "good birders." I have strong opinions about that idea, I’ve expressed them in the past in other settings, and I want to repeat them here.

Forgive me if it seems immodest for me to quote from myself. But I wrote something a long time ago that still seems relevant:

"Birding is something that we do for enjoyment; so if you enjoy it, you’re a good birder. If you enjoy it a lot, you’re a great birder."

I wrote that back in the 1980s, and apparently it rang a bell with some people. The editors of British Birds were kind enough to quote it in their fine magazine. Roger Tory Peterson quoted it in the introduction to the 1990 edition of his Field Guide to Western Birds. (Peterson had been my lifelong role model, and you can imagine what a thrill it was to be quoted by my own hero, the man who was the world’s most influential birder at the time.) Later I used this same phrase in the introduction to my own Kaufman Field Guide to Birds of North America. So the thought has been out there for a while, but I wanted to repeat it.

Birding is something that we do for enjoyment, so if you enjoy it, you’re a good birder. If you enjoy it a lot, you’re a great birder. I think the American Birding Association will need to adopt that attitude as they go forward. Become a group for all those good birders -- for everyone who enjoys it -- and try to make them into great birders by helping them to enjoy it even more. In fact, the ABA could claim to have some initial ownership of the idea, because I first thought of it after taking part in a panel discussion at an ABA convention. I wrote it in a letter to Jim Tucker, who was then still the executive director of ABA, and he liked it enough that he printed it in Birding magazine as a letter to the editor. So it first saw the light of day in ABA’s magazine.

Do you enjoy birding? If your answer is "yes," it doesn’t matter whether you’re watching the finches in the back yard or trekking off to Borneo to look for Bristleheads, you’re one of us. You’re a good birder. I hope the American Birding Association will make a strong comeback and offer an enhanced experience to all of us.

Which Way for ABA?

2010-07-16T18:39:00.003-04:00

From a state of contemplation, Kenn writes: The American Birding Association (ABA) has been an important part of my life ever since I joined, at the age of 16, back in the 1970s. The ABA was a brand-new organization then, and it served a unique role in connecting the active birders of the U.S. and Canada. Its little bimonthly magazine, Birding, was a treasure trove for me as a teenager, giving me tips on bird-finding and bird identification that I wouldn’t have known about in any other way. When I started traveling, as a hitch-hiking, teenaged birder, the ABA connected me with other enthusiasts and with prime birding hotspots, and helped to put me on a course as a professional naturalist.

In subsequent years I was involved with ABA in many ways. I taught bird I.D. workshops at many of their conventions, and later I began giving evening keynote talks at these events; for a while, I had spoken at more ABA conventions than anyone else. I wrote dozens of pieces for Birding magazine, and edited their Photo Quiz feature for ten years. I served on their checklist committee, and even served two terms on their board of directors, most recently in the mid-1990s.

But I hadn’t had any kind of leadership role at ABA for more than ten years now. So I was very surprised when Dick Ashford, current chair of the board, called me out of the blue to ask me to get involved. The ABA is looking to hire a new President, and Dick wanted me to serve (along with three current board members) on the search committee to find someone for that position.

Given my history with ABA, you might think that I would have accepted immediately. As it happened, ultimately I did agree to be on the search committee, but it was with some trepidation.

The fact is that the American Birding Association is facing a tough situation right now. Membership numbers have been declining for the last few years, there have been a number of bad management decisions, and the organization is in financial difficulties. Whoever comes in as the new president is going to have to overcome some major challenges.

Of course, a decline in numbers is something that has happened to many membership organizations and many print publications over the last decade or so. But ABA has taken a double hit from the effects of the internet and the proliferation of bird festivals. Back in the early 1990s, birders who wanted to be "in the loop" on a continentwide scale almost had to belong to ABA. The magazine and newsletter were prime sources of the latest information, and the biennial ABA convention was a really big deal, with hundreds of the most active birders in attendance. Today many birders get their information, and even their sense of community, most easily online: bits of news on listserves and social networking sites, detailed information on websites, opinion pieces and essays on blogs. And there are so many birding festivals all over the continent that it has become very hard for ABA conventions to compete. The publications-and-conventions model that worked so well in the early 1990s just doesn’t cut it in 2010.

So ABA has fallen farther and farther behind the curve during the last decade. It wasn’t inevitable -- it would have been possible for the organization to keep up, or stay ahead, with some innovative and forward-looking changes. But those changes weren’t made. I’m not going to point fingers or assign blame -- indeed, I don’t want to, as ABA’s leadership over the last decade has included various friends of mine. But no one took those bold steps that would have made ABA membership an obvious must-have for active birders. And the resulting slow decline has been accelerated by some very bad recent decisions that have put the organization in a precarious financial fix.

That being the case, why am I involved at all in trying to help out? After all, there’s nothing in it for me except risk -- I’m just one person on the search committee, so I can’t control the outcome, but I’ll get part of the blame if things go badly.

But I think it’s worth the risk because I see not just big problems, but big potential. ABA still has thousands of active members. It still has excellent programs in place -- its "Birders’ Exchange," for example, is doing wonderful things to promote research and conservation in Latin America. Its magazine, Birding, its technical journal, North American Birds, and its newsletter, Winging It, continue to be valuable. And beyond that, I can envision a future in which ABA could be a tremendously positive force. Currently there is no organization that serves effectively as an advocate for birders and birding in North America. Yes, there are bird conservation groups, and ornithological societies that promote scientific study of birds, but there is no group that really advocates for birders -- promoting birding for its own sake, providing a sense of community, working to give birders a unified voice. ABA could be that voice. But only if it survives. And that may come down to the next person hired as president of the beleagured organization.

So ... anyone interested? ABA is seeking a highly motivated person to serve as President (analogous to what would be called the Executive Director in many other nonprofits). This person should have a good knowledge of active field birding, and should have relevant experience in running a nonprofit, running a small business, or both. This person had better have a lot of energy, and had better be committed to the vision of helping the birding community at large. You can read the whole job description here.

For more independent background on ABA’s current situation and future prospects, written by the perceptive and articulate Nate over at "The Drinking Bird," click here.

Return to Hog Island

2010-06-18T19:01:00.011-04:00

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," but trust me, this place has the kind of rich history that brings tears to your eyes. For example, when the camp first opened in 1936, the first Ornithology Instructor?... Roger Tory Peterson! Learn more about Hog Island, the camps there, and the island's extraordinary history HERE!

Budget cuts had forced Audubon to close the camp for a while; heartbreaking news for those of us who had fallen in love with the place. When Steve called to tell us that he had convinced Audubon to reopen the camp and was inviting us to come back as instructors, "Just Say No" turned into"Just Say Go!" By the way, if the name Steve Kress sounds familiar, it's because Steve is "The Puffin Dude." Learn more about how Steve snatched the Atlantic Puffin from the jaws of extinction and formed Project Puffin HERE.

PUFFINS!!
Don't you think they look like little caricatures of themselves?!

I posted a picture of Hog Island on my Facebook wall and announced that I was going to camp. Here's the picture:

The picture does the place no justice whatsoever.
You just can't imagine how lovely it is.

After I posted the picture my friend Jason commented: Audubon Camp? Like, volleyball, swimming, first crushes, and putting on "Our Town?"

To which I responded: "Jason, It's more like, Atlantic Puffins, snuggling in a chilly, rustic cabin, being called to dinner by the same dinner bell that called Roger Tory Peterson and Alan Cruikshank to dinner, being awakened by the soft growl of the lobster boats heading out to sea in the morning mist, and Lang Elliot, Steve Kress, Scott Weidensaul, and Kenn Kaufman -- all on the same small island - freaking camp!"

By the way, "Jason" is Jason Kessler, producer of, Opposable Chums, the best video ever made about birding, If you don't have a copy of this DVD, click HERE and GET ONE. You'll love it!
I don' t have much time tonight. I've still got a ton of stuff to do and we're always scrambling to get everything done before we leave on a trip. It's always a little bit stressful and any minute now Kenn is going to start this thing he does that drives me crazy. He does this count down thing and calmy announces that we leave for the airport in XX number of hours, which sends me into a tizzy!

Also adding to my stress is the fact that this little creature recently came into our lives. Introducing, Kirby (also known as Kitty Meow Meow Head).

We've become ridiculously attached to him in a very short time and I'm a little bummed about being away so soon after we got him.

And so, I leave you with some scenes from our past trips to Hog Island and hope that someday you'll get to experience this glorious place for yourself.

Biggest Week Superstars!

2010-06-15T14:10:00.010-04:00

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 managed to get a bunch of 'em, (again, with the help of many volunteer photographers).

And here they are. The real stars of the show...

Many thanks to Dave Lewis and Laurie Boylan for having the presence of mind to photograph many of the people who helped make the event so great! Many of the photos in this post were courtesy of Laurie & Dave! Dave also has some wonderful (and hilarious) images and stories from the Biggest Week on his popular blog: BIRDS FROM BEHIND

It always helps when you have a secret weapon .. and here she is! Delores Cole is, without a doubt, one of the most remarkable people I've ever met. Her tireless commitment to BSBO, the Biggest Week, and many other bird-related projects and organizations in Ohio is both an inspiration and an asset to many. Delores spent countless hours on the Biggest Week website, coordinated registration, and assisted with every aspect of the event. We're lucky she uses her powers for good and not evil. (Well, mostly) ; ) We are so blessed to have her on our team.

If you visit the BSBO gift shop on the weekend you're almost sure to encounter this volunteer dynamo! Karen Zach pulls you into her orbit with her positive energy beam - and you're never the same. For the rest of your life you will be subject to outbursts of pure joy and happiness that you can't control! Karen's life was seriously threatened by a brain tumor 8 years ago. She was given a second chance at life and she makes the most of every second of it. BSBO is very blessed to know her and to share her enduring spirit with all of our visitors.

One of the country's leading birders and one of the greatest personalities in birding, Tom Bartlett. Each year on International Migratory Bird Day, Tom conducts a Big Sit fundraiser for BSBO. Over the years Tom has helped raise more than $30,000 to support BSBO's education programs. But more importantly, Tom has inspired thousands of individuals with his high energy passion for birds and birding. Tom was one of the first honest to goodness birders I encountered after I discovered birds and his excitement and enthusiasm hooked me good right from the start. Thank you, Tom, for all that you do for birds and birders. And thanks for inspiring me! Cheryl Harner, (seen here with Dave Lewis) is the President of Greater Mohican Audubon Society, a budding birder, talented botanist, Master Gardner, and a real friend to bird conservation. Cheryl helped with the festival in so many ways, leading field trips and pitching in behind the scenes. To learn more about Ohio's botanical bonanza visit her wonderful blog: Weedpicker's Journal.

See the lovely woman on the left? That's Paula Lozano doing what Paula always seems to be doing -- helping people! Every time I see Paula I think of John Denver's song Rocky Mountain High. You know that line where John says, "I know I'd be a poorer man if I never saw an eagle fly?" Well, I know I'd be a poorer woman if I'd never met Paula Lozano. She has enriched the lives of so many people with her unflagging , positive attitude, her outstanding birding skills, and her quiet loveliness. Paula brought all that and more to the Biggest Week and for that, I am eternally grateful!

Christine Lotenero was a volunteer whirlwind! During the several days she spent volunteering I rarely saw her slow down and there were no jobs too big or too small for her. Her hard work and wonderful personality made her a joy to have around!

Ruth Miller of, The Biggest Twitch, pauses just long enough to pose for a photo with Tamie Bulow. Ruth and her partner Alan Davies gave presentations and led field trips all "week," sharing their passion and enthusiasm for birds and birding with anyone fortunate enough to spend time with them during the Biggest Week. (Alan is pictured below.) Tamie traveled to Ohio from Colorado Springs to spend a week volunteering and graced us all with her megawatt smile and radiant personality. I love that birds bring people like Ruth and Tamie into our lives!

Laura Erickson joined us during the event to sign copies of her wonderful new book, The Bird Watching Answer Book: Everything You Need to Know to Enjoy Birds in Your Backyard and Beyond. Laura is another example of the kind of extraordinary people birds have brought into our lives. There's just something about her spirit and her special connection to birds and nature that draws you in. Learn more about Laura and all the outstanding work she does for birds at: Laura's Birding Blog.

Paul Baicich (left) is one of the country's leading bird conservationists and one of my personal heroes. Paul is pictured here with Josh Engel, one of the fabulous guides with Tropical Birding. The "Dudes in the Yellow Caps" were one of the keys to the success of the Biggest Week. (More about The Dudes below!)

Dr. Andy Jones, Curator of Ornithology at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History and BSBO Board member. Andy shared his time and talents leading field trips and giving presentations. BSBO (and Ohio!) are very fortunate to have someone like Andy! (and thanks to him we get to hang out with Michelle and Ivor Houndsworth too!)

Dan and Barb Myers volunteer many hours throughout the year in our songbird banding station, with our school programs, and in the BSBO gift shop. They were such great help with the bird banding demos during the Biggest Week!

Lisa Rock, a recent migrant from Maryland, was another volunteer dynamo. Lisa is great! She's always willing to jump in and help with any task and her warm and welcoming personality added so much to the event.

Jean Freidner (who came from Florida to help out!), and Anita Manzeck hand out information at the registration table at BSBO. Hidden behind Anita is Marcia McIntire. All three of these lovely ladies are long-time BSBO friends and volunteers. Their continued support makes such a huge difference for BSBO -- and for me!

Anita Manzeck assists Larry Fletcher with name tag preparation at the registration table. Larry is the Director of the Ottawa County Visitor's Bureau, Lake Erie Shores and Islands LESI (East). Larry's belief in and support of this event - start to finish - really gave us the confidence to see this thing through even on the toughest days. Ottawa County is very blessed to have Larry's talents! (He's a crazy-good drummer too, by the way!)

Amanda Smith and Jill Bauer from Lake Erie Shores & Islands (WEST) in Sandusky are joined by Jeff Burrows of LESI (EAST) in Port Clinton. Visit Lake Erie Shores & Islands for all the great things to do in the area this summer! The support from the local visitors' bureaus played a huge role in the success of the Biggest Week. It was also great to see the visitor's bureau staff bring their binoculars and go birding at the end of their shifts!

Ann Oliver (left), representing Ohio Ornithological Society, welcomes Biggest Week participant, Mike McCloy. Kenn and I met Mike during the Space Coast Birding Festival in Florida earlier this year. We told him he really needed to come visit us in Ohio and, lo and behold, there he was!

Tracy Marr, longtime BSBO member and volunteer, and Mary Ann Snider (another LESI staffer!), helped out at the registration table.

Now, here are some popular people! It's the Weekend Hotdog & Brownie Crew of Lois Rae Harder (left), Victor Harder (center), and Lee Garling (right). These three wonderful people have been BSBO members almost from the beginning and over the years have literally given thousands of volunteer hours to the Observatory. They make darn good hotdogs too!

John Robinson volunteered his time to lead field trips, give presentations, and autograph copies of his book, Birding is for Everyone: Encouraging People of Color to Become Birdwatchers. And, get this, John donated 1000 copies of his book to give to give out, free of charge, to all Biggest Week participants. THAT is how passionate John is about his work! If you don't already have this book in your library, please get a copy by visiting John's website here: ON MY MOUNTAIN.

John is pictured here with fellow volunteer, Kim Check. Kim was here visiting from Maryland and pitched in to lend a hand with several Biggest Week tasks. She's also the Education Director at the Ward Museum of Waterfowl Art. Kim and some colleagues were recently featured in a great video segment on WBOC 16
Many of the Biggest Week presentations and activities took place at the Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge. The staff at the refuge are great and they're assisted with nearly all aspects of running this amazing wetland complex by the outstanding volunteers that form the Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge Association. Pictured here are Diane Bowland (seated) and Janet Vollker. Janet and her husband Jack are co-presidents of the Association and Diane was voted the 2009 Volunteer of the Year. Diane, Jack, and Janet, along with fellow refuge volunteers, Al & Betty Schlecht, and Sharon Cummings, work with dozens of other refuge volunteers to give tremendous support to the refuge staff.

We'd also like to express our sincere appreciation to all of the volunteers with the Friends of Magee Marsh for their efforts during the festival and throughout the year. We'll keep you posted on their Boardwalk Garlic Mustard pulling schedule for next spring so we can all help out!

Judy Kolo-Rose donated a tremendous amount of time and expertise and helped plan and prep for nearly every aspect of the festival, including driving the BSBO Bird Bus! She and her husband Hugh also offered many volunteers food and hospitality at their nearby cottage during the duration of the event.

Laura Shelton traveled all the way from California to volunteer, and boy, did she ever. Laura was amazing. During the 11+ days she was here she never slowed down and never lost that beautiful smile. As I mentioned earlier, birds bring so many wonderful people into our lives. Thank you, Laura!

The Dudes in the Yellow Caps! From left to right: Christian Boix, yours truly, Charlie Hess (behind me), Iain Campbell, Josh Engel, Delores Cole (hiding in the back), Nick Athanas, Sam Woods, Keith Barnes, Michael Retter, and Rebecca Hinkle from Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge. Rebecca is a member of the staff at the refuge, but she's also a valued BSBO volunteer. She put in hundreds of extra hours on the event. She's a tremendous partner and we actually managed to have a lot of fun planning this thing.

We've run out of superlatives to describe the volunteer guides from Tropical Birding. Combine their collective birding skills, larger than life personalities, committment to bird conservation, and, perhaps most important of all, their fabulous Kareoke voices, and you end up with a tour company that will guarantee you a marvelous time on a bird tour -- with or without the birds! The Biggest Week would not be possible without them!

Question: Just how much personality can you cram into one photograph...

Answer: ENORMOUS AMOUNTS! This much charm and charisma should be illegal! Left to right, Iain Campbell of Tropical Birding Tours, Alan Davies of the Biggest Twitch, and Kenn "the Kirtland's Warbler Finder" Kaufman of Kaufman Field Guides. Kenn not only delivered NINE keynote talks during the event, he also wrangled up a Kirtland's Warbler! Man, I love that guy!

Had to throw in a picture of our awesome festival t-shirt, logo designed by Jen Brumfield. If you're like to rest of us and you just can't get enough of Jen's work, visit her website. One dollar from the sale of every Biggest Week t-shirt was donated to the Mindo CloudForest Foundation to support their CarbonNeg program.

So many people gave tons of time and effort before, during, and after the festival. A debt of gratitude is owed to the many volunteers not pictured here. We would espcially like to thank the following speakers and field trip leaders who helped make the event such a success: Elliot Tramer, Dana Bollin, Mike Bergin, Sharon Cummings, Randall Rogers, Jeff Bouton, Ashley Buchanan, David Kryska, Carl Edwards, Bob Faber, and Dan Donaldson. Thank you all, so very much!

Special K

2010-06-02T17:55:00.004-04:00

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 14, was going to be a big day. There’s a certain amount of pressure involved in making predictions like this, especially if people take you seriously! I knew from conversations with birders that many people were planning days off from work, or playing hooky from school, based on my predictions, so I was really sweating it at dawn on May 14th. No matter how closely you study the weather forecasts, it’s always possible that the wind will shift unexpectedly and the predicted big day will turn out to be a dud. But as soon as I arrived out at the Wildlife Beach at Magee Marsh, just after sunrise on May 14, I could tell that this was a great day. Birds were everywhere. The place was swarming with catbirds, orioles, Least Flycatchers, and more than a dozen species of warblers. Silent flocks of Blue Jays were streaming overhead, while thrushes bounced around in the thickets. Anyone who came out on this day would not be disappointed.

I knew that the guides from Tropical Birding (and hundreds of other birders) would be concentrated at the Magee Marsh boardwalk, so I decided to work east along the Wildlife Beach to see what I could find there. I’d been birding the thickets and low trees of this area for a couple of hours, and was just about to turn around and head elsewhere, when I spotted a bird moving across an opening far ahead of me. Superficially it looked like a Palm Warbler, with tail-bobbing habit and all; and I had been seeing a lot of Palm Warblers out there. But something about the bird looked odd. I walked on up to double-check on it.

When I got to the spot, there was a Palm Warbler perched up in a low willow, and at first it seemed that must have been what I saw. But then I froze when I heard a distinctive birdsong from the thickets. A warbler song, but low-pitched and choppy and emphatic for a warbler.

Oh, yeah. Special K.

Kirtland’s Warbler is one of the rarest birds in North America. It was very close to extinction in the 1970s and 1980s, when its population dipped below 350 individuals. Thanks to a lot of hard work by dedicated conservationists, its population is now up over 3000, but that’s still a terrifyingly low number for a songbird. Kirtland’s Warbler nests mainly in a few counties in Michigan and winters in the Bahamas, and extremely few are seen in migration. Our area of northwest Ohio is the best place in the world to see migrating Kirtland’s, but even here the species is not seen every year. Some birders have been coming here for many years without ever seeing one.

But there was a Kirtland’s Warbler singing from the thicket in front of me, and there were hundreds of birders, maybe thousands, within a couple of miles of where I stood, because this was the Biggest Week In American Birding. And because it was the Biggest Week, we had made arrangements to get the word out quickly about rarities. I pulled the iPhone out of my pocket and quickly composed one of the short little notes that is fancifully called a "Tweet" in the service called "Twitter." I just tapped in this note:

"Kirtlands on Magee east beach 300 yards east of parking lot Kenn K"

And then I called Kimberly, who was, of course, at the Black Swamp Bird Observatory, the center of the action for the big birding week. At the registration tables at BSBO, we had a giant screen set up to display the Twitter updates, and as Kim answered the phone, my note about the Kirtland’s Warbler popped up on the screen.

If I’d had any doubts earlier about the value of using Twitter for the Biggest Week, those doubts evaporated as the word went out about the Kirtland’s. Out on the Magee boardwalk, out on the trails at Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge, over at the shorebird sites on Stange Road, cell phones beeped and birders read the text message about the rare warbler. Word of mouth spread rapidly from a hundred separate points. I had been all alone on the beach, but within minutes, a stream of birders began arriving.

Ever since I had heard the warbler sing I had been hanging back, staying well away so I wouldn’t risk scaring it before the birders arrived. But as the crowd began to gather, it became apparent that the bird was utterly unconcerned about our presence. It hopped about in the low sumacs and willows, sometimes disappearing into dense growth for a minute but more often coming out to hop on the sand in the open. As the birders gathered, a hundred or two hundred or more at a time in a wide semicircle on the beach, the Kirtland’s Warbler continued to perform like the superstar that it was.

At any moment, the Kirtland’s could have flown a hundred yards south into a closed section of the wildlife area, and it never would have been seen again. But it stayed, and stayed, out in the open. From the time I sent out my "tweet" about the bird at 9:17 a.m. until I finally left after 1:30 p.m., the bird was seldom out of sight, and my best guesstimate was that more than a thousand people came and had great looks at it. Other bloggers who stayed later in the afternoon estimated that more than three thousand people saw the bird! It was so obliging, often moving toward its admiring audience, that even people with little point-and-shoot cameras were able to take pictures, while more serious photographers filled up whole memory cards. Indeed, I suspect that this individual became the most-photographed Kirtland’s Warbler in history.

Swamped with visiting crowds at the Black Swamp Bird Observatory, Kimberly didn’t get out to see this individual; at the only times when she could have gotten away, she stayed to mind the observatory so others could dash back to the beach and see the bird. Of course, Kimberly has seen several Kirtland’s in this area in past years, starting before I ever moved to Ohio, so she was able to visualize the scene and vicariously share in the excitement. This Kirtland’s stayed the entire day, so that people arriving that evening were able to go out to the beach after 7 p.m. and see it. The following morning it was nowhere to be found; so it was a one-day wonder, as migrants often are. But for that one day, that one bird provided tremendous excitement for a lot of happy birders.

Biggest Week In American Birding Recap

2010-06-01T12:15:00.002-04:00

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 personal highlights for me were hearing many people say that the event had inspired them to come out and try birding for the very first time. One young mother, with two small children in tow, stopped back by BSBO to tell me that she had seen 14 species of warblers on her first time out. The festival also introduced hundreds (if not thousands) of birders to other great birding areas along the Lake Shore. BSBO handed out approximately 5000 free copies of birding area maps and directions to places like Mallard Club Marsh, East Harbor State Park, Toussaint Wildlife Area, and Oak Openings Preserve Metropark. It was great fun to have people stop back in to tell us how much they enjoyed exploring these other areas and sharing their sightings.

I cannot find the words to express our gratitude to the multitude of volunteers who made this event possible. Volunteers came from across Ohio, and from Texas, Florida, Colorado, Indiana, Illinois, California, and Michigan. It was truly the ultimate example of teamwork and I thank you all for the incredible effort you all put into this event. From driving busses to handing out registration packets, directing traffic and making copies of maps, serving hot coffee and acting as room monitors, volunteers led the charge and made the event fun for everyone. Thank you all, so much!
(Coming Soon...a tribute to the Biggest Week Volunteers!)

To our partners at Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge and the Ohio Division of Wildlife, thank you for taking on the additional work load of helping to organize and host this major event. All this in addition to the extraordinary work that you do to manage the habitat that plays a critical role in the survival of millions of migratory birds. I'm humbled by the work that you do.

To Kenn Kaufman and Kaufman Field Guides, a debt of gratitude for presenting NINE keynote talks, helping lead field trips, keeping the "Birding Pages" updated with predictions on migration, and of course, for finding the Kirtland's Warbler that delighted thousands of people on Friday.

To the volunteer guides from Tropical Birding, aka "The Dudes in the Yellow Caps," who volunteered their expert services during the Biggest Week, thanks for changing the lives of hundreds of beginning birders over the course of the last 11 days. Your expertise was evident and your enthusiasm infectious. It was a pleasure working with all of you.

To the staff at BSBO...omg, you are just the most remarkable people I will ever meet! I'm so proud to be a part of your team!

And finally, to Rebecca Hinkle and Delores Cole: It was an honor to work alongside you both during this long year of planning. I've learned so much, laughed so hard, and loved every minute of it. You two represent the reason why this event was such a success.

We'll be posting a more comprehensive summary of the event, bird and birder photos, and dates for next year's Biggest Week soon at: www.biggestweekinamericanbirding.com

The Biggest Week In American Birding Sponsorship Flock!

2010-06-01T11:58:00.009-04:00

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 offered complete support of the “birding thing” right from the start. Their fast and furious support was such a huge dose of inspiration and we owe them a debt of gratitude.

The American Birding Association helped promote this event in a major way with extensive (and totally sexy) coverage in the January 2010 edition of BIRDING Magazine. The ABA held a board meeting and hosted their annual membership meeting in the area as well, helping to draw more participants from across the country.

Our friends at Schaffner Publications created, printed, and distributed 6000 copies of a beautiful Biggest Week visitors guide. They also offered tons of coverage in the local papers as well. A great spread in The Beacon featuring a gorgeous photo of a Black-throated Blue Warbler by Brian Zwiebel, brought people out to see what this birding thing was all about. Many thanks to John Schaffner and Angie Adair for their tremendous support.

If you picked up one of the Biggest Week registration packets, you were probably surprised to find a very special piece of “swag” inside. John Robinson donated 1000 copies of his wonderful and very important book, Birding For Everyone: Encouraging People of Color to Become Birdwatchers. John gave a program, led field trips, and signed copies of his book too.

The Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Birder’s World Magazine, and Eagle Optics, all offered generous support with promotions, advertising, and on the ground assistance as well. They also survived the “vendor pit” we attempted that quickly reminded us of why this area was historically referred to as The Great Black Swamp. We considered having a mud wrestling contest/fundraiser, but everyone chickened out because it was too cold. Oh well, maybe next year… ; )

Jen Brumfield designed our fabulous logo, the Ottawa County Visitors Bureau provided generous financial support (as well as donating many volunteer hours!), Time & Optics, Miller Boat Line, Bird Watcher’s Digest, Nikon Sport Optics, Brian Zwiebel, Marblehead Peninsula, Port Clinton, and Oak Harbor Chambers of Commerce, all supported the event in important ways as well.

Many bloggers participated and blogged about the event. Mike Bergin, of 10,000 Birds, gave his program, Around The World In 80 Blogs, and people loved it! Thanks to all the bloggers who shared the magic of this area through their sites.

And finally, to the communities along this remarkable Lake we call Erie…
Thank you for embracing this wonderful pastime and the birds that are at the center of it. Thank you for supporting the habitat these birds depend on for their survival and for understanding that, if we all work together, we can ensure that future generations will enjoy these winged wonders that captivate and fascinate us with their extraordinary colors, their beautiful songs, and the amazing journeys they endure each year…stopping by to delight us on the way.

Whitewater

2010-05-30T17:00:00.004-04:00

From the far side of the rapids, Kenn writes: We screen the comments that come in before they’re posted on the blog. Most of the comments are wonderful, all are appreciated, and we post almost all of them. One that we didn’t post came in from "Anonymous" a couple of weeks ago -- taking us to task for the fact that we hadn’t updated the blog since April 10th. "Why bother to have a blog, there in the ‘warbler capital of the world,’ if you never post to it?" It went on to imply that we must be pretty lazy, or worse, to fail to keep the blog rolling.

Gee, "Anonymous," we’re glad that you missed us. A lot has been going on here. The best analogy that comes to mind is that being here in northwestern Ohio in May is like a modified version of whitewater rafting. But instead of roaring down the river, the raft is tethered to one spot, bucking and pitching wildly while the whitewater rapids of spring migration come pouring around and under and over those of us who are clinging to the raft.

The Lake Erie shoreline in northwest Ohio -- specifically the area centered on Magee Marsh Wildlife Area and Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge -- is one of the best spots in North America to see concentrations of spring migrant songbirds, especially warblers. I wrote about this area in Birding, the magazine of the American Birding Association, earlier this year; you can read the article here. Every spring, hundreds of thousands of birds, and tens of thousands of birders, come pouring through this region.

Numbers of visiting birders had been growing in recent years, so this year we decided to hold an event to engage with them and try to enhance their experience. Wild brainstorming about it a year ago led to the formation of the BIGGEST WEEK IN AMERICAN BIRDING -- and it was big! For starters, it was a week that was eleven days long, May 6 through 16. It was hosted by five different organizations: Black Swamp Bird Observatory, Tropical Birding tours, Kaufman Field Guides, Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge, and Magee Marsh Wildlife Area (a unique partnership of a nonprofit, two for-profit companies, a federal agency, and a state agency). Of course, Kimberly and I represented two of the five partners, so we were kept busy! It was sponsored by a wide variety of organizations and companies, from Leica Sport Optics (Leica's Jeff Bouton gave many digiscoping demonstrations) to the American Birding Association. Sean Logan, the director of Ohio's Department of Natural Resources, came up from Columbus to speak at the opening ceremony, and U.S. Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur (in whose district the event took place) sent a letter and sent a top-ranking member of her staff to the opening ceremony as well.

Throughout the event, there were multiple field trips and birdwalks every day, many of them free of charge, led by skilled guides from Tropical Birding. Throughout the event, there were daytime workshops and evening programs held at multiple sites. I personally gave evening keynote talks on nine different nights! Throughout the event, we were doing constant updates on bird sightings via Twitter, making this the first bird festival to use this new opportunity. Throughout the event, and for weeks before and after, Kimberly was working 14 to 17 hour days, since Black Swamp Bird Observatory was the center for organization and registration for the event. Throughout the event, we had to stay on our toes, since Kimberly and I both wound up on radio or television or in the newspapers multiple times, talking about birding. And throughout the event (and before and after), I was keeping up almost-daily updates on weather, migration, and latest bird sightings, by way of another blog that "Anonymous" apparently didn’t know about (you can read it here) -- I wrote no fewer than 30 posts on that blog between mid-April and the end of May.

The whole 11-day event was a fabulous time, with lots of birds, lots of great friends to share the birds with, and lots of opportunity to introduce brand-new people to birding. My very favorite day, however, was Day 9 of our long week. I’ll describe that in a separate post.

An Incentive Plan

2010-04-10T07:03:00.013-04:00

From the Warbler Capital of the World, Kimberly Writes: Really good motivational speakers make a ton of money by finding ways to inspire people to live better and do more. At Black Swamp Bird Observatory where I'm the executive director, I am always trying to find ways to support and encourage the BSBO team, made up of the finest people on the planet. This group of people just "doing what they do" is enough to inspire me to give all that I can possibly give to birds and bird conservation. I'm also blessed with a husband who not only understands and supports my passion, but shares it---and then some!

But, at BSBO, a nonprofit with limited resources, I often find myself searching for ways to inpsire the staff. No one there makes much money and thankfully, none of them have aspirations of getting rich at this whole bird thing. Everyone at BSBO works super hard, and they overlook the challenges of a cramped workspace, a lot of "antique" office equipment (which is a nice way of saying, Crappy!), low salaries with no benefits, and putting up with me and my hyperactive approach to life. So what can I offer them as an incentives package? What kind of bonus could I give to keep them inspired enough to put up with all the icky stuff and continue to help share BSBO's mission to promote bird conservation through research and education...

Allow me introduce the BSBO Incentive Package: Magnolia Warblers come through Lake Erie Marsh Region (BSBO's "backyard") by the bucket loads! From the first white-spotted tail fan to the last, my eyes never get tired of worshipping Maggies! A few years ago, at the Black Swamp Bird Observatory's primary banding station in Northwest Ohio, we had a monster day, banding more than 1100 birds. I sat in one spot all day, banding nothing but Magnolia Warblers (MAWA in bander's alpha code) and American Redstarts (AMRE). When it was over, my official MAWA banding tally for the day was 391!

Using alpha codes is a great way to take field notes. It takes a while to learn them, but once you do, it makes taking notes much faster and easier. Here's a link to the alpha codes for Ohio Birds, courtesy of BSBO.

As you can see, I'm starting out with the basic level incentives package by sharing the more "common" warblers. Yellow-rumped Warbler is soon to be split by the AOU, so we'll get to start officially calling the ones in the east "Myrtle Warblers" again! Bird banders use the alpha code for Myrtle Warbler (MYWA). Myrtle's come through this area in massive numbers. There are so many, in fact, that some birders will eventually start to say things like, " Oh, never mind, it's just another Yellow-rumped." But, do me a favor. Even if you've seen a bazillion Yellow-rumpeds and you think you REALLY know this bird, I want you to close your eyes and describe the details of its plumage to me. Describe the finer nuances of its field marks. Now, don't cheat! Jot them down on a piece of paper if you'd like, but challenge yourself to see just how well you really know this stunning little bird. I bet you'll be surprised. And, the next time you see a "Butter Butt" as they're often affectionately called, you'll want to spend a little bit more time getting to know this little beauty!

Every incentives package needs an "awwww" factor, right?
Here's ours, one of my all-time faves, the adorable little Wilson's Warbler (WIWA). Awwww, isn't he just the cutest little thing?!

The Chestnut-sided Warbler (CSWA) is one of my favorites
because of the way it changes its look in the fall!
Check out page 319 in the Kaufman Field Guide to Birds of North America for a peek at the CSWA's extreme fall makeover!
Ya gotsta love a bird with a nice fall eye ring!

The eyepopping Cape May Warbler (CMWA).
hmmm....you know, I think this might be my favorite warbler.
Well, at least for today. ; )

There's something about a Canada Warbler (CAWA) that makes me whisper when I say its name. Oh look, a beautiful Canada Warbler... I'm not sure how to explain it, but something about this bird completely captivates me. Okay, maybe the
Canada Warbler is my favorite today...

Zee Zee Zee Zee Zee Zee Zoo Zee...
With their upbeat, buzzy song, Black-throated Green Warblers (BTNW) are always a good source inspiration! Here's a little bird banding quiz for you: Can you think of a reason why the apha code for this bird is
BTNW and not BTGW?

So, what does a nonprofit executive director do to motivate the team on the days when the copier is eating paper, the network drive crashes, the UPS Dude doesn't come, the toilet won't flush, and everyone is feeling like the (EAKI) in the photo on the left looks?

I just remind them that THIS bird is part of the BSBO's world!

KaPow!
This is the BSBO Blackburnian Warbler (BLBW)
Incentives Package - Premium Plan!

And, lest you think we're only about warblers, here's my most favorite sparrow--at least in the looks category. I love the soft and sweet facial expression of Lincoln's Sparrows (LISP). Don't you?!

Yes, in the looks category, I love Lincoln's Sparrows the most. But the White-throated Sparrow (WTSP) definitely has it beat in the song category. Why? Check out page 358 in your Kaufman Bird Guide to find out the answer! ; )

So, these are just a few of the birds that inpsire us at BSBO.
I'd love to hear what birds inpsire you the most, and why?! Tell us here on the blog, become a fan of BSBO on facebook and tell us there, or BOTH!! : )

Those darn "kids"

2010-03-25T08:18:00.014-04:00

From home base in Oak Harbor, Kim Writes: After receiving a flood of eMails asking where in the heck we had disappeared to, I thought I should give an update.

Kenn and I have been busy taking care of our kids.

Now, those of you who have kids know that they require a ridiculous amount of time and attention. Having one kid is like a full-time job and Kenn and I have three, an infant, an adolescent on the verge of adulthood, and one that's all grown up and facing some major changes!

CAUTION: I'm about to subject you to that thing that all proud parents do and show you pictures of our kids.

Here's the baby...

I know all parents say these things about their kids, but, isn't she just the most beautiful thing? We love her, but OMG...this child requires more work than we could have ever imagined! In spite of the fact that we've raised other kids, this one is a handful! Fortunately for us, she's also a very good baby in many ways and everyone loves her. We have people from all over Ohio pitching in to help raise her, and while there are still moments when Kenn and I would like to sell her to the gypsies, I think our baby is going to bring a lot of good to the world. She is so full of bubbly energy that we gave her her own website! Check it out: THE BABY

Our adolescent on the verge of adulthood...

This "kid" has brought incredible joy to our lives, but also requires a lot more attention than the average child. On top of that, "little BSBO" has experienced an astounding growth spurt in the last few years, and people who haven't seen us in a while are completely shocked when they see "little BSBO" now! We're so proud, and we know that "little BSBO" will continue to do really great things for the world. If you're curious about this growth spurt, take a look at these pictures and see what I mean: "little BSBO"

And finally, our "Big Boy." He's all grown up now and has done really well for himself. But, a year or so ago, he realized that it was time to make some major changes, and came running home to Daddy for help. Kenn has been helping him through a remarkable change and the new and improved version will really knock everyone's socks off!

So, there you have it. Our "kids" are great and we love them to pieces, but, whew... it takes a lot of love and dedication to keep up with them.

Birders Gone Wild

2010-03-01T07:39:00.029-05:00

"Birders Gone Wild" ...I knew that would get your attention! ; )

From home base in Oak Harbor, Ohio, Kim writes: After months of planning; after hundreds of hours of careful thought and consideration; after consulting with their wildlife diversity partners and carefully listening to our input; the Ohio Division of Wildlife (ODOW) proudly unveils the Ohio Wildlife Legacy Stamp!

I'll let the ODOW give you the nuts and bolts of the stamp and all the great things the funds it generates will do. It's all on their website HERE. ODOW has done a remarkable job with this thing and the information on the website is incredibly thorough without being boring.
Someone obviously put a great deal of time and thought into every detail of the stamp, from the design of the printed materials to the fabulous information on the website. Someone clearly cares about this stamp being a success and making a difference.

---That someone is Laura Jones.

With the support of many great people at the ODOW, Laura and her team have done an extraordinary job; when you purchase the stamp you'll see what I mean. The attention to detail is apparent before you even get to the stamp itself. I mean, for goodness sakes, even the envelope is beautiful!

Open it up, and the goodies just keep coming.
I'm going to buy a ton of these things as gifts for my friends and family. I'm even going to give them to some of my enemies. Maybe they'll actually start to like me if I give them something this cool! : )

Look at all this great stuff!
Can you believe that you can get all this for just $15 and that $14 of that supports Ohio wildlife conservation?! You know what? My feelings won't be hurt if you just want to leave this blog and go get one (or several!) of these things right now! Go ahead, GO GET ONE (or several) HERE!

Or, you can come to Ohio, attend an absolutely brilliant conference (this thing attracts more than 900 people each year!--yes, I said 900!), order your stamp in advance at a special reduced price, and pick it up with your name tag at the conference! Ohio Wildlife Diversity Conference details HERE.

The 2010 Ohio Wildlife Legacy Stamp!

In addition to the great job they do regulating hunting, fishing, and trapping in the state, the ODOW can also promote and support wildlife diversity initiatives because they are blessed with an all-star staff. ODOW has assembled a team of great people that have mad-skills at all kinds of things. Case in point...

Take a look at the Baltimore Oriole eye candy on the background sheet that the stamp comes on. The artist is Natalie Beale and she works in the
ODOW graphics department.

You also get this fun window cling.
What a deal for $15!

ODOW has really gone all out to prove their commitment to wildlife diversity. Each year they host a Wildlife Diversity Partners Conference to touch base with their partners across Ohio and encourage anyone involved with wildlife education, research, and conservation to work together for the greater good.

The ODOW is so committed to making sure they "get it right" on every level, that they not only brought their diversity partners in to help make decisions at the very start of the Legacy Stamp idea, they actually gave us the honor of selecting the winner of the first photography contest!

---You might just say that Ohio's Division of Wildlife ROCKS!

Speaking of the photography contest winner, I want to mention Russell Reynolds, the amateur photographer who won this year's stamp photography contest. Not only is he a talented photographer, he is also one of the sweetest and most genuine individuals I've ever met. Watch for more on Russell in a future blog post. There's a fragment of his story HERE. Russell will be joining us to autograph copies of the stamp during our International Migratory Bird Day celebration that takes place during the Biggest Week in American Birding. Here are some details: BIGGEST WEEK IN AMERICAN BIRDING

Every birder should buy this stamp. It's a tiny investment that supports some of the world-class birding areas here in Ohio that ODOW maintains and makes accessible to birders and all wildlife enthusiasts; places like Magee Marsh, for example. If you don't live in Ohio, you should still buy a stamp! It'll give you an excuse to come to Ohio and go birding with us and reap the benefits of the great things your contribution will help support.

Return to Ecuador

2010-02-26T17:59:00.059-05:00

From beneath Winter's Lovely White Cloak, Kim writes: Okay, so practically the entire staff at BSBO is in Ecuador right now on a birding trip with our friends at Tropical Birding. Since I've been to Ecuador twice, I volunteered to stay here and mind the office so that our Board would approve the trip for the rest of the gang. I felt really good about my decision. The people at BSBO are among the finest individuals I have ever met anywhere in the world. They work incredibly hard for little or no pay, and they absolutely deserve this fabulous experience.

But...Today I'm kind of bummed. The Tropical Birding guides have been posting some of the birds they've been seeing, and I'd be lying if I said there wasn't a tiny part of me (okay, so it's a moderately large part) that's wishing I was there too. I thought it would help me feel better to take all of you along with me on a trip back in time to our visit to Ecuador in February 2006.

Caution...the trip I am about to relate to you was our honeymoon.
This post may contain mushy, lovee-dovee, who-ha, huggee, kissee, stuff.
You have been warned! ; )

Okay, first things first:
My favorite food of the trip!

I know, right! ewww... It's hard to believe that something that looks this repulsive could taste so, slurpy, sticky, messy good! It helps to know that Passion Fruit starts with the gorgeous, Passion Flower.

Okay, now let's travel to the east slope of the Andes mountains to visit,
Cabanas San Isidro.

The enchanted trail to Cabanas San Isidro

The cottages were simple and beautiful.
But, in spite of the "nature" of our trip, we didn't spend much
time indoors; not with all the birds to see!

Like this handsome male Collared Inca

Next it was on to the Guango Lodge.

Guanga isn't far from San Isidro, in fact, its run by the same family. But there's enough of a change in elevation between the two lodges to result in a different cast of avian characters. That was just one of the many remarkably fascinating things about Ecuador: a slight change in elevation results in a significant change in the flora and fauna.

And, what does Guango have to offer besides a lovely setting, great food, and Torrent Ducks in the stream below the lodge? THIS...

KA-POW!
After several heart pounding, eye-peeling, hand wringing, Kenn squeezing, praying to the gods of bizarre birds, minutes... the highly coveted and totally wicked-cool SWORD-BILLED HUMMINGBIRD shook up the the scene and all the birders gathered at the Guango feeders. I literally had to sit down when I finally saw this bird for the first time. It's like your brain can't wrap itself around the fact that super-stretched bill should belong to this tiny bird. It's nuts!

Well, actually it's flowers.
This flower to be exact...

The Sword-billed's bill shape makes more sense when you see this, doesn't it?!
This is the Datura flower, we encountered it in many locations during our trip. We found it at a range of elevations as well. Here's a closer look at this massively tubular botanical show-off.

Kinda makes you wish you had a 5 inch bill to jam up in there and
suck up all the goodies, doesn't it?! I'll bet it tastes like Tang.

Okay, let's leave Guango and head west back over the Papayacta Pass. We'll drive miles and miles on narrow twisting mountain roads, and eventually cross into the west slope of the Andes--where every inch of the terrain reminds you of what eyeballs were invented for--and arrive at the location where all my BSBO peeps are hanging out right now!

The stairway to heaven.

I'm convinced that Robert Plant must have visited Tandayapa Bird Lodge and the experience was so powerful that it gave birth to the famous Zeppelin tune.
This is where the BSBO staff is staying. They're probably sitting on the patio right now while swarms of hummingbirds entertain them.
Hummingbirds are definitely the stars of the show at Tandayapa.

Check this out! If you can ignore the irritating click of the camera's video action, listen to the sound generated by the sheer numbers of hummers...

The handsome, dashing, newlywed, Kenn Kaufman, on the patio at the Tandayapa Bird Lodge.

Cloud Forest + Tandayapa Patio + Hummingbird Feeders...
Mind = Blown!

This is the supremely adorable Booted Racket-tail. Funny story... During our stay at Tandayapa this very high-strung, totally bird-crazed woman who had obviously rarely ever traveled, kept calling the Booted Racket-tails, "Racketed Bootlegs." hahaha... This went on for several days before anyone had the heart to correct her. Much fun was made (I'm sure) at her expense when she wasn't around. pssst...It was me. I still call them Racketed Bootlegs sometimes. I'm such a dork! : )

Another of my Tandayapa favorites,
the breath-taking, Violet-tailed Sylph.

Now let's head for...The AMAZON!

Deep within the Amazon rain forest , the Sacha Lodge requires a long day's journey to get to, including a ride in a small plane from Quito to Puerto Francisco de Orellana, locally known as Coca, an "exciting" ride through the narrow and very busy streets of Coca, and a two-hour boat ride down the Nappo River.
Once you arrive, it takes all of about 4 seconds to know the effort it took to get there was worth it. ---WOW!

Just one of the featured attractions at Sacha is the Canopy Walk
From the Sacha website: A new and much anticipated addition to Sacha's activities is our 940-foot (275-meter) long canopy walkway. At approximately 94 feet (30 meters) above the ground, imagine exploring the rain forest up in the treetops! This sturdy walkway is fixed to the ground by three metal towers for stability, and offers an unbelievable opportunity to spot dozens of animals and epiphytes seldom seen from the ground. Thousands of colorful birds await to be spotted, and with some luck you might even follow along with troops of monkeys as they forage through the forest canopy. Taking a leisurely walk above the trees on this incredible structure, to emerge even higher on the top of the towers surrounded by an endless sea of rain forest, is an experience not to be missed, and as far as we know found nowhere else in the world.

And, here it is. Amazing, yes! But YIKES!

Kenn braves the stomach-churning heights of the Canopy Walk.

It looks scary, and it is! But, check out the view...

The biodiversity at Sacha is overwhelming.
On our first day we saw:

Lots of Squirrel Monkeys

This HUGE and crazy-weird caterpillar

One of my trip faves... This white frog. That is to say, it started out white! But, as I got closer to photograph it, it very slowly turned a dark salmon pink. Even our seasoned guide, Oscar, was trippin out over this thing.

First white...

And then pink...COOL!

This Three-toed Sloth was WAY out there, but I couldn't resist taking this really bad photo.

We heard what I consider to be one of the world's most beautiful bird songs.
I never did get a decent photo, but I did capture the magical song of the Musician Wren:

And finally...

During this trip, I was blessed with, perhaps, the single-most extraordinary bird-related experience of my life: a trip to visit Refugio Paz de las Aves, or Refuge of the Birds' Peace.

Angel Paz with Kenn

Angel Paz has become legendary for his ability to "speak" to the most elusive of forest dwelling skulkers, the antpittas. I could never begin to describe the religious experience of this place, and I never imagined that anyone else could, either. When we got back from our honeymoon, Kenn wanted to write about our experience with Angel in his column for Bird Watcher's Digest. Kenn is my all-time favorite nature writer, but I was hesitant. I honestly feared that no one, not even my Kenn, could capture and convey the magnitude of this experience.
---I was wrong.

When I read the column, I was transported. I trembled at the moment when the first Andean Cock-of-the Rock, indeed, ROCKED the forest with its insanely piercing call. I held my breath as the first Giant Antpitta emerged from the vegetation to snatch up Angel's wormy offering. I gasped at the site of this once mysterious bird, revealed. I wept at the remarkable gentleness of this simple man and his love for his mountain and his birds.
...and I fell in love with my husband all over again.

---read The Antpitta Whisperer
After the Spark, July/August 2006
Bird Watcher's Digest

Manuel, the Giant Antipitta makes his appearance:

If you love birds and nature and you have the desire to travel, then I hope that someday you will be able to experience Ecuador. The plethora of biodiversity will leave you feeling blessed and breathless. I can't wait to hear the tales from the BSBO'ers when they return!

The Antpitta Whisperer

2010-02-26T09:12:00.000-05:00

For Bird Watcher's Digest column “After the Spark”
by Kenn Kaufman
July-August 2006 issue

THE ANTPITTA WHISPERER

After a lifetime of pursuing rare and wonderful birds on all seven continents, I have just had the strangest experience of my birding career. The following may sound like weird fiction, but it’s all true.

The story begins with the Andean cock-of-the-rock. It’s a bird as odd as its name, the size and shape of a football, living in mountain forests of western South America. Males are brilliant flaming orange-red, but in mating season they don’t rely on mere color. Groups of males, a dozen or more, gather at traditional dancing grounds called leks at mid-levels in the forest, and hop about while they make odd calls. At times, perhaps when a female is nearby, the lek erupts into a frenzy of bobbing and bowing, twanging and growling and squealing. This is a bird made for stardom, made for television, and the weirdest thing is that it’s not even the subject of this story. It’s just the catalyst.

Ecuador was the first nation in South America where ecotourism had a significant impact on the economy, with hordes of tourists visiting the Galapagos and the Amazon Basin. On the west slope of the Ecuadorian Andes, in the Mindo - Tandayapa area, a number of lodges cater specifically to traveling bird watchers, and several locals now make their living as birding guides. This news was not lost on a local farmer named Angel Paz, a man who loved nature. Of the 70 hectares that he owned, he farmed only 30 and had left the other 40 covered with its original growth of subtropical forest. On his property there was a lek of Andean cocks-of-the-rock, and Paz reasoned that tourists might pay to watch these birds, generating some extra income to help support his family.

So Mr. Paz set out to make a good trail through the forest from his house to the lek. He was by nature a quiet, gentle man, and one day as he was working on cutting the trail, he noticed a large, plump, gray-brown bird lurking nearby. He didn’t know its name but he knew it was a ground-dweller with a haunting, hooting voice, a shy bird, hard to approach. But this individual was only a few yards away. Paz’s shovel had just turned up an earthworm, and on a whim, he tossed the worm to the lurking bird. Instead of running away, the bird bounded forward on its long legs and swallowed the worm.

Intrigued, Paz took on the challenge of winning the trust of this shy forest bird. He would watch for it every day, and if he could approach closely enough, he would toss a worm to it. The bird learned to associate Paz with these morsels, and eventually it would come when he called - - he had named it “Manuel” - - to grab a handout before vanishing into the forest undergrowth. Paz began working to train other shy forest birds to take worms from him. For a quiet farmer who loved nature, this was just a way of getting closer to the wildlife on his land.
Paz had not abandoned his plan to bring birding tourists to see the Andean cocks-of-the-rock, and after he contacted the local birding lodges, he had his first group of visitors. The birders enjoyed watching the lek, and as they were on their way out, Paz thought they might be interested to see Manuel, his shy forest bird. But they were a lot more than merely interested. The visitors went berserk. Manuel, as it turned out, was one of the most legendary elusive birds in all of South America, a giant antpitta.

Antpittas live only in the American tropics, and they are unlike anything found in the United States. Round-bodied, short-necked, short-tailed, long-legged, an antpitta looks sort of like a dingy grapefruit perched atop two soda straws. Even their name is cobbled together: they bear a vague resemblance to birds called pittas in the Old World tropics, and they are distantly related to tropical American birds that habitually follow army ant swarms. To say that antpittas are heard more often than seen would be the grossest understatement. In my travels in Central and South America I have seen a few antpittas, but usually it has required an excruciating effort. Many types of antpittas are easy to imitate, and you can whistle an imitation, or play a tape recording, and the bird will call back to you for hours, approaching closely through the undergrowth, but most of the time you will never get a glimpse. Even the most numerous antpittas are exceedingly difficult to see. Those antpittas that are genuinely scarce are almost never seen by anyone. So it’s not hard to understand why the visiting birders went crazy at the sight of unassuming Mr. Paz feeding worms to one of the rarest and least-known of this whole tribe of elusive birds.

And it’s not hard to understand why Kim and I had to go see this phenomenon for ourselves. We had run into our friend Martin Reid at Guango Lodge on the east slope, and he had told us all about it, so as soon as we arrived at the Tandayapa Bird Lodge we had to ask: “What’s the deal with this guy who has the antpittas?” It’s easy, we were told. We’ll just make a phone call, and Mr. Paz will meet you in the morning and take you to his bird sanctuary.

So an hour before first light, we were driving down the Tandayapa Valley to the main highway and turning west toward the town where Paz was to meet us. It was raining, and we wondered if he would show up after all; but right at the main intersection in the highway town of Nanegalito, under a streetlight, sat a motorcycle with three rain-jacketed figures. Mr. Paz had come through the rain by motorbike, and he had brought his wife and young son along. His wife climbed in the back seat of our rental jeep to make sure we didn’t get lost, and Mr. Paz and his boy went speeding up the highway ahead of us, then zooming off on a side road, muddy with the night’s rain, across a couple of rushing streams, through slick patches and deep patches, miles through the dark until we finally reached the humble home of the Paz family.

After the nerve-wracking drive, it was a relief just to take flashlights and walk the trail to the observation blind to watch the cocks-of-the-rock displaying and showing off at first light. Amazing and spectacular they were, a fitting warm-up act. For nearly an hour we watched them, and after they dispersed, Kim and I followed Mr. Paz deeper into the forest.

This was our first chance to really look at Angel Paz in daylight. His first name had the Spanish pronunciation of AHN-hel, of course, but it meant the same thing as the English word, and his last name translated to “peace.” As if his personality had been shaped by his name, he was an exceptionally gentle man, his voice soft but filled with conviction. He had named his land Refugio Paz De Las Aves, a nice play on words meaning both the Paz Bird Refuge and the refuge of the birds’ peace. He was at peace with the birds, all right. We would soon see that for ourselves.

His son had brought a dish of earthworms dug up elsewhere on the farm. Stopping by a stream, Paz explained that he had to wash these worms before offering them to the antpittas.

Wash them? He didn’t just wash the worms. He bathed them. He baptized them. The careful, intense washing of the worms went on for twenty minutes. It brought to mind a master chef preparing gourmet delicacies for the queen, not a farmer preparing bird food. But Paz was no ordinary farmer. Finally finishing the ritual of washing, he stood looking and listening intently for a minute, and then led us slowly down the trail.

My curiosity had reached a fever pitch now, wondering what would happen next. The forest had been relatively quiet in the rain this morning, with few bird calls, and even now that the rain had stopped I had not heard anything that sounded like an antpitta. Where we were standing now there was no sign of any bird. But apparently Paz was going to call the bird to come to us.

“Manuel!” Paz shouted suddenly, and I jumped; it was the first time we had heard him raise his voice. “Manuel! Venga, venga!” (Come, come!) “Venga, venga, venga, Manuel!” Yeah, right, I said to myself. This had to be some kind of practical joke. At any moment now, no doubt, Mr. Paz would laugh and start speaking English, and would tell us that he and our friend Martin had hatched this crazy stunt to see how gullible we were. But looking into his face, it was clear he was not joking. Paz was peering with a deep intensity at a spot in the dense undergrowth alongside the trail ahead. . . a spot where a hulking shape lurked among the foliage. It had come silently and it was barely visible, a darker shadow among shadows, and then it was gone again. But we knew something had been there. Paz knew it too. “Manuel,” he said, more quietly now. “Manuel! Venga.”

And before our unbelieving eyes, Manuel did come. The bird hopped out into the open, out into the center of the muddy trail.

Books describe the giant antpitta’s size by giving a total length of about ten inches from the tip of its bill to the end of its tail. That’s about the same as an American robin, but the robin is a slim bird and its tail accounts for about a third of its length. The giant antpitta, by contrast, is a bulky round-bodied bird with essentially no tail at all, and on its long legs it stands well over a foot tall. It’s a big bird, and a weird-looking one as well, with a punched-in bill, fat neck, big eyes, and squiggles of black on its rusty belly. Some might call it ugly. For us, it was beautiful.

We were frozen where we stood, but Paz crept forward a couple of steps and then gently tossed an earthworm out onto the trail. The giant antpitta cocked its head, bounded forward with great springy hops, grabbed the worm, and retreated into the undergrowth. A few moments later it reappeared, coming closer this time. Paz fed the antpitta three more times, and for one of these the bird came up to only a few inches away from his outstretched hand. But it never lost its furtive look, and after four worms it melted away silently into the forest.

During the next hour and a half, numb with disbelief, Kim and I followed Paz as he led us along the trails through his forest. He called out a smaller species, the yellow-breasted antpitta, and then a second one at another spot, and then a third. He tried calling another giant antpitta (“Maria”), but she didn’t come, and Paz explained that she might have been out of earshot. He called out a moustached antpitta, quite a rare bird in Ecuador, and he called a nervous little flock of dark-backed wood-quail.

These were all birds I had never seen before, for all my travels in South America, and I went away with a profound respect for Mr. Angel Paz and his Refuge of the Birds’ Peace. My friends and I had always pursued these shy forest birds with our high-quality tape recorders and binoculars and maps and reference books and rented four-wheel-drives, and we usually struck out on actually seeing the birds. We were outclassed by a quiet man armed only with patience, love of the forest, and a dish of earthworms.

As naturalists, we value diversity, and we go to places like Ecuador because there are so many varieties of birds there. However, diversity among the naturalists is a good thing too. Our standard American / European approach to bird watching is fine, but it’s not the only one. No doubt many international birders will descend on the Paz Bird Refuge as its fame grows, and they will be thrilled to see their first giant antpitta. I hope they will all understand that the rarest creature there is not the antpitta, but the remarkable Mr. Paz himself.

---Copies of this issue of Bird Watcher's Digest are available online by clicking HERE.

Petal to the Medal / Bird on a Wire

2010-02-13T09:00:00.013-05:00

From Home base in Oak Harbor, Ohio, Kim writes: After a very long day, this is what I arrived home to last night:

Aren't they lovely?! If there was a medal for world's most beautiful flower arrangement, these flowers would take solid gold. The best part is that they came on a random day: Not my birthday. Not our anniversary. Not Valentine's Day. Just another day in the life of being married to a very sweet and thoughtful man.

Okay, I know this is supposed to be a birding blog. So, I'll give you a bird fix.

Our friend and great birder, Carl Edwards, is a lifelong Floridian and he lives near the Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge, so he joined us for Kenn's keynote talk at the refuge last Saturday. The talk was sold out--standing room only--and they actually blocked the door and had a refuge volunteer keeping people from squeezing in. Well, Carl spent a little too much time out birding and arrived a few minutes late, so he had to ninja his way past the door police to get in. (Nothing like a good bird ninja!).

Kenn with Carl "the bird ninja" Edwards.

After Kenn's talk, Carl really wanted to take us to a few of his favorite birding spots, but Kenn and I needed to start the long drive back to Ohio. On our way out to the parking lot I was crying the blues to Carl about how I had really hoped to see a Snail Kite on this trip. He consoled me with a "maybe next time," and we said our goodbyes.

Kenn and I stopped for gas, tossed a coin about which route to take out of the gas station parking lot, and off we went. We hadn't driven a 1/4 of a mile when I noticed this dude alongside the road, standing outside his vehicle, flailing his arms and jumping up and down. At first I was thinking - News Headline: Florida Residents Reveal The True Meaning Behind the "SNAP" in Cold Snap! And then I realized that it was CARL! SO then I was thinking,"Well, too much birding and lack of sleep had finally taken its toll on Carl," but as we zipped past at 70 mph, I noticed he was actually pointing at something on a wire above this narrow canal. Oh man, could it be...

It was! A young male Snail Kite was walking the high wire, searching for snails from this primo vantage point above the canal.

After some pretty crazy freeway maneuvers to get back to the spot, we spent several glorious minutes appreciating this bird at a supremely close range.

We stood spell bound for several minutes, and then he ripped off the wire and the wind grabbed him and blew him right over my head.

KaPow! What a magnificent bird.
Kenn pointed out that the flight style of Snail Kites is much more relaxed than most raptors. After all, their prey are snails; no need get all fired up the chase.

He sashayed down into the canal and when he came back up he had a prize.
You can see it in his talons. I hope my friend Dave will give me props for this "Birds From Behind" photo!

He returned to his spot on the wire with his catch.

Eventually he settled in to chow his snail.
It was amazing to see the highly adapted bill and talons at work, getting to the heart of the snail matter.

Did anyone notice that the bird was banded? Kenn and I are working on blowing up the image to the point of reading the band. Unfortunately the light was really harsh, so the pictures aren't exactly razor sharp, but we're trying.

Thanks again, Carl! I appreciate the lengths that you will go to help me see a particular bird.

Happy Birding, ya'll!

A favor, pretty please!

2010-02-08T08:13:00.011-05:00

From Ohio's Winter Wonderland, Kim Writes: Kenn and I arrived back in Ohio around 2:00 this morning from our adventures in Florida. We had originally planned to stay an extra night and come home late this afternoon, but, the roads were clear and dry, our "rockin rental minivan" had satellite radio, and we were all hopped up on Girl Scout Cookies that we purchased from a pig-tailed entrepreneur, who had gotten permission to set up a stand at Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge during Everglades Day. We stopped at this great farm market right at the entrance to the Refuge with the intention of buying all this great fresh fruit. BUT...we spotted the sad little face of "The Cookie Racketeer" and she made us an offer we couldn't refuse.
(Don't you think the Thin Mint should be declared our National Cookie?!)

We've got tons to tell you about the trip and the two events, Space Coast Birding & Wildlife Festival and Everglades Day at the Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge, that took us there in the first place. But first, I just had to share this exciting news with you...

If you know what a bird is. And you know what a blog is. Then you probably know all about Charlie, Mike, and Corey, and their blog, 10,000 Birds. But, what you might not know is that, in addition to all the great stuff they're already doing, they've created a very special opportunity for visitors to their blog to support conservation!

The Conservation Club is a brilliant concept. All it takes is $25 and you're a member, and 100% of your $25 goes to support a conservation organization selected by the 10,000 Birds crew. Yep! It's truly that simple. They make it easy to join too, with convenient online registration and payment options. I hope you'll consider joining!

Kenn and I were so impressed by this effort that we decided to donate THREE COMPLETE SETS of Kaufman Field Guides as incentive for people to join. The give-away starts today, so get on over there and check it out---if for no other reason than to see what they call Kenn in the announcement about the field guides... *giggling like a school girl!*

And, here's a little teaser for what we have to share with you about the Florida festivals and birds and manatees and snakes and birds and birds and birds....

A very personable Limpkin at the Viera Wetlands in Melbourne, Florida.
Viera Wetlands is on the map right now because of the Masked Duck that has been hanging out there. We did see it, and he was a handsome lad, for sure. But, how can you resist a Limpkin that's practically stepping on you toes and calling like a maniac?!

The bizarre, yet lovely, Roseate Spoonbill,
photographed at the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge.
The spoonbills are coming into their full breeding plumage right now and they are the ugliest, yet most spectacularly beautiful, mixed-message in the bird world.

Okay, now get on over to 10,000 Birds and have a go at winning a set of the best field guides, EVER! : )

Thanks, everyone!
~kimmer

Sky Watch Friday

2010-02-05T09:40:00.004-05:00

From somewhere near Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge, Kenn and Kim write: We have much to share from our amazing experience at the Space Coast Birding & Wildlife Festival last week. But for now, in celebration of Sky Watch Friday, we offer you this sizzling sunset over the marshes and mudflats of Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge.

Changes at National Audubon

2010-01-23T23:03:00.007-05:00

From Oak Harbor, Ohio, Kenn writes: It’s not easy being the president of the National Audubon Society (NAS). This is a very large and very decentralized organization, with hundreds of local chapters that often act autonomously. Many of these chapters have been in existence for a very long time and have developed very strong personalities, so to speak, and in some cases there has been friction between the chapters and the national office for decades. Then there’s an identity problem: the media may think of Audubon as a birdwatching organization, but the birdwatchers think of it as an environmental organization. The truth is that it’s somewhere in between, an environmental org focused on birds, wildlife, and their habitat. The president of this group has to juggle all kinds of conflicting personalities, and at the same time, try to save the world.

I have worked for National Audubon (not as an employee, but continuously on contract) for 25 years now, first as associate editor of American Birds (which they published until the late 1990s) and more recently as a field editor for Audubon Magazine. For the last 15 years of that time, the president of Audubon has been a dynamic, hard-working individual named John Flicker. Despite being named for a bird, he’s not mainly a bird person. He was trained in law and he did impressive things with The Nature Conservancy before coming to NAS. But when the situation called for it, John would get out there in the field with the Audubon troops, pursuing bird sightings with zest and energy. He did everything with zest and energy, and he accomplished a lot in his time at Audubon.

Left: John Flicker. Right: Northern Flicker. Illustrations not to scale.

The news this week was that Flicker is stepping down as NAS president, going on to do different things. Already, some people are offering assessments of his term. John was a major believer in the value of Audubon Centers, and he pushed an initiative called a “2020 Vision” that aimed to open a thousand such centers by the year 2020. I don’t think the initiative is on track to hit that one thousand mark (after all, that would be about one per week for 20 years), but many Audubon Centers have opened and they are already having a fabulous positive influence -- for example, here in Ohio, the Grange Insurance Audubon Center, right in the heart of Columbus, is perfectly situated to reach a large urban audience and teach them about nature. Many other centers are also up and running. So even if the effort falls short of 1,000 by 2020, it would be totally wrong to call it a failure.

I’ve heard a few people comment that NAS lost members during John Flicker’s term. That’s true in a narrow sense, but the fact is that the majority of membership organizations and publications have declined in the last 15 years, as people have gotten more and more of the same benefits from joining online communities. I think it’s a credit to Flicker that Audubon is still as strong as it is.
National Audubon is launching a search for the next president. But in the meantime, big news for birders is that the interim head of NAS will be Dr. Frank Gill, Audubon’s senior scientist. Frank is a world-class ornithologist and a remarkable dynamo who has done so many things that it’s hard to keep track of them all. Like some of the very best ornithologists, he started off as a rabid kid birder, and he went on to do research that took him all over the world: studying sunbirds in Africa, white-eyes and seabirds on islands in the Indian Ocean, hermit hummingbirds in South America, as well as landmark studies of warblers and chickadees in North America. He headed up the bird department at the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia for several years before going to Audubon as senior vice-president for science. While at the Academy, he started project VIREO (the world’s foremost scientific collection of bird photos) and launched the Birds of North America project (now online at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology). He was responsible for the worldwide list of standardized bird names of the International Ornithological Congress. His textbook on Ornithology, now in its third edition, is a standard college text.

I could go on about what he’s done. But mainly I wanted to add a personal note. Frank has been a friend of mine since the late 1980s, when I worked for him at the Academy for a couple of years; and in addition to being a great ornithologist, he’s also a great birder, and tons of fun to hang out with. At the Academy and later at the Audubon offices, a familiar sound was Frank’s booming laugh echoing down the hallway. Conversation with him is always a dizzying experience; he comes up with enough new ideas in a day to keep a normal person occupied for a year. A day in the field with him is a combination of perceptive birding, deep insights, and crazy jokes, in about equal measures. Frank Gill is brilliant, dynamic, down-to-earth, and totally dedicated to birds. He’s only the interim president of Audubon, but while he’s in charge there, the organization is definitely in good hands.

The press release from NAS is here:

Thanks For The Mammal Reads

2010-01-16T23:09:00.004-05:00

From Oak Harbor, Ohio, Kenn writes: Way back last year -- on December 25th -- I wrote a post about a wild animal that we observed at our bird feeder. In case you don’t remember or didn’t see the post, here’s another picture of this wily creature:

Actually, if you didn’t read it, I’d like you to scroll back to Dec. 25 and read that post and tell me: could you tell that I was trying to be humorous, or was it just too subtle?

The reason I ask is that, in that post, I didn’t mention what kind of squirrel it was. I was trying to strike a familiar chord with all those people who have had their bird feeders emptied by voracious squirrels. This has happened to a lot of people, but it isn’t always the same kind of squirrel. In the U.S. and Canada there are at least eight species of tree squirrels, plus various ground squirrels and chipmunks, that will come to bird feeders at least occasionally. If I had started to get technical about the particular type of squirrel that was chowing down at our feeder, the post would have bogged down in detail.

It was sort of like saying: "Don’t you hate it when your neighbor’s dog barks all night?" instead of saying, "Don’t you hate it when your neighbor’s three-year-old female beagle-spaniel mix with three white paws and one brown paw barks all night?" If your statement is more general, it’s easier for people to relate.

Anyway, after that blog post was published, I got three anonymous comments -- one mild, two (not published) pointedly snarky -- taking me to task for not identifying the species of squirrel. "Do you think all squirrels are the same kind?" "Are you so narrow-minded that you can’t even identify the squirrels in your own yard?"

So -- okay, the animal at our feeder was an Eastern Fox Squirrel. Our area of northwest Ohio also hosts Eastern Gray Squirrel and Red Squirrel, as well as Southern Flying Squirrel, but the Eastern Fox Squirrel is more common out in the farm country with scattered towns and scattered groves of trees.

To quote from published information: "Very common in many areas east of the Rockies, in open woods and parklike areas with large scattered trees and an open understory. It is often found in the same forests as the Eastern Gray Squirrel, but because it favors more open habitats, it is more numerous in the midwest ... Less arboreal than some of its relatives, this squirrel spends a lot of time foraging on the ground ... Like most tree squirrels, Eastern Fox Squirrels have a varied diet. Acorns and other nuts are staple items, but they also eat flowers, buds, seeds, bark, fungi, birds’ eggs, insects, and sometimes carrion. They also raid bird feeders, but because they are not as agile as Eastern Gray Squirrels, they are more easily foiled by strategic placement of feeders in places they can’t reach."

I’m happy to say that the source of that information is the Kaufman Field Guide to Mammals of North America, written by Nora Bowers, Rick Bowers, and myself, published in 2004 with a slight update in 2007. So, um, to answer the question from one person who commented on the Dec. 25 post: Yes, I do know what kind of squirrel it was.

The book’s treatment of Eastern Fox Squirrel includes a full page of text, a range map, a diagram of the tracks, and six color illustrations. That’s more detail than some species receive, but every North American mammal is treated in the book. I hope I don’t sound too horribly conceited in mentioning this book, but I'm proud of the way it turned out. It’s an excellent guide -- not because of me, but because of hard work by Nora and Rick Bowers as writers and photographers, by Stacy Fobar as managing editor for the project, by Eric Powell on digital graphics, by expert consultants Christine Hass, Nancy Mann, and Ronnie Sidner, by my editor Lisa White at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, and by more than 50 photographers who contributed to the book. If you’re interested in wildlife, I would encourage you to consider picking up a copy.

Okay, enough of this. Who cares about mammals, anyway? Let’s get back to birds!

This sounds interesting...

2010-01-11T20:01:00.006-05:00

Some friends of ours are partnering to present a REALLY cool birding event for beginners! The festival is a partnership between U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, American Birding Association, and Tropical Birding Tours, and ALL EVENTS ARE FREE!!

Here's the Festival 411:
Great Logo too, btw!!

Saturday & Sunday, February 20-21, 2010
7:00 am - 8:00 PM each day.
Location: Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge

If you have an interest in birds and have wanted to learn more but felt intimidated we have created the perfect event for you. Winter is a great time to see some amazing birds such as large groups of eagles, flocks of beautiful tundra swans and owls.
Bundle up, bring lots of questions and discover the amazing world of winter birding.

An amazing array of birding professionals will be on hand to answer questions and share their knowledge of these fascinating animals. Avid birders also come along share your experience and passion and let's make this a great weekend. Sign up for one, or all, of the events.
Call 734-692-7649 for information and registration.

Due to size restrictions and to accommodate as many participants as we can, programming is identical for Saturday and Sunday.

EVENT PROGRAM
Identical for Saturday & Sunday:

Time: 7:00 a.m. - 8:00 a.m.
Program Title: Sunrise on Lake Erie
Program Description: Bring a hot drink and watch the sun rise over Lake Erie.
This is a great opportunity to see ducks in flight as well as gulls found in this area only in winter.
Location: Lady of the Lake at Consumers Energy J.R. Whiting Plant

Time: 8:30 a.m. - 10:30 a.m.
Program Title: Eagles and More Viewing Tour
Program Description: The warm water discharged from the plant keeps the water free from ice and provides great fishing opportunities for eagles as well as other waterfowl. Tour is limited to 30 participants.
Location: DTE Monroe Power Plant (limit 30 participants)
Details: Registration required.

Time: 11:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m
Program Title: Winter Visitors
Program Description: Pointe Mouillee, a premier birding location, is a great spot this time of year for many birds that can be found in the Arctic during the summer such as snow buntings, horned larks, and possibly the snowy owl.
Location: Pointe Mouillee State Game Area.
Details: Registration required.

***** LUNCH BREAK *****

Time: 2:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Program Title: Long Way from Home: Tundra Swans
Program Description: Large flocks of waterfowl can often be found in the river this time of the year. Learn where they are from and why they are here. Meet at the Marshlands Museum.
Location: Lake Erie Metropark.
Details: There is a $5 entrance fee, free with a Metroparks Annual Pass.

Time: 5:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.
Program Title: Dinner and Evening Presentations:
Presentations: "Best Birding in the United States" Josh Engel, Tropical Birding"
"Getting the Most Out of Our Planet" Iain Campbell, co-founder of Tropical Birding Location: Hotel Sterling in Monroe, Michigan.
Details: Limited to 40 participants; Programs are free; dinner is additional cost;
Registration required.

Call for price details. For registration or more information call: 734-692-7649.
Don't have the right supplies...we do! Binoculars and bird field guides are available to borrow upon request.

Answers to the Birdly Abodes Quiz

2010-01-10T14:00:00.000-05:00

From Home base in Oak Harbor, Kim writes: Thank you all for taking the bird nest quiz. The answers are revealed below each photo.

Nest Number One:

A couple people guessed, Rufous Hornero, and they were correct! This nest was photographed at Costanera Sur Ecological Reserve in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
It was pointed out to us by a guy I jokingly referred to as, "The Naked Naturalist." I wrote a blog post about this several months ago. If you missed the story the first time, here's a link to it. The Naked Naturalist

Nest Number Two: This one stumped everyone.
It's the remarkably beautiful nest of the Hermit Thrush.
The photo was taken at one of my all-time favorite places,
Hog Island Audubon Camp, off the coast of Maine.

Nest Number Three:
I used photoshop to take out the little "Strause Wren"
er,...House Wren, : ) as he left the pocket of this pair of
jeans hanging on a clothes line.
Here's the original photo, taken by Tim Daniel.

Nest Number Four: Okay, truth be told, I'm not 100% sure what this nest is, but I'm fairly certain it belongs to a Least Bittern(?) The eggs in the photo look pretty white, but they are actually tinged a very soft greenish blue. The photograph was taken deep within Metzger Marsh Wildlife Area while doing surveys for ODNR, and as we approached in the punt boat, a Least Bittern flushed from the exact spot.
BUT...there were also American Bitterns in the area. Any thoughts, now that you know the whole story?

Nest Number Five: Once again, Metzger Marsh Wildlife Area provided the setting,
and this photo of a Black Tern nest.

Nest Number Six: We banded several nestlings during our survey at Metzger Marsh that day. All baby birds are not exactly cute, but these tiny fuzzy Black Tern chicks were heartmeltingly adorable. I even heard a hard-core wildlife biologist say, "Awwww..." when we came up on this nest.
Gratuitous close-up of the adorable Black Tern nestlings

Nest Number Seven: Operating MAPS stations (Monitoring Avian Productivity and Survivorship) can present researchers with battles with summer heat, bugs, thunderstorms, and smelly bird banders. My MAPS station, in Sandusky County, Northwest Ohio, tested the grit, determination, dedication, and intestinal fortitude of many a volunteer. What kept us coming back to this remote, deer fly / mosquito infested, insanely hot and humid wildlife area, year after year? The challenges paled to insignificance under the summer morning serenade of bird song, and discovering the lovely nest of the American Goldfinch.

Nest Number Eight:
Lined with the softest down on the planet, and cast in the shadows of a tangle of coastal plants, this Common Eider nest looked like a tiny piece of heaven to me. I was deeply moved by the discovery, and to this day I remember how touched my heart was to be there for that ever-so-brief moment,
looking into this beautiful nest.

Nest Number Nine:
Everyone who took the quiz got this one right! Some of you even pinpointed it to species. Hummingbird nests are the most amazing structures, aren't they?! This Ruby-throated Hummingbird nest was discovered by an Amish family in their yard in Central Ohio. It was in a maple tree, right along their sidewalk, and they had walked passed it day after day before one of them got "buzzed" by Mama as she left the nest, leading to the discovery.

Nest Number Ten:

As a volunteer Bald Eagle Nest Monitor for the Ohio Division of Wildlife, it was my duty to stare at masses of sticks, like the one shown above, through a spotting scope for hours on end, watching for a head, or a wing, or a butt, or ANYTHING to poke out, shift, move, or flutter, in or around the nest. I'm making it sound pretty boring. IT WAS! But I also got to witness some of the absolute coolest bird-related things I've ever seen. On the good days, I'd watch as the birds stood up, rolled the eggs, and waddled back down to incubate tiny potential National treasures; or the pair as they delicately exchanged places on the nest, as one relieved the other of incubating or brooding duties. I watched as adults shifted nervously as eggs hatched beneath them; fed shredded groundhog, fish, turtle, and all manner of dead things, to tiny babies whose massive bills made them look utterly ridiculous; and cried as "my babies" took their first short, but oh-so-brave, flights away from the nest.

I refer to Bald Eagles as "Every Day Birds." If I were to see a Bald Eagle every day for the rest of my life, I would never get tired of seeing them. They will always solicit that intake of breath, that silent, "Ohmygod, look at that," response.

Thanks for taking the quiz, and for sharing our love of birds.
~kimberly