MBS: Will You Be Here?

Can you look this cute little Myrtle Warbler in the eye, and tell it that you're not going to be here?

From beautiful northern Ohio, Kenn and Kimberly write: The big bird festival known as the Midwest Birding Symposium was held in Lakeside, Ohio, in September 1997 and again in September 1999. Then it migrated west to Wisconsin, Illinois, and Iowa, but it’s coming back to Lakeside this week: September 17 - 20, 2009.

When the symposium was held at Lakeside in 1997, Kenn gave a program and helped lead field trips. At the time, he was living far away, in the southwest. It wasn’t his first trip to Ohio, but it was his first detailed look at the migration on the Lake Erie shoreline, and he was very impressed by the area and the numbers of migrant birds.

When the symposium was held at Lakeside again in 1999, Kimberly attended the event and took in everything it had to offer. At the time, she was living in central Ohio. She had been birding for a while, but this was her first big bird festival, and she was very impressed with the energy and excitement of the event.

We didn’t meet until 2001, Kenn didn’t move to Ohio until 2005, but we’ll be going to this Midwest Birding Symposium as a happily married couple. This symposium is happening practically in our back yard. And we’ll be keeping busy while we’re there!

Black Swamp Bird Observatory (of which Kimberly is the executive director) and its youth program, the Ohio Young Birders Club, will be hosting youth activities at the symposium all day Saturday, Sept. 19, at the Wo-Ho-Mis building (yeah, Lakeside has funny names) across the street from South Auditorium. Kenn will be giving a keynote talk on Saturday from 10 to 11 a.m. in Hoover Auditorium. And in between other activities, we’ll both be spending time at a special booth in the vendors’ area, shared by Black Swamp Bird Observatory and Kaufman Field Guides.

Some bird-bloggers will be coming to the symposium and blogging from there. We probably WON’T be blogging there, because we won’t have time! But we’ll be around, and if you’re attending, we’d love to meet you.

But here’s the main point of this post: If you’re attending the Midwest Birding Symposium and you want to get out and see some actual birds, be sure to consult our BSBO birding pages! We have updates on migration, info about the latest conditions, and the best birding maps available for many of the local sites. BSBO is the authority on birding in northwestern Ohio, and we’re eager to share this area with others. Just go to our birding pages and check them out.

And if you’re not coming to the symposium this time, make a mental note to join us during spring or fall migration in some upcoming year. We are proud of the great birding here and we want you to see it too.

Along the Oregon Trail

From Oak Harbor, Ohio, Kenn writes: The last few days were like a blur, almost, inspiring me to think of a new title: "Blur-ding with Kenn and Kim!" Friday night our band played at Mango Mama’s in Port Clinton, and it felt like one of our best performances yet, but we didn’t have time to bask in the afterglow of a rocking fine time: I had to hurry home, in most un-rockerly fashion, and sleep for a couple of hours. At 3:45 a.m. I was leaving the house to drive to the Cleveland airport so I could fly to Boise, Idaho, get into a rental car, drive three and a half hours west into Oregon, and arrive in the town of Burns in time to set up and give the Saturday evening keynote talk at the 28th annual John Scharff Migratory Bird Festival.

If you’re familiar with the concept of bird festivals, that figure will have caught your eye: 28th annual? Has any bird festival been around that long? There are now hundreds of bird and nature festivals all over North America, but most of them have sprung up within the last decade or two. A couple of the long-standing events, the Festival of the Cranes in Socorro, New Mexico, and the Hummer/Bird Festival in Rockport, Texas, are now about twenty years old. But the festival in Burns, Oregon, preceded them. If I’m counting correctly, they would have held their first event in 1982, years before most of the current festivals got off the ground.

Burns is the largest town in Harney County, a huge county (larger than Massachusetts) with a population of only about 8,000. Birders know Burns for the proximity of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, a fabulous area for huge numbers of waterbirds, and for the wealth of raptors, sagebrush country species, and other wonderful birds in the surrounding area. The Harney County Chamber of Commerce, working with the refuge staff and with other biologists in the area, have created one of the finest bird festivals anywhere. For several days each spring, the festival takes over the local high school and the local fair grounds, local businesses roll out the welcome mat in an obvious way (see the sample signs to the right), and hundreds of people come from all over the northwest to attend.

After my marathon of rock concert / air travel / long drive, I arrived in somewhat woozy state, but the organizers made me feel welcome and at ease immediately. Jessica Boone, director of the Chamber of Commerce, and Carey Goss, the energetic Visitor Services Manager from the Malheur refuge, were in the final stages of setting up inside a huge building at the fair grounds, with a dozen young volunteers from the high school softball team helping out. In no time I had my laptop hooked up to a projector, and I had an hour to relax before the crowd started to arrive. So of course I went outside. In the parking lot I ran into my longtime friends Harley and Karyl Klein, who had come down from the Portland area, but our conversation was constantly interrupted as we paused to stare at the waves of Ross’s Geese and Snow Geese flying overhead. Literally thousands of white geese streamed over the parking lot as we stood there. What a way to welcome people to a bird festival!

In conversations later that evening and the following morning, I talked to dozens of people who had come from several hours’ drive away to attend the festival, and who had been coming annually for many years. And I could understand why. Aside from the fact that I was missing sleep somewhat and missing Kim very intensely, this was one of the most delightful bird festivals I had ever attended. We’ll certainly make a point of coming here together in some future year.

For more infomation about this festival, visit http://www.migratorybirdfestival.com/index.htm

Rocking With The Mayor

From Port Clinton, Ohio, Kenn writes: A few years ago I was the keynote speaker at the Kachemak Bay Shorebird Festival in Homer, Alaska. It was in May, before the rush of tourists that flock to Homer in summer but at the peak of the shorebird migration. The crowd at the festival was getting an eyeful of huge numbers of birds, in addition to educational programs, the spectacular scenery of the surroundings, and the hospitality of the locals. In the spirit of America's last frontier, that was the first time I recall giving a keynote talk wearing jeans, sweatshirt, and hiking boots! But another thing that struck me about the festival was that the mayor of Homer recognized the value of having all these visiting birders in town. The mayor came to my keynote talk, said a few words of welcome to the crowd, and he even came out birding with us the next day.

I concluded, right then and there, that it's a good thing if you can get the mayor to attend your special events.

Tonight our band rocked the walls at Mango Mama's, the big party hall at the Kokomo Bay Restaurant here in Port Clinton. A good crowd braved the cold to come out and hear us, which was a doubly good thing because this gig was a fund-raiser for the Salvation Army. A contingent from the fire department showed up, and fire chief Kent Johnson got up and played guitar with us on a couple of songs. And the dynamic mayor of Port Clinton, Debbie Hymore-Tester, was there for the entire evening -- mingling with the crowd, supporting the cause, moving on the dance floor. Her Honor The Mayor even got on stage with us and sang lead on a couple of songs, rocking out in duets with Kim. After the show was over, of course, Kim and I spent some time talking with the mayor and her husband about the importance of birding to the local economy. Port Clinton is catching on to the fact that thousands of birders come here in spring and fall, but we've been able to draw attention to that in a completely unexpected way through this musical connection.

Landing in The Valley

From Harlingen, Texas, Kenn writes: What could be more festive than a big gathering of birders? A big gathering of birders in the southernmost tip of Texas! The Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival, held every November in Harlingen, was one of the first birding festivals established in North America (2008 is its 15th year), and it's still one of the best. Kim and I were here together in 2004 and we're back this year because I'm giving the keynote talk tonight. Although, as I pointed out to the organizers, they don't have to twist our arms to get us to come here.


For sheer variety year-round, the lower Rio Grande Valley is probably the single best birding area in the United States. It features a lot of species that you just can't find anywhere else north of the border, like the spectacular Green Jay (pictured here), a big colorful flycatcher called the Great Kiskadee (after its raucous call), the huge Ringed Kingfisher, the spunky little Least Grebe, and many more. This area also has a mix of birds from the eastern and western U.S., big concentrations of migrating birds in spring and fall, vast flocks of water birds along the coast, and a wintertime climate that's a bit gentler than what you'd find in, say, Chicago or Minneapolis. The migrating humans known as "Winter Texans" discovered this area long ago, and migrating birders are increasingly aware of the lower Rio Grande Valley, to the extent that you can say "The Valley" and birders everywhere will know what you mean.

With such a natural treasure of birds, it was natural that the local community would seize on the opportunity to hold a festival. Our good friend Nancy Millar, who works with the McAllen Chamber of Commerce just up the Valley, played a big part in promoting ecotourism / bird tourism here. She teamed up with local birder Jan Wyrick and with Father Tom Pincelli, the Harlingen priest who is one of the Valley's top expert birders, and they put together a winning combination for the first festival. The event features daytime and evening programs, field trips to birding hot spots all over the Valley, and an exhibit / vendor area where visitors can try out the latest optics, learn about organizations, see artwork and photography, buy books, and generally enhance their experience.

A lot of the top birders in the country come to this festival every year as speakers, exhibitors, and field trip leaders. Because of our crowded schedule, Kim and I could only make it for part of the festival this year. We're looking forward to seeing a lot of our friends tonight and tomorrow. But first we have to rush out and look at those Green Jays and other birds!