Saturday Night Feeder

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!

The Ohio Young Birders Club Conference

From the Black Swamp Bird Observatory, Kim writes: Today felt like old times. When the Ohio Young Birders Club was younger itself I spent A LOT of time on the phone with parents and grandparents and aunts and uncles and neighbors -- trying to arrange transportation for students still too young to drive. Last January, I took the position as the executive director of the Observatory that founded the club, and since then I've had to dish many of those responsibilities off to the OYBC coordinators, John Sawvel and Delores Cole. John and Delores are great, and it's very rewarding to see the club continue to grow and reach more and more young people while I'm doing other BSBO business. But, I have to admit that sometimes it's hard to accept that the club is not "my baby" anymore. Well, for a few hours today, I got my baby back! I just happened to be the one available to deal with this, and it felt so good to be back in the business of making great experiences happen for young birders. Here's how it went...

E-mail comes in from the Aunt of one of our student members who REALLY wants to come to the conference this Saturday and then go on the observatory's pelagic trip on Sunday. This young birder lives in Parma, and his Aunt can't bring him all the way to Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge where the conference is taking place. Hmm...okay, I know that there are two OYBC members from Avon and their Mom is bringing them to the conference; Avon is about 40 minutes from Parma. Okay, call Avon Mom and see if Parma Aunt can get her young birder to Avon, could Avon Mom bring Parma young birder to the conference. Avon Mom is one of the nicest people on the planet, so of course she said yes.

The visitors' center at Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge

But, Avon Mom can only stay for the early part of the conference and then she has to go back to Avon due to a prior commitment. hmm...Now what? The boys really want to stay and go on the afternoon field trip (part of the conference), and then go on the pelagic trip on Sunday. But, that means they'll need a place to stay and something to do on Saturday night. hmm...okay, how about this.

Kenn and I (and the whole BSBO gang!) are going to the Toledo Naturalists' Association (TNA) banquet on Saturday night. The banquet is always a great time and this year Julie Zickefoose is the featured speaker!! We had already arranged for two of our conference speakers to attend with us, and I know the other boys would really enjoy seeing Julie's talk. Unfortunately, the deadline for banquet reservations was two days ago. hmm.. I wonder if...

Okay, call my friend Jan Dixon from TNA and ask her (and by ask, I mean beg) if she can still squeeze in three more people for the banquet. Jan being the total sweetheart that she is, said, "Oh, it will be so wonderful to have young birders at the banquet; of course they can come!"

So, we'll all go from the conference to the TNA banquet in the Bird Bus, then take the bus to Cleveland on Sunday morning for the pelagic, and the boys' families will pick them up at the boat dock when we return.

The BSBO Bird Bus

*Whew* And that was a simple one. Most of the time it involves a lot more kids and a lot more locations to get them from and to and then back again. It can take days to arrange to get everyone on the club's monthly field trips. But, it's totally worth it! We are richly rewarded for our efforts in ways that I cannot even describe.

This Saturday we will watch as four teenagers stand before a rapt audience and deliver presentations on birds and bird conservation. We will watch as people from five states come together to hear their message. We will watch with tear-filled eyes as those witnessing this for the first time have their faith in this great nation and the future of its natural resources restored. And every ounce of effort that it took to get us to this point will fade to insignificance--and we will be restored ourselves.

Great News About Young Birders

From Oak Harbor, Ohio, Kenn and Kim write: This past weekend, the Ohio Young Birders Club -- a group that has been very important to us since its inception -- had a fine field trip, seeing a wide variety of early spring migrants with the bonus of some rare Smith’s Longspurs. The bad news was that both of us were swamped with work (preparing for the month of May, which we call May-hem around here) so that we personally couldn’t go on the trip. The good news was that the field trip went fine without us, since the Club has a lot of adult support now, and a lot of keen young members.

At the end of the weekend, we had another piece of most excellent news from another state: our friend Kevin Loughlin wrote to tell us about the successful second meeting of the new Pennsylvania Young Birders Club. Kevin, who runs Wildside Nature Tours, is a world traveler, professional photographer, and accomplished birder and naturalist. It’s inspiring to see that someone of his stature is taking the time and effort to help organize and run a birding club for kids. Well done, Kevin! You can read about the new Pennsylvania club by going to http://blog.wildsidenaturetours.com/ and reading the entry for April 19.

The next generation of birders is coming along, and they’re the most outstanding young people you could ever hope to meet. Any time we start to feel discouraged about something, we just think about all the young birders we know, and that's enough to restore our hope for the future.

The Days Are Just Packed

American Oystercatchers on the beach at Jekyll Island, Georgia

From Jekyll Island, Georgia, Kenn and Kim write: Okay, we admit, we stole that title from an old Calvin and Hobbes collection. But it totally applies to our current situation. Ever since we arrived at the Bird Education Network conference on Sunday -- or, actually, ever since we left home to go judge the Ohio Wetlands Conservation Stamp contest early Saturday morning -- we’ve hardly had time to blink, let alone attend to luxuries like blogging or sleeping.

By a most amazing coincidence, on our early morning flight out of Columbus on Sunday, we wound up sitting right next to our dear friend (and wonderful artist / author / blogger) Julie Zickefoose. She was headed to Honduras, we to Georgia, and fortunate fate put us not only on the same flight but even in the same seat row. We talked about birds and families and writing and music, and never has a three-hour plane flight passed so quickly. Here at the conference we managed to sit down and have dinner with another respected leader of the bird blog community, John Riutta of Born Again Bird Watcher. But most of our time here has been a whirlwind of activity.

We gave a keynote talk together at the opening of the conference ("Working Toward a Bird-Literate Society"), we co-led two lengthy field sessions and a short morning field trip together, and each of us spoke independently at other indoor sessions (Kim on promoting birding activities for teenagers, Kenn on birders and the National Wildlife Refuge System). But there have been many other speakers and we’ve had conversations with dozens of dynamic leaders in the whole field of educating students, and the public, about birds and bird conservation. The amount of energy here is amazing, the networking that’s going on here is phenomenal, and the results of this conference should have wide-ranging positive effects all over North America and beyond. After we get all our notes sorted out, we'll have a huge selection of new ideas to try out in our own work.

And eventually, maybe, we’ll get caught up on sleep!

We interrupt this Antarctic Expedition to bring you an important message

From Oak Harbor, Ohio, Kim writes: Just when you thought baby penguin pictures were imminent, I take us off topic to share some really uplifting, inspiring, and hope-inducing news for anyone who cares about the future of birds and birding.

While we haven't talked much about it on the blog (not yet!), Kenn and I devote a large portion of our time to a program called the Ohio Young Birders Club (OYBC). I won't give all the club's nitty gritty here. Just check out the website that's chock-full of information. Ohio Young Birders Club The club is something that Kenn and I helped form about 2 1/2 years ago, with the hope that we could build a community of young birders, and offer them the opportunities and experiences that would foster their interest in birds and nature. The ultimate goal being that some of the students would someday pursue careers in bird and conservation related fields.

Here are a few of my favorite field trip pictures.

Studying Virginia Rails & Soras at the Killbuck Marsh Wildlife Area, in Holmes & Wayne Counties, Ohio.

This trip was sponsored by Black Swamp Bird Observatory (BSBO) and Time & Optics Ltd.

A rainy trip to search for migrants on Kelleys Island, and conduct a service project at the Glacial Grooves, which are totally cool! This trip was sponsored by our partners at Kelleys Island Audubon Club

An intense study of a single Peregrine Falcon spotted at the Funk Bottom Wildlife Area. This trip was sponsored by our partners at Greater Mohican Audubon Society.

I am often searching for ways to evaluate the success of the the program. Grantors always ask for this. Since this is a BSBO program, my Board wants to know. The media wonders. Parents too. The nature of our program makes success somewhat challenging to assess. We can cite membership figures: For example, currently, more than 100 young people are members of the club. But in the last few days, I received some information that offers perhaps the ultimate measure of our success.

I recently received three separate requests from OYBC members to include me and Kenn as references for jobs. Of course we agreed. A few days ago I received an e-mail from a researcher in Barrow, Alaska. He's studying the breeding ecology of shorebirds on the Arctic Tundra this summer, and one of our OYBC members applied for a position on the team. He was impressed by the young man's application and was following up on his references.

Yesterday I received an e-mail from a graduate student at the University of Kentucky studying the role of genetics and male phenotype in mate choice and success in Dickcissels. One of our OYBC members who will graduate from high school this year had applied for a position with her team. Impressed with the application, she was following up with a series of questions about the applicant.

And, finally, in today's mail I received a scholarship recommendation form from a foundation that one of our recently graduated OYBC members had applied to. She is planning to conduct a research project on breeding bird ecology at a large scout camp in Northern Ohio and applied for a scholarship.

I am in no way suggesting that the OYBC is solely responsible for helping to develop this level of interest in these young people. The OYBC is but a single spoke in a very impressive wheel that Ohio spins beautifully. With a thriving birding community that embraces young people, represented by the very supportive and dynamic Ohio Ornithological Society, more than 20 partnering organizations across the state of Ohio that support the OYBC, and, perhaps most importantly, some of the most impressive parents I have ever met, we will continue to encourage, educate, and empower our future conservation leaders.

The OYBC is having a major impact beyond Ohio's borders. To date, we have assisted New York, Illinois, Florida, Connecticut, Georgia, and Oklahoma in forming their own versions of the OYBC. Several other states have inquired about launching clubs too, and many are in the beginning stages of forming clubs for young people based on the success of the OYBC.

I encourage you to visit the OYBC website, and please pay special attention to the fact that adults are encouraged to join as adult supporting members for just $10 a year. For this small donation, you will receive our club's excellent newsletter (filled with articles, trip reports, artwork, and essays..all written by young birders), and help to support this very important program.

Thanks for being patient about penguin photos. I promise to make it up to you with tons of pics SOON!