A Spring of Young Birders' Field Trips

I've enjoyed a whirlwind spring and early summer of travel to festivals in various parts of the United States. It's always fun to see old friends, make a few new ones, and experience birding in new and wonderful places. Lots of great birds have passed across my field of view. However, my favorite part of all these spring travels has been the opportunities I've had to get out in the field with lots of young birders.

Back in May I was up at Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge in northwest Ohio for International Migratory Bird Day where I've done family bird walks for the past few years. Though the weather was "iffy" we had a nice group of bird watchers show up and we were treated to a mini-fallout of warblers along the trail as well as a great horned owl nest with fledglings in it.

A birding mom shows her daughter the great horned owl nest along the Ottawa NWR walking trail.

 

 

 

Later in May I was a speaker and guide for the Acadia Birding Festival in Maine. We did a family bird walk on Saturday, taking nice long hike along the sea cliffs in Acadia National Park. The birding was just OK but the scenery along the trail was breathtaking! I can highly recommend this festival, by the way, as being the best place in the world to see tons of warblers and tons of seabirds in the same day!

Our family bird walk group in Acadia NP.

Scanning for black guillemots and common eiders in the surf.

In mid-June my family and I were back at the Potholes & Prairie Birding Festival in Carrington, North Dakota. One of the other families attending included Abby and her mom who were from Indiana. While birding along the Sheyenne River valley, I got to show Abby a few life birds, including her first-ever common yellowthroat.

That's me pointing Abby's eyes to the common yellowthroat.

We got the bird and celebrated with a high-five!

At the end of June, I was back in Maine with my family for the Hog Island Audubon Camp, guiding, speaking, and contributing to a new week-long session there called "The Arts of Birding." My "art" contribution was teaching three songwriting workshops during the session. These were super fun and I'll plan to blog about them later. There was a teen birders' camp going on that week, too and we got to spend some time in the field with these fine young people. I even coaxed a couple of them to join me in the songwriting sessions! Our final day of birding was spent on the Maine mainland, birding some wet grasslands and pond habitat owned by the Damariscotta River Association. It was a drizzly, foggy morning, but the birding there was excellent! Nearly everyone got great looks at bobolink, American bittern, pine warbler, and Virginia rail.

Birding the DRA lands in Maine, just before the Virginia rail appeared!

All of us probably had a birding mentor at one point or another—someone who helped us get started as a new bird watcher, taught us bird identification tricks, shared the best birding spots, and—most importantly of all—took us out birding! My birding mentor, Pat Murphy, is long gone from this mortal coil, but I try to honor her memory by being a mentor to young/new birders whenever I can. The world needs more bird watchers! Consider "paying it forward" by getting involved in mentoring young birders. 

There are an increasing number of places/event/organizations that are geared to encouraging young bird watchers. Here are just a few:

ABA Young Birders

Leica Young Birders' Site

Cornell Young Birders' Network

Fledgling Birder's Institute

Hog Island Teen Birding Camps

Young Birders' Day at the 2013 Midwest Birding Symposium

Resources & Clubs for Young Birders

There are many statewide organizations for young birders, such as The Ohio Young Birders, Iowa Young Birders, Indiana Young Birders, and Illinois Young Birders. Try searching for a group in your state via the resources link above, or via a search engine.

Finally, if you know a young person who would benefit from a starter field guide specifically designed for young birders, please consider my Young Birder's Guide to Birds of North America.

I've written and edited a lot of books, but this one is closest to my heart and my proudest professional accomplishment. The book is available for sale at most bookstores—both online and off—but if you purchase from Bird Watcher's Digest, I will personalize the book with an inscription of your choice for the recipient.

Happy birding to all!

Happy Earth Day 2013!

 

Happy Earth Day!

Yeah, I know that Earth Day has already passed for this year...I guess I feel like there's a little bit of Earth Day in EVERY day. Or there should be.

I'm not going to get too heavy here. Just want to share some images and thoughts that remind me of Earth Day and how much I love being connected to nature. Like the plant fronds above. That's a shot I took on an island in the Philippines, where the natural resources are being exploited at a stunning rate. The endemic species there are disappearing... This image reminds me of a fossilized plant, which reminds me of coal and oil...and our consumption of same.

A double rainbow in fall, shot from our birding tower in southeast Ohio. Being up high like this lends us a perspective that we don't get from the ground. It shows the vastness of the habitat in some views, but it also reveals fragmentation and all the things that come with it. In our part of the world we're beginning to experience the impact of hydraulic fracking for oil and gas. I wonder if our beautiful vistas will be the same in 10 years.

Each spring I get to experience the miracle of the songbird nesting season on our farm. Monitoring our nest boxes is such a treat. To watch birds such as these Carolina chickadees go from eggs to hatchlings to flying tots in just a few weeks—well, it boggles the mind.

I took this image of Phoebe on Hog Island Audubon Camp in Maine. It wasn't posed. She loved climbing out on the rocks as the tide came in and I couldn't resist the image. Maine may very well be the place that my kids connect most closely with the natural world because it is so very different from the habitat and landscape (or seascape) where we live. I'm just happy they're connecting.

 

And speaking of young people...one of the best things about Earth Day is all the various activities that are available for youngsters to experience—and to connect with—nature. But we don't have to wait to do that until Earth Day NEXT year. Why not invite a young person (or a whole classroom!) to go outside with you and your birding/nature club or companions. It's the very best way to keep the spirit of Earth Day alive.

Tomorrow morning I'll get up before dawn to lead a passel of people on a long hike down the New River Gorge in West Virginia. There will be nature fans of all ages—a few youngsters and a many young-at-heart bird watchers. I'll do my best to show them a good time and to let them know why I think this area is so wonderful and special. But, you know, that's true of anywhere, as long as it's outside!

 

Happy Earth Day!

Spring Birding Festivals 2013!

I love traveling, especially if I know where I'm going.

I had a momentary lost of cranial pressure a few minutes ago. I was sitting in an airport terminal, waiting on a plane, and I suddenly realized that I could not recall where I was about to go. I checked the gate screen and saw it was a flight to Detroit. No bells were rung by this. Then I walked my mental fingers through my recent travels. I'd been twice to Florida in the past two weeks, so not likely going there again. And then it came to me. I was not going to a birding festival, but to a business conference for publishers: more work-like and completely indoors. No chance to go birding. No wonder I'd forgotten it.

I can look forward to much great birding travel and adventure this spring and summer, however. Let me share some of the highlights with you.

In just a few weeks I'll be one of the speakers at the San Diego Bird Festival. This event takes place on scenic Mission Bay from February 28 to March 3, 2013. The featured speaker is Dr. John Fitzpatrick from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. I am listed as a special guest and I'm leading a birding trip along the border with Mexico as well as giving a couple of presentations and playing some music for one of the evening receptions. 

The San Diego Bird Festival features many activities for young people and families.

The birding at this fest is excellent (including several pelagic trips), as is the vendor hall. There's even a post-festival tour south into the Baja Peninsula of Mexico. Find out more here: www.sandiegoaudubon.org.

Vermilion flycatcher (male). Photo ©Karen Straus

Later in March I'll be representing Bird Watcher's Digest as a host for the first-ever Birding Optics & Gear Expo in Columbus, Ohio March 23-24, 2013. Nearly all the major optics manufacturers will be on hand, showing and sharing their products. Ben Lizdas from Eagle Optics will be there selling optics. And we'll be joined by several other companies, too: Midwest Photo Exchange will be selling cameras and other photo gear, Clintonville Outfitters will bring outdoor gear such as boots, packs, and so on. Manfrotto will be there with their excellent tripods. Optics companies at the Expo include: Swarovski Optik, Leica Sport Optics, Carl Zeiss Sports Optics, Celestron, Kowa Optimed, Minox, Vanguard, and Vortex. Best of all, this event is FREE to attend. All outdoor enthusiasts are welcome, so I hope to see you there.

One spring event that I've been invited to in the past but have never been able to attend is the FeatherFest in Galveston, Texas scheduled for April 11-14, 2013. It might win the contest for longest birding festival name, since it's officially known as: The FeatherFest Birding and Nature Photography Festival. I've been birding along this part of the Texas coast and can attest to its appeal as a place where you get great, close-up looks at wonderful birds. Easy access to diverse habitats means you'll likely run up a huge list of birds. This year's speaker is Mark Obmascik, author of The Big Year. More details are available here: Galveston FeatherFest. One of these years I plan to get back to Galveston (cue the Glenn Campbell soundtrack).

In late April I'll be back down in south-central West Virginia at the New River Birding & Nature Festival, which is held in Fayetteville, WV from April 29 to May 5. This small event specializes in wood warblers, including cerulean, Swainson's, and golden-winged—and about 20 other warbler species, too. Mornings are spent birding the hills and hollers amid breathtaking mountain scenery of the New River Gorge. Late afternoons are a time to rest up for the evening, which might include a cookout, a cafe meal, or a stop at a nearby ramp dinner before the evening program and check list review. 

Life bird wigglers after finding a golden-winged warbler at the New River Birding & Nature Festival in West Virginia.

It's fun, friendly, a little wacky, and a must-add event to your bird-festival bucket list. On the festival's final night, The Rain Crows, the most-famous band ever to emerge from Whipple, Ohio will be playing a show at Opossum Creek Retreat, where the festival is based. Oh yes, and there is local microbrewed beer on hand, too. More info: New River Birding & Nature Festival.

At the end of April I'll be speaking and guiding for the first time at The Acadia Birding Festival on Mount Desert Island in Maine, which runs from May 30 to June 2. I'm giving two talks and guiding on two walks and a pelagic trip for the festival. Marshall Iliff is the other speaker booked this year for Acadia—a festival which is gaining quite a reputation for its combination of great boreal and coastal birding. Who doesn't like a birding event that can give you both warblers and alcids? For more info, head here: www.acadiabirdingfestival.com

Mid-June usually find me and my family out on the Missouri Coteau in North Dakota for the Prairie and Potholes Birding Festival. If you've been a reader of my blog or Julie Zickefoose's blog over the years, or a subscriber to Bird Watcher's Digest you'll know about "Potholes." Our dear friend Ann Hoffert serves as the de facto den mother for this festival which, despite its small size (about 80 people max), offers world-class birding. Highlight species we see most every year include Baird's, LeConte's, and Nelson's sparrows, chestnut-collared longspur, Sprague's pipit, and ferruginous hawk. 

Birders at the Potholes & Prairie Birding Festival looking for a Sprague's pipit.

Add to that alluring list the vision of nearly every breeding species of waterfowl, skeins of American white pelicans, and you get a feel for the wonderful birds we see. But there's more: hot lunches at cafes in tiny prairie towns, a prairie ramble that includes sites where Native American tepee rings are still present, and the biggest sky you've ever seen. There are even rumors that there will be a bit of squatchin' this year with Al Batt and Liam Thompson. We've been out there for 10 years running and we'll be back again: Visit Birding Drives Dakota for details.

Late June will find my family back at the Hog Island Audubon Camp in Bremen, Maine for a course we'll be helping to teach called "The Arts of Birding." Julie and I and our fellow instructors (including...) will lead sessions on nature journaling, field sketching and painting, writing about birds, bird photography, and perhaps even a bit of nature songwriting, too. Hog Island is legendary for its setting along the rocky Maine coast, its proximity to birds such as black guillemot and Atlantic puffin, and its history of teaching people of all ages about nature. We hope you'll join us June 23 to 28, 2013 for The Arts of Birding.

A sunset view of Hog Island Audubon Camp in Maine.

It's time to board my plane to....ummm.....uhhhh......HOME! Yay! What a long strange trip it's been! Hey, I hope to see you out there with the birds one of these days at one of the events I've listed above. Until then, stay birdy, people!

New Podcast: Teen Birders on Hog Island!

Dr. Sara Morris gives a banding demonstration to some of the teen birders at Hog Island Audubon Camp. Photo ©Corey Husic.

There's a new episode of my "This Birding Life" podcast: "Teen Birders on Hog Island." It features interviews with five teen birders who were part of a Joy of Birding/Coastal Maine Bird Studies session at the Hog Island Audubon Camp in late June 2012.

Young birders getting oriented on the session's first day.

Hog Island is quite an experience for nature lovers of any age. But the group of teens that shared our week in late June seemed particularly enthusiastic and knowledgeable about the natural world. It was a real treat to have them there with us.

Campers ashore on Wreck Island with instructor Tom Johnson (right) and naturalist Josh Potter (second from right).

Despite the iffy weather, somewhat rugged terrain, and boat trips on unsettles seas, the teen birders seemed to enjoy themselves immensely. After all, an island on the coast of Maine is a very interesting, unique place to spend a week. There are birds to see—including Atlantic puffins!

Atlantic puffin.

And there are others there with you at Hog Island who share your interest in birds and nature. That in itself is a very special thing.

Watching and photographing a northern parula nest with instructors Lang Elliott and Julie Zickefoose.

Give this new episode a listen. If you're a young birder (or just a young-at-heart birder) consider attending one of the excellent week-long 2013 sessions at the Hog Island Audubon Camp.


Now you know I'm also going to encourage you to take a young person birding. There are an increasing number of really excellent events designed specifically for young bird watchers, including the upcoming Mid-Atlantic Young Birders' Conference sponsored by the American Birding Association.

I'll have more news to share about encouraging young birders in the near future. Until then, I'll see you out there with the birds!

Return to Hog Island!

The famous Hog Island Audubon Camp in Maine is back in full swing this summer with a tasty menu of sessions for nature enthusiasts of all ages and interests. Julie Zickefoose and I will be instructors during the "Joy of Birding" week June 24 to 29. You can find out some details here.


If you look at an atlas of the state of Maine, you'll note that there are numerous islands named Hog. One can only presume that these islands were so-named because that's where early residents of Maine kept their swine—presumably safe from predators and, being on an island, naturally prevented from roaming. But there's only one Hog Island with an impressive history of nature study and education—that's the one in Muscongus Bay, Maine—and that's the one we're heading back to in June. Roger Tory Peterson and Allan D. Cruickshank are among the island's legendary instructors, dating back to the camp's founding in 1936.


Among this coming season's well-known instructors are Scott Weidensaul, Sara Morris, Pete Dunne, Lang Elliott, Donald Kroodsma, Sue Schubel, and Steve Kress who is the camp's director and is best known for Project Puffin, which helped to restore breeding populations of the Atlantic puffin (and other endangered seabird species) to islands off the New England coast.

I've written about Hog Island numerous times here at Bill of the Birds, including this post about visiting nearby Harbor Island, and this one about the last time we were instructors there.


The Hog Island experience is a unique one. The island is magically beautiful and just large enough that you can take a long hike around its perimeter and feel you are leaving the modern world behind. The sessions are informative and fun and the birding is really great, especially if you don't often get to see species that are common to the northern woods or to the northeastern Atlantic coast.

Every day is a new adventure. The food is great. The accommodations are rustic but comfy. And the air is clean and cool. We love going to Hog Island even more because our kids, Phoebe and Liam, get to come along. They play all day along the rocky shores and in the dark, mystical woods surrounding the camp, building cairns and imagining there are woodland sprites playing tricks there and pirates coming ashore to bury their loot. Like I said, Hog Island is magic.

Write it down, friends: Joy of Birding, June 24 to 29, 2012! Hope to see you there!

Harbor Island Adventure

I'm coming to you from the Wasatch Mountains in Utah with a mini photo documentary about an afternoon spent last week on a barely inhabited island in the Gulf of Maine on the outer fringe of Muscongus Bay.

We'd been out on a morning boat trip out to Eastern Egg Rock (more about this soon) and were hungry for lunch, so we put ashore on Harbor Island, a privately owned island with just one house on it. The owners were not there but Maine Audubon has permission to land and picnic and hike there. One steadfast rule: no skipping stones from the beach. This seems simple enough to abide by—until you see the stones on the beach. THEY ARE THE WORLD'S MOST PERFECT SKIPPING STONES. And I've got to tell you it was hard to resist. But we did. The owners want the beach to remain pristine.

After devouring our lunches, we enjoyed our choice of activities for the next three hours: overland to a blueberry heath, around the outside of the island, or a hike-free option of sitting on the beach (and not skipping stones). I helped lead a group around the outside of the island.

Here are some images from the afternoon. Sorry no great bird pix to share, but some nice people pix.

The house on Harbor Island near our landing spot.

The trusty Puffin V was our cruise ship.

Eric and Sue rowed us all ashore, 9 at a time, in classic Maine dories.

Three-fourths of my family went on the next to last dory. Phoebe did not like the tippiness factor.

Two dories passing in the bay at Harbor Island.

Once ashore, Sue gave us our afternoon options and paired us up with two buddies each to ensure there would be No Birder Left Behind.

Hiking around the rocky fringe of Harbor Island.

BOTB with lobster buoy sculpture.

We found the nest of a gull: probably a great-black-backed gull.

Phoebe and her dad went wading in the cold water until their feet went numb.

Jared scanning the water for guillemots.

Alan and Carol relaxing together after the hike.

Julie Z. and Liam played in the sand.

Liam performed a comedy routine with seaweed.

Aprés hike nappers on the beach.

Eric rested after the hike, too.

Soon it was time to head back out to the Puffin V.

The Thompson/Zick family was on the last dory off the island. Soon we were headed back to Hog Island.

Back to Hog Island

View of Hog Island from the mainland.

We spent most of the past two days making our way to Hog Island Audubon Camp in Maine where Zick and I will be instructors for the next week during the "Joy of Birding" course. Most of this travel time was passed NOT traveling, but sitting in the Jet Blue terminal of JFK airport in New York. But let's not go there. No, really.

Instead of flying to Portland, Maine, we re-directed ourselves to Boston, Massachusetts, and drove north to The Land of the Lobster with some new friends, Eric and Dena. Our luggage magically, was waiting for us at the Portland airport, as was our ride to The Hog, a white van driven by our charming friend Heather (a Hog Island staffer). We got the midnight skiff ride across the harbor from Eric and Seth and crashed out in our cabin at about 1 am.

It was raining last night and still is this morning. And it promises to continue all week, though there is a "possible chance of sun" on Thursday. So, instead, Ill show you some pix from last year.

This is the view you get walking out to our cabin. Nice! I keep expecting to see mermaids and forest sprites out of the corner of my eye.

Common eider.

Common eiders live up to their name here on the coast of Maine. They are big, tanky sea ducks with a long sloping bill. Their colors are much more impressive than I've captured here.

Atlantic puffin.

Hog Island was the original home of Project Puffin, the large and very successful conservation project undertaken to restore the Atlantic puffin as a breeding bird in Maine. We hope to take at least one boat trip out to Eastern Egg Rock to see the "sea toucans."

If you've never been to Hog Island, you should put it on your list—and do it before you're making the Bucket List, dude. This place is magic.