Ciblek Mania

I want to share some images with you from the 2011 Midwest Birding Symposium held September 15 to 18 at Lakeside, Ohio. If you were there, you know we had a really great time. If you weren't there, I hope these images will give you some idea of what the MBS is all about. I'll be posting about the MBS a few times in the coming weeks, but for this initial post, let's just take a gander at some of the birds and people. The image above is a male American redstart. The symposium was held at the peak of fall warbler migration along the Lake Erie shore.

Hoover Auditorium was filled with MBS attendees for both morning and evening keynote presentations by folks like Al Batt, Bridget Stutchbury, Peter Dunne, Julie Zickefoose, Kenn and Kim Kaufman, and Greg Miller (one of the three real characters from the book The Big Year). During the MBS, Hoover Auditorium was sponsored by SWAROVSKI OPTIK.

These are our friends Hugo, Irene, and Rafael from the Guatemala-based tour company Operador Latino. They were displaying their tours and materials in a booth in the Birder's Marketplace in South Auditorium. We had more than 60 vendors this year!

Avid Ohio birder/naturalist Sandy Brown keeps her birdmobile loaded with all the gear she needs to enjoy the natural world. Her license plate says it all.

Out at the six MBS designated birding sites, we had volunteer guides stationed, ready to take people out for some bird watching. All guides sported the official MBS guides' trucker hat: black with the MBS Caspian tern stitched on the front panel.

Over at Magee Marsh, many MBS attendees enjoyed looking at the trumpeter swan families. These birds are part of a reintroduction program that is aimed at restoring a viable population of these elegant birds to Ohio.

In South Auditorium on Saturday afternoon lots of bird book authors lined up to sign copies of their books. Shown here from right to left are: Mark Garland, Marie Read, Julie Zickefoose, Connie Toops, and Jeff Gordon.

Another fall migrant, a magnolia warbler. This beauty was photographed at Meadowbrook Marsh and official MBS birding site on the Marblehead Peninsula.

Bird sound expert and Zen master Michael O'Brien lead a walk to the Lakeside pier to listen for the sounds of migrant birds overhead. This was a nice add-on to his MBS talk "Things That Go Seet in the Night."

Super volunteers Marc Nolls and Mike and Karen Edgington helped to organize and run the MBS bird checklist as well as the conservation raffle. Thanks to their efforts, the generosity of our sponsors and donors, and the avid participation of our attendees, the 2011 MBS conservation raffle raised more than $11,000 for bird conservation causes. The Ohio Ornithological Society agreed to match up to $10,000, so our MBS conservation fund total was $21,000! I'm extremely proud of this.

Among the incredibly hard-working MBS staff were, from left to right: volunteer Sheryl Young, Jim Cirigliano, managing editor of Bird Watcher's Digest, and Ann Kerenyi, BWD controller and goddess of ossumness in charge of details for the MBS.

Guides from MBS sponsor Field Guides Birding Tours lead groups of MBS attendees at Magee Marsh. A total of 137 bird species were seen during the 2011 MBS, including a fly-by red-necked phalarope spotted by Cameron Cox at the Leica Lake Watch on the Lakeside pavilion.

My gratitude to the following photographers who took the images above during the 2011 MBS: Ernie Cornelius, Ann Oliver, Liz McQuaid, Sherrie Duris, Micki Hendrick, and Sandy Brown.

Look at your calendar right now and check the third weekend in September, 2011. Specifically, look at September 15 through 18. How's it look? Clear? Then grab a pen (not a pencil) and write the following in LARGE BLOCK LETTERS over those dates: MIDWEST BIRDING SYMPOSIUM.

Here are ten reason why you really need to attend this year's MBS.

10. The MBS only happens every other year, so it's always freshy-fresh, never stale.

9. We work really hard to make sure that it's The World's Friendliest Birding Event—everyone is welcome, even non-birders! Beginners, especially, are encouraged to come.

8. We love making connections between bird watchers. Since the 2009 MBS more than 275 marriages have happened as a result of the event. [Not really, but that sounds impressive doesn't it?] Seriously though, everyone makes new friends at the MBS. We guarantee it! If you attend and leave without making at least one new friend, we'll refund your money (please see Reason #1 below).

7. We've arranged for another appearance by a Kirtland's warbler. You can see a photo of the Kirtland's that joined us in 2009 here. If the Kirtland's does not make the scene, we've got an Eskimo curlew flock on speed dial.

6. Our list of speakers is bodacious. Al Batt (one of Saturday evening's keynote speakers) will make you laugh until you cry/snort/beg for mercy/race to the restroom.


5. Three words: Sunset Boat Cruise! Plus other exciting extra activities.

4. Our Birder's Marketplace features more than 60 vendors, selling everything a bird watcher could possibly want. And then some.

3. Our Conservation Raffle will raise funds for bird habitat acquisition and other worthy conservation causes. The Ohio Ornithological Society has promised to match this funding, up to $10,000! Wow! Items in the raffle include high-end optics, an iPad, birding festival passes, and [yes, it's true!] an autographed photo of actress/activist/birder Betty White!


2. Being on Lake Erie, on the charming grounds of Lakeside in September is incredibly beautiful —just like being in Tuscany, but with better birding and no language barrier.

1. It only costs $100 to attend the Midwest Birding Symposium. Your last speeding ticket or dinner out was more expensive and less enjoyable. Don't fight the urge. Come join us!

Whether or not you made the scene at the 2009 Midwest Birding Symposium, held in September in Lakeside, Ohio, you now have a chance to experience (or revisit) the MBS on the Web. Audio files for most of the speaker presentations, a photo gallery, comments from attendees, links to blogs about the MBS, and links to pre-register (as an attendee, sponsor, or vendor) for the 2011 MBS are all available at the event's new landing page: http://www.midwestbirding.org.

The audio files of the speaker presentations will only be available for a limited time, so take a few minutes to explore the offerings we've put together. And, if you like what you see and hear and read, make plans now to join us September 15 to 18, 2011 at Lakeside, Ohio for the NEXT Midwest Birding Symposium.

A final thank you to our fabulous sponsors:
Audubon BirdCam, The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Swarovski Optik, Field Guides Birding Tours, and RRI Energy.

Plus:
Leica Sport Optics, Wild Birds Unlimited, Eagle Optics, The Ohio Division of Wildlife, Lake Erie Shores & Islands, The Marblehead Peninsula Chamber of Commerce, The Cornell Lab of Ornithology, and Scotts Songbird Selections wild bird food.

Their generous financial support made the 2009 Midwest Birding Symposium possible.

As the just-finished 2009 Midwest Birding Symposium was about to start, the Lakeside businesses were putting out the welcome mat. It seemed like the entire Lakeside community was happy that the birders were invading.
The Hotel Lakeside is a grand old gal, and once again she hosted the majority of our attendees staying on site. Golf carts, the best mode of transport in this gated community, were purring along every street, moving MBS attendees from the Hotel Lakeside, south to South Auditorium and Wesley Lodge.

Ohio Ornithological Society board member Marc Nolls was the keeper of the check list for the MBS.

Attendee badges were lined up in alphabetical order, awaiting their matching attendee. In all, we hosted well more than 800 people at the 2009 MBS.


South Auditorium at set-up time (above) was much less lively than South Auditorium on Friday morning, shortly after opening (below).

The crew from Field Guides mooches some fancy coffee from Jeff Gordon.

Hoover Auditorium on Thursday afternoon.

Hoover Auditorium on Friday morning, I took this photo from the podium, before the event's opening remarks.

Jim McCormac was our first keynote speaker, with a program entitled "Lake Erie Birds & Birding." Ten minutes into his talk I got a text message that a Kirtland's warbler had been found and confirmed at nearby East Harbor State Park. It was hard not to stand up and shout the news. Instead, I waited until the talk was over to make the announcement. Fortunately many folks got to see the bird, which was very cooperative, if not consistent in its appearances.

Alvaro Jaramillo, a guide for Field Guides, Inc, and the author of the "Identify Yourself" column in Bird Watcher's Digest, gave a talk called "Bird ID Outside the Box." He was constantly preening himself so he'd look good on the Big Screen to the left of the stage.

The website for the 2009 Midwest Birding Symposium is now up and running.

Why am I telling you this? Here's why:

If you want to have as much fun as is humanly possible as a bird watcher (in September, in Ohio, without breaking any laws), we invite you to join us at Lakeside, Ohio next fall.

And if you don't mind me making a suggestion, register for your programs, meals, and lodging early, because we're fairly sure this event is going to sell out. As you can see on the registration form, some of the presentations have limited seating.

Lakeside, Ohio is a charming community on the shores of Lake Erie (clever how they named it, huh?). Your hosts for the event are Bird Watcher's Digest and the Ohio Ornithological Society, and we've put together a great line-up of speakers and programs.

Plus, attendees can:

• Catch fall migration at one of our hand-picked nearby birding hotspots.
  
• Shop in the Birder's Marketplace, with 30+ vendors selling anything a bird watcher could want.
  
• Take a sunset boat cruise around Lake Erie's beautiful islands.
  
• Enjoy a screening of a new birding movie: "Opposable Chums" in Lakeside's movie theater.
  
• Get your optics cleaned for free, participate in the MBS Big Sit, enjoy activities for young birders, and lots more.

Full details are on the newly launched MBS site. Please check back often—we'll post updates as they are available.

We'd like to offer a special thank you to the sponsors for the Midwest Birding Symposium, who are helping to make all of this possible.

Hope to see you in Lakeside next September!

Bill of the Birds