I had a great time at the 2011 Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival. For those interested, I thought I’d do a quick recap of the activities I participated in:
Wednesday 1/26/2011
Class: Wildflowers, Plants & Other Things (Class, then all-day field trip)
Jay Barnhart explaining the peculiarities of two different plants.
Where: Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge
Notes: Wildflowers absent due to recent frosts, but plenty of plants to learn about. Trip leaders were lifelong biologist Jim Stahl, who has an incredible personal knowledge of the plants and animals in the refuge, and Jay Barnhart, a former physician and retired Miami CSI medical examiner with a passion for mushrooms. Jay is a sponge for learning new things and gushes a fountain of facts and anecdotes about plants to anyone within earshot.
Wednesday evening Keynote: Lillian and Donald Stokes
Lillian and Donald Stokes autographing copies of their Stokes Field Guide to the Birds of North America.
Notes: Who knew a birding field guide could require so much work from so many people? Lifetime birders and authors, the Stokes’ have created an incredible resource for birders: The Stokes Field Guide to the Birds of North America. Their fabulous presentation of what it took to produce this field guide inspired me to buy a copy (as if I have room for another book), which the authors kindly autographed after their presentation.
Thursday 1/27/2011
Class: Digiscoping with Digital SLR
Clay Taylor of Swarovski Optik talks digiscoping.
Notes: Clay Taylor of Swarovski Optik explained the possibilities, problems and solutions pertinent to taking photographs through a spotting scope with a digital SLR camera. I’ve resolved to earn more money this year so I can afford to give it a try.
Class: The Noon Blog
Mike Bergin of 10000birds.com (right) facilitated the Noon Blog discussion.
Notes: Bring together a dozen or so dedicated bloggers, accidental bloggers, wanna-be bloggers, throw in some chilled shrimp and pasta salad, and you’ve got a discussion that cannot be contained within an hour-and-a-half time frame. But it sure was interesting. Kudos to Mike Bergin of 10000birds.com for keeping us focused, helping us see the big picture, and for making everyone feel welcome no matter what their blogging goals, or lack thereof.
Thursday Evening Keynote: Laura Erickson
Laura Erickson autographing copies of her book after her Keynote presentation, "Close Encounters of the Bird Kind."
Notes: Laura captured the essence of her lifetime love of birds in this presentation appropriately called “Close Encounters of the Bird Kind.” Inviting wild birds into her family as they recuperated from their “Close Encounters of the Human Kind” or of the “Cat Kind,” Laura shared her unique perspective on birds in a way that only she can.
Friday 1/28/2011
Class: Advanced Shorebird Workshop with Kevin Karlson and David Simpson
Where: Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge
Notes: Gator Creek Road winds through the wetlands affording a water view on both sides. Birds are everywhere. Kevin Karlson (The Shorebird Guide) helped us focus on identifying birds by impression, noticing things like size, body shape, behavior, relative bill size, etc. David Simpson brought his experience with the local area into the mix to create a very productive trip. Roseate Spoonbills, white pelicans, greater and lesser yellowlegs, American avocets, dowitchers, and wading birds of all kinds were in evidence. A spotting scope would have been very helpful on this trip. Next year I’ll have one. In the short video below, Kevin Karlson talks about what “birding by impression” involves. When Kevin talks, birders listen.
Class: Birding Outside the Box II: How we identify birds.
Notes: This indoor class “lecture” featured Alvaro Jaramillo explaining the idea that experts do not “identify” birds, they simply “recognize” them. I’ll let Alvaro explain it to you ( short video clip below):
Friday Evening Keynote: Chuck Hagner, editor of Birder’s World Magazine
Notes: This keynote turned out to be much more interesting than I’d imagined. Hagner spoke about the amazing things we’ve learned about birds as well as some of the big questions that still remain. What stood out the most to me was how high some birds can fly (way up in jet aircraft territory), and how fast and how far they fly during migration, covering thousands of miles in just a few days. Who knew? And Hagner announced that Birder’s World Magazine will become BirdWatching Magazine with the April 2011 issue.
Saturday 1/29/2011
Class: Beach Birds Intro and Field Trip to Smyrna Dunes Beach Park
Birding on Disappearing Island. Digiscoped image of Wilson's Plovers courtesy of Adam Kent.
Notes: After a very informative primer on identifying beach birds we all drove out to Smyrna dunes (an hour away), had lunch, and spent the rest of the day either on the beach or on Disappearing Island (a huge sand bar). Plenty of birds. Lots of Black Skimmers. Highlights included sightings of several Bonaparte’s gulls, a Common Loon, and several hundred Northern Gannets. Tour leaders Adam Kent, Michael Brothers and Sarah Linney did a great job of helping us find the birds and learn the I.D. A spotting scope is good to have on this trip because many of the birds are at a considerable distance.
Saturday Evening Keynote: Julie Zickefoose
A photo from Julie's slide presentation, and Julie autographing her books.
Notes: Julie presented readings from her book “Letters From Eden” along with her photographs. She masterfully related to a very receptive audience the richness of her experiences with life on her 80 acre Appalachian sanctuary in Ohio. Everyone enjoyed the opportunity to see the world of nature through Julie’s eyes.
Sunday 1/31/2011
Field Trip: Ritch Grissom Memorial Wetlands at Viera
Notes: What a great place to watch birds! Raptors, waders, ducks, sparrows, swallows–they’re all here. Special birds seen: Crested caracara, Sora, Least bittern, American bittern, Peregrine falcon. Arrive early; it’s really beautiful. Binoculars are enough to enjoy it, but definitely bring a scope for maximum benefit.
Classroom presentation: Florida Reptiles
Reinier Mungia teaching people about the value of Florida's reptiles.
Notes: Presenter, photographer and naturalist Reinier Munguia so successfully mixes a Cuban accent, humor, and an unbelievable passion for conserving nature, that the hour-and-a-half lecture was over in a flash. There was plenty of class interaction, and when class was over, everyone gathered around the live snakes and reptiles Reinier brought for show-and-tell.
