OOS Conference 2012

Birders and Lakeside- a match made in heaven.  The 2012 Annual Conference of OOS was held in Lakeside, Ohio this weekend and just one of the popular events was a breakfast with the birds.

Sunrise greets the birders at Lakeside, Ohio.  This fabulous breakfast was a joint effort of  Birding Ohio  Facebook group and OOS. It is good to mingle with fellow birders and share with friends.

Lukas Padegimas and Greg Miller- entertaining birders!

Lukas Padegimas  lead off the Friday evening program with a mind-blowing account of his summer surveying birds near the arctic. He is a young birder you'll want to watch, as he could be our next "Greg Miller!"  

Greg gave some fun commentary during the movie The Big Year. He has been a wonderful ambassador for the birding world and we are very proud he is one of Ohio Ornithological Society's founding board members.

Birding!  Of course, there was birding.  Saturday morning, birders thrilled to the opportunity to bird with Kenn and Kim Kaufman  (foreground-in gray) at Meadowbrook Marsh- a wetland recently conserved by the joint efforts of OOS, Carbon Offset, and Mid-West Birding Symposium.  Black Swamp Land Conservancy is doing the actual land conservation.  Kudos to Danbury Township for its foresight to set aside land for bird (and fish) conservation.

 The Ohio Young Birders will be doing their Big Sit!on this platform at Meadowbrook, and you can go here to donate to that cause.

Kevin Karlson, author of -"Visions: a Photographic Celebration of Birds and Nature"

 Kevin Karlson of Cape May birding fame is a reknown photographer and shorebird expert.  He gave two presentations.

The first,  Saturday mid-morning, was a review of "impressions" of shorebirds.  Forget plumage- Kevin says to look at the body structure of shorebirds to make your ID.  He has us all eager to join him on a beach at Cape May!

His evening keynote address "Visions: a Photographic Celebration of Birds and Nature" was both relaxing and inspiring at the same time.  His book is going on the top of my Christmas list!  (Did you read that, family?)

Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge, the location of our well-attended shore bird trip.
We are fortunate to have the largest area of wetlands in the entire state of Ohio as an active partner.  

Jason Lewis, Director at Ottawa is a powerful ally for birds (and butterflies!)  He has made the refuge more accessible and allowed great folks like Rebecca Hinkle, Sherrie Duris, Tom Bartlett  and others to lead educational trips into otherwise unavailable areas.  We appreciate this generous cooperation.

Native botany at Ottawa

Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge has a beautiful native garden filled with butterflies and pollinators! The birds "flocked" to this area while the birders enjoyed it during our lunch.  It is an excellent example of native plants in the landscape providing a function along with their form. 

Botany tip of the day:  Did anyone else smell the fragrance of Butterscotch? Those white Heath Aster Symphyotrichum pilosum have a unique fragrance you can use to identify them. Unfortunately, they have so many common names: Heath Aster, Frost Aster, Hairy White Oldfield Aster-you need the scientific name for the sure thing. 

Oh Asters, you just have to be confusing!

Birding Ohio at Pipe Creek

Social Media meet birding, in a big way.  All across Ohio birders came out to share their interests and learn from one another. We made new friends, promoted birds and birding with "the Pledge to Fledge."  

OOS had a group meeting up at Hoover Reservoir and a bumper crop of Buff-breasted Sandpipers. Toledo Naturalists' Association, Ottawa Refuge and Magee Marsh Wildlife also had fabulous events to encourage new birders and old birders who love to bird!  Don't you love it when a plan comes together?  

 The Birding Ohio Facebook group gathered at Pipe Creek in Sandusky, Ohio. We met up at McDonald's (join Facebook page  here to see the photo of the full group.)

Greg Miller (center).

I came along for the ride with my buddy Greg Miller. He is a wonderful bird mentor and a great friend.  Yes, I knew Greg (in the pre-Jack Black days) before he was rich and famous... well, OK, famous.  He is a great guy and we love talking politics. We may see things from different perspectives, but we have intelligent conversation- which puts us way ahead of either of our political parties!

Kim and Kenn Kaufman ready to BIRD!

The Birding Ohio group arranged several great guides for this trip, including Kim and Kenn Kaufman. Kim was quick to claim she is no shorebird pro, but Kenn has it covered.  Kenn is a wonderfully patient teacher and if you weren't able to join us on this trip, I encourage you to buy the Kaufman Field Guide to Advanced Birding.  Carry Kenn in your pocket!  Or better yet, pull him out of your pocket and read the chapter on shorebirds.  He will help you make sense of these madly, confusing birds.  He generously allows that shorebirds- with all of their various plumages- are a challenge!

So the beginners got to see their first Dowitchers, and we intermediates felt better about not knowing if they were Long-bill or Short-billed Dowitchers.  Greg led us through the process of looking at their back-ends for the barred feather patterns.

We were working it!  Photographers, birders and general naturalists were on a Pipe Creek free-for all.

If you are like me and the intense study of plumage is not your main interest, the beauty of this wetland provided many other opportunities for enjoyment. Numerous Great Blue Herons and a two Little Blue Herons worked the shoreline next to a Snowy Egret. A Great Egret and Red-necked Phalaropes also put on quite the show.  That white speck in the center of the photo is a female Phal in outstanding plumage.  These birds who feed by swimming in crazy, erratic circles are standouts among the shorebirds and easy to share with beginners.

Habitat wise, the flowering Purple Loosestrife, Lythrum salicaria, is an invasive species which degrades wetlands, but it was handy for the butterflies and pollinators utilizing it.  Scanning across the wetlands with binoculars provided an endless supply of dragonflies, bees, and butterflies to discover.

How can we tell this is a Bull Frog?

Wetlands and frogs, beautiful things.  Frogs make tasty food for the herons, who don't even care if this is a bull frog or green frog.  However, we know it is a bull frog because it lacks the dorsal lateral folds on its back.  See that smooth back- no lines?  That is a bull frog my friend.   Or shall I say, "That is a bull frog, my friend!"?

Thanks again to the Birding Ohio folks and all the friends who made this day special!