We are off to see...

We are off to see... NATURE!

We're off to see...

Attending natural history events is a good way to inform your experience and learn more about nature.  The next step is taking your new-found information out into the woods, fields or streams.

Here is a line up of some of my favorite spring festivals:

Adams County Birding Symposium  Saturday March 7th, held in Southern Ohio. This event has limit seating and it fills up quickly! Register now or you will miss out!

Many of us stay at the wonderful Murphin Inn Bed and Breakfast, a retreat to make your winter all better.  The granola must be experienced, 'nuff said.

Find the rare Snow Trilllium, Trillium nivale in Adams County

I intend to stay an extra day to do a little birding or botanizing.  This is the time to see Ohio's rarest Trillium, Trillium nivale, the miniature trillium oblivious to snow!

Katie Fallon is the Keynote speaker at this year's festival.  This is her wonderful book about the The Cerulean Warbler. The story connects us with the life history of a warbler species in great decline, the Cerulean Warbler. Spoiler alert: loss of breeding habitat is key.

Did you know the Cerulean Warblers breed in the Mohican Forest?  One more reason to keep our trees.

Then mark your calendar for April 25-27th, 2015

The Ohio Ornithological Society will be headed to Shawnee Park and Forest and registration is right here.

We have an offering of excellent speakers, including Lang Elliot, Jim McCormac and my personal hero, Martin McAllister!  Marty will tell us more about The Nature Conservancy's Sunshine Corridor.  

Slant Lined moth on Lady's-slipper Orchid

You know the "Weedpicker" is going to be looking at the flowers of the forest!  Register for a hike to see Spring Warblers and maybe a few early orchids!

All these are warm ups for the BIG event, The Biggest Week in American Birding- May 8-17th, 2015.  Registration will be opened soon. So get ready, get set, GO SEE WARBLERS!

Prothonotary Warbler at Magee Boardwalk

Come for the birds, but stay for the informational programs and some of the best (and a few of the wackiest) birders from all across America.  There will be spotting scopes for sale, birders in Kilts and if you look really hard you many spot the incog-negro* himself, Drew Lanham!

My Tribe, a mixed group of birders who I can't wait to see again.
Photo pilfered from Jeff Bouton's Facebook page.
 (Buy something Leica from him, so he doesn't get mad at me!)

There will be Pie!  The Biggest Week is the biggest celebration of birding held in America. If you have friends, sign them up and head to Oak Harbor!  If you don't have friends, you will after visiting this place!

Join us for the root'n toot'n-est time you ever had.  Oh yeah, there will be good birding too.  Sign up for trips to new places.  Meet a crazy conservationist (me!)  Or just come for the pie and meet Greg Miller.  Anyway you cut it, this is an action packed event.



* Drew's term, not mine. Frankly, I hope to spot him!

The Biggest Week got longer!

Spring is in the air, and it won't be long until America's Biggest Week in Birding takes place in Northwest Ohio.  And believe it or not, it just got BIGGER!

Yellow-throated Warbler, photo by John Howard

 In order to spread the bird lovin' around, The Biggest Week sends road trips out to place like Oak Openings near Toledo, Catawba Island and Marblehead.  Folks love to look at those neotropical migrants, the wood warblers!  But to see all of them in Ohio, you'll need to head south of Magee Marsh... about 230 miles, or 4.5 hours south to be exact!

Some of our warblers- those southern Ohio specialty birds- show up at Flora-Quest, an event I organize in Shawnee State Park and Adams County.

Biggest Week hits the road to Adams County, with Greg Miller

Last year my friend Greg Miller was already doing the Flora-Quest's Birding trip in Adams and Scioto Counties, and we decided to offer a "Greg Miller Road Trip" to The Biggest Week!

Roadside birding and bird photography "Shawnee style."
Don't try this in Oak Harbor!

He finds great birds everywhere!

Prairie Warble, photo by John Howard

 Prairie Warblers, Yellow-breasted Chats, and Scarlet Tanagers have the run of this place. If things go well, we may even turn up a Blue Grosbeak or Henslow's Sparrow.

Greg Miller blessing the birds.

 May the birds be with you, and may you join us next year in Adams and Scioto County. This year the trip is already full, but we have so much fun, I can't believe we won't offer it again in 2014.

Roadside birding and botanizing is the norm in Shawnee.

Shawnee State Park is as far south in Ohio as you can go without falling in the Ohio River. This massive forest is an island of quiet and beauty in an otherwise agricultural and industrial state.  The roads wind through hillsides dotted with rare flowers and divided by sparkling streams.

Blue-headed Vireo builds her nest.  

 Listen for the Blue-headed Vireo. 

Henry's Elfin

Yellow Lady's-Slipper, Cypripedium parviflorum var. pubescens

Watch for the impossibly small Henry'sElfin Butterfly.  They will be near the Redbud trees.


And if you are a really lucky-birder, you might stumble upon a Yellow Lady's-Slipper, one of our most beautiful orchids.  They grow throughout Shawnee.



So if you are itching for some fabulous birding, remember- The Biggest Week just got bigger.







We can't wait to see our Biggest Week / Flora-Quest friends in Shawnee!

Greg Miller and I will be waiting for you there.