Evening Dinner Programs

MIGRATIN' RAPTORS STRING BAND
by Hawkwatch International Staff

The Migratin' Raptors is a folk/bluegrass band that performs original songs and traditional old-timey tunes that celebrate the spirit of raptors in their environment. Their program, appropriate for all ages, will set your toes to tapping and teach you a thing or two about ecology. Proceeds from the band's performances and CDs benefit HawkWatch International, a non-profit organization dedicated to conserving the environment through education, long-term monitoring and scientific research on raptors as indicators of ecosystem health.

The band's lyricist/composer is HawkWatch's Education Director, Jen Hajj, who also plays guitar, ukulele and washboard. You'll hear Ric Sharette on guitar, Mike Bolz, who plays bass and bamboo flute, and Ann Kelly, who fills out the quartet on harmonica, banjo, lap dulcimer and bones. All four participate in the vocals, and each one adds a spark sure to entertain us while we learn about raptors. You may be singing their lyrics all week!

OUT OF BREATH BIRDING: THE TIMBERLINE & TUNDRA ECOSYSTEMS OF THE CENTRAL ROCKIES
by Bill Schmoker

Join Bill in a discussion of the unique birding at and above treeline along the crests of the central Rocky Mountain ranges. Visitors to Snowbird can experience this amazing environment by boarding the Aerial Tram and ascending almost 3000 feet in the 10-minute ride. Bill's talk will set the stage for your high-elevation birding adventures at this convention with information on the natural history and environmental factors shaping bird life up in the rarified air. Accompanied by his outstanding photography, you will find this school teacher has a knack for connecting to his audience.

Bill Schmoker is perhaps best known in the birding community as a leading digital photographer of birds. Since late 2001 he has built a collection of bird photos documenting over 550 species of North American birds, which can be seen on his website (schmoker.org/BirdPics). His photography has appeared in many publications including Colorado Birds, Birding, WildBird, North American Birds, National Wildlife, Bird Conservation, Audubon, British Birds, Birdwatch, and Western Birds. His pictures have also been featured in photographic field guides, bird ID cards, newspapers, interpretive signs, web pages (including the ABA's home page), advertisements, corporate logos, and as references for art works.

Other birding experiences of Bill's include several summers conducting fieldwork for the Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory, presenting bird photography workshops, giving bird talks, leading field trips, and working with Leica Sport Optics as a digiscoping consultant and optics rep. Bill is a leader and outdoor instructor for NestlingTours. He has also enjoyed his involvement with the ABA's Institute for Field Ornithology and with their youth program, coordinating field trips for the 2006 Young Birder Conference in Fort Collins and judging the photo module of the Young Birder of the Year contest for several years. Bill is a Colorado/Wyoming regional editor for North American Birds and serves as president of the Colorado Field Ornithologists. Bill teaches middle school science when he isn't out birding.

BIRDS, BELLYBUTTONS, AND THE MEANING OF LIFE
by Dick Walton

A Lighthearted Look At Why Birders Bird…

A passion for birds can lead to a lifetime of learning, adventure and exploration. Although each individual follows a different path, common elements unite those of us who call ourselves birders. This talk explores our journey as birders. Using video of birds and birders from across North America as well as from the New World Tropics we follow the adventures, and yes - misadventures, of birders on a mission.

Dick Walton is a teacher, writer and naturalist with an interest in birds, butterflies and dragonflies. He is co-author, with Bob Lawson, of the Peterson Field Guide Birding by Ear series. Along with Greg Dodge, Dick runs Brownbag Productions and creates DVDs for naturalists. His research efforts focus on the Monarch Monitoring Project founded in 1990 with Lincoln Brower.

LETTERS FROM EDEN
by Julie Zickefoose

Letters from Eden is a naturalist's journal, telling the countless small stories of the woods and meadows in flowing prose and lively watercolors. Copperheads strike; starlings battle and become prey; bullfrogs snap up hummingbirds in Julie Zickefoose's essays. Though firmly rooted in southern Ohio, this book has struck a powerful chord with readers nationwide, evoking the rhythms of the seasons and an awareness of natural events that many people long for in the age of "nature deficit disorder." Reading from her work while showing her paintings and photographs, Julie will reveal the deep connection with nature that keeps her walking her 80-acre Appalachian sanctuary outside Whipple, Ohio.

Julie Zickefoose is a writer, artist and naturalist at home in the Appalachian foothills of Ohio. Every day, she roams her 80 acre wildlife sanctuary, and every day she finds something new. This deep relationship with the land is the wellspring for her writing and art. Since 1986, Julie has made a living from natural history illustration and writing. As a skilled birder, she has frequently spoken at many birding events across the country and loves to share her enthusiasm with others as a field trip leader.

Workshops

WHAT'S IN A NAME? THE ORIGINS OF BIRD NAMES
by Adrian Binns

From Avocet to Yellowlegs, from accipiter to zenaida…who deemed these words to be the correct bird names? What do they mean? Where did these words come from and why were they chosen? Are they always a perfect fit? Are they politically correct? We will also take a look at the whimsical, strange and occasional fantasy connection behind the origins of some bird names.

Between growing up in Morocco and being educated in England, the cultural differences and the birds of the Western Palearctic formed the backbone of Adrian Binns' formative years, before moving to Southeastern Pennsylvania in 1977. Following a career as a tennis professional and an ecological landscape designer, Adrian began leading eco-tours for a variety of organizations and is currently field director of Wildside Birding Tours leading birding tours worldwide. A past president of the Delaware Valley Ornithological Club (DVOC), one of the oldest bird clubs in the country and a member of the Nikon/DVOC World Series of Birding Team and Nikon Pro Staff, Adrian is an accomplished avian illustrator and well published photographer.

IDENTIFYING WESTERN HAWKS
by Jen Hajj

Raptor watching and identification isn't just a fun pastime, it is the foundation of a whole branch of conservation science. Long-term monitoring of migrating raptors can teach us a lot about threats to global health. In this workshop, we'll take a lighthearted look at the characteristics, aesthetics and natural history of three sub-families of raptors: buteos (field hawks), harriers and accipiters (forest hawks). Using hands-on, participatory methods, we'll understand these birds from a form and function perspective…and leave you feeling more confident about calling them by name.

Jennifer Hajj joined HawkWatch International in the summer of 2005, coming from the Zoo Education field. She received her BS in Biology from Westminster College in 1992 and is currently working on a Master's Degree in Parks, Recreation and Tourism, with emphases in Statistics and Natural Resources Interpretation. Her thesis will investigate the effects of program types and touchable teaching tools on audience Sense of Wonder. Jen's interest in inquiry-based and participatory education in the world community has taken her to faraway places, and she has worked with scientists, students and teachers in Trinidad, Costa Rica and Argentina. Jen enjoys painting, music composition and performance in her spare time.

WRITING A GOOD SIGHTING REPORT
moderator, Ted Floyd

If you spend a lot of time in the field, you're bound to come across a rare bird every now and then. And if you find a rare bird, you're certain to attract the attention of your state or provincial bird records committee (BRC). What do BRCs actually do? That is a question that comes up over and over again in the birding community. In this workshop, we will take a look at the activities of BRCs. The goal of the workshop is to promote mutually beneficial interactions between BRCs and the broader birding community.

BRCs are fundamentally concerned with archiving and analyzing the occurrence of rare and unusual birds within a particular state or province. BRCs tend not to be "list police" or "standard bearers," popular impression to the contrary notwithstanding. Rather, their goal is to document patterns of occurrence, vagrancy, and range expansion. In a panel format, members of state and provincial BRCs will briefly discuss the assumptions and activities of their own BRCs. Audience participation—questions, suggestions, even complaints—will be avidly sought.

A central activity of this workshop will be a tutorial on things to look for during an encounter with a rare bird. We will look at PowerPoint images of birds and then write up descriptions of what we saw. In the process, we will learn that there is more to the write-up than a feather-by-feather description of the bird. BRCs are critically interested in descriptions of a bird's behavior, habitat, and overall size and shape.

Paying attention in the field and knowing what to expect are two of the critical components of becoming a better birder. Taking notes is another piece of the puzzle. By working together with BRCs, and by understanding their deliberations and even their "philosophy," we can enjoy our time afield all the more.