Midwest Birding Symposium – Final Roundup
September 19, 2007
Article in: Birding
In the weeks to come we plan on talking about various things we learned at this year’s Midwest Birding Symposium in Moline, Illinois. This is a final summary of what we took away from this wonderful event.
The Mighty Mississippi River
If we had to name one favorite moment of the MBS it would have to have been standing side-by-side to Kenn Kaufman, calling out warblers as they danced in the tree tops. But we also met many wonderful people, heard numerous wonderful talks, and saw some amazing birds.
Life Birds
Dakota, as expected, had the most life birds of the trip, estimated at over 20 new birds. Birdfreak and Veery each saw three new birds: American Golden Plover, Franklin’s Gull, and Eurasian Tree Sparrow for Birdfreak and Caspian Tern, the plover and gull for Veery. We both had our first really great looks at a Black-billed Cuckoo too!
Conservation and Birding Talks
We attended six workshops at the MBS and each was enjoyable. It was hard to stay awake in a couple, but that was due to the extreme early mornings and nearly non-stop activities. Here’s what talks we heard:
- Paul Baicich: Three Roads, One Direction: Birders, Bird Conservation, and National Wildlife Refuges
- Kenn Kaufman: Principles and Pitfalls of Bird Identification
- Kim Risen: The Undiscovered Midwest
- Jim Herkert: Grassland Birds in the Upper Midwest
- Doug Harr: Bird Conservation in Iowa – Trying to Prevent a Silent Spring
- Mississippi River Forest Habitat – Always Changing
As you’d expect, many of these talks revolved around the Midwest and conservation, two areas of focus for our blog.
Other Points of Interest
Al Batt, a humorist-birder introduced Kenn Kaufman for the Saturday night dinner talk. He was funny but something he said really surprised the Birdfreak Team. He pointed out in the crowd to Dakota and said (and we paraphrase here) that Kenn started birding at a young age and Dakota, at age 10, is going to be the next Kenn Kaufman!! Now, nobody knows what the future holds, but we were thrilled to hear someone say this and you just never know!
The next Midwest Birding Symposium will be held in 2009 somewhere in Ohio and we are planning on being there!!
Birding With Kenn Kaufman
September 18, 2007
Article in: Birding
To cap off our wonderful four-day weekend at the Midwest Birding Symposium, we got the chance to do some birding with Kenn Kaufman. The group was much smaller than our other outings and this trip was definitely our favorite!! Kenn immediately made everyone feel welcome and made sure everyone found each new bird.
Kenn Kaufman finding a Franklin’s Gull (a lifer for the whole Birdfreak Team)
Our trip started at Credit Island, a Davenport, Iowa park that is surrounded by the Mississippi River. Being located on such an important migratory flyway is one of the key reasons this is an excellent birding spot. There were lots of birds to be found – Caspian Terns, Least and Solitary Sandpipers, over 25 Great Egrets, several warblers, and much more.
Kim Kaufman was along on our hike and she is also a wonderful birder. She found two Great Horned Owls while we were all trying to find phantom Black-crowned Night-Herons.
Here’s Kim Kaufman showing Dakota a few things about photography with my old camera
After birding at Credit Island, we headed over to Wildcat Den State Park, an excellent non-Iowa-looking park. Here the warblers and vireos put on a great show, plus many other wonderful birds.
Being around such a knowledgeable person as Kenn Kaufman is an excellent way to learn about birds. We are especially thrilled that Dakota was able to experience this, especially at such a young age (he is only 10). We wish we could bird with Kenn (and Kim) more often!!
Meeting Kenn Kaufman
September 17, 2007
Article in: Birding
Perhaps the main reason we visited the Midwest Birding Symposium was to meet Kenn Kaufman. After using his field guide (a lot!) and reading the Kingbird Highway (which we reviewed), we really wanted to see Kenn in person. We got our chance and it was awesome!!
Here’s Dakota posing with Kim and Kenn Kaufman
We had the privilege to have Kenn sign our field guides and had a great chance to talk to him a bit after his workshop talk. Kenn is an elegant speaker and extremely kind to everyone. We talked to him about some of our conservation goals and it was a lot of fun.
Kenn Kaufman putting us in a bird-learning trance
If meeting Kenn wasn’t cool enough, we also got to meet his wife Kim. Her enthusiasm for promoting kids and birding (and all nature) is amazing and she was super friendly to us. Veery had contacted her a few months ago to get information about starting a kids birding club in northern Illinois. She was super helpful with this.
Unfortunately, we haven’t been able to get much interest in our area (yet) but we will be working on that in the upcoming months.
Midwest Birding Symposium – Port Louisa NWR
September 17, 2007
Article in: Birding
On our second day at the Midwest Birding Symposium we headed out before dawn to Port Louisa National Wildlife Refuge. Port Louisa is a complex of four divisions along the Mississippi River which comprises of 8,375 acres of floodplain. We birded the Keithsburg Division on the Illinois side of the river.
Arriving before daybreak, we were able to hear Barred and Great Horned Owls, Soras, scolding Marsh Wrens and others. The grassy trail was wet (up to Dakota’s armpits in places) and we all got pretty soaked. But the birding was excellent along our 3-4 mile hike. Every few minutes a large bird would flyover – Great Egret, Great Blue Heron, Double-crested Cormorant, etc. It was the first time any of us had ever seen Great Egrets flying in formation – a perfect V of about seven birds.
Most of the birds tried to stay hidden and many were seen as they flew away. We had several other sharp birders along so it was quite easy to find a lot of birds (although some of the views weren’t that great). Photography was limited because of the pace and wetness. (Dakota took over as head photographer so the pictures here are his).
American White Pelicans
Some of the other highlight birds – American Golden Plover, Pileated Woodpecker, Bald Eagle, and Black-billed Cuckoo.
We headed over to another area near the small (very small) town of Keithsburg. Here we found Eurasian Tree Sparrows. Despite it being a lifer, I preferred the Wilson’s Warbler in plain view not more than 10 feet away.
We ended the trip with 99 species and our trip leader later found two more bringing the total over 100.
Midwest Birding Symposium – Maquoketa Caves
September 15, 2007
Article in: Birding
Birdfreak and Veery spent Friday morning on a field trip to an Iowa birding hotspot, Maquoketa Caves State Park. This park is a gem not only for its breeding birds but for its amazing scenery. And of course its caves.
Maquoketa is pronounced roughly “Ma-ko-kah-da” but we kept calling it “Ma-coconut” as it sounded like that when others said it fast.
The Terrain at Maquoketa Was Rugged and Spectacular
Unfortunately, the birding wasn’t that great, as the deep forest and cave-laden terrain was cold and the birds kept quiet. But, the caves were truly a wonderful experience as we clamored in the dark through what is called the Dance Hall.
The Light at the End of the Tunnel (or Cave)
The cave experience was new to us. We had been in caverns before but not in such a wet, dark, and low cave. We had some flashlights, but it was still dark. Unfortunately, we did not see any bats or other cool critters in the cave. In the rocky canyons a spunky Carolina Wren belted out an echoed song and investigated the gang of onlookers.
Our group had 29 birders (!!) so it was hard to find a lot of birds, especially since we had to go single-file for most of the way (narrow, rocky trails and caves). But we did find some nice birds at a prairie area including Broad-winged Hawk, Eastern Phoebe, and a lot of Gray Catbirds.
Twenty-nine birders is too much for a bird hike, but it was still fun exploring a new area
Still to come – loads of conservation info gleaned from our workshops we attended and meeting one of the greats, Kenn Kaufman!!
Midwest Birding Symposium – Three Lifers for Dakota!
September 14, 2007
Article in: Birding
Yesterday we arrived in Moline, Illinois for our very first Midwest Birding Symposium! Our first field trips began early Friday morning, and The Birdfreak Team split up.
Dakota and his Grandparents searched for waterfowl and migratory warblers on the Mississippi River on a pontoon boat. They found many species…94 to be exact, lead by Kelly McKay, an accomplished wildlife biologist of over 20 years.
With Kelly McKay’s help, Dakota saw three life birds, an Orange-crowned Warbler, a Canada Warbler and a Kentucky Warbler.
Some other highlights included two Pileated Woodpeckers, a Wood Thrush, Louisiana Waterthrushes, American White Pelicans, Great Blue and Green Herons, and Great Egrets. Dakota was also able to practice using his uncle’s camera…
Dakota shot his first Pileated Woodpeckers!
This Green Heron thought no one could see him.
The mosquitoes weren’t bad for the most part and no one got “pontoon sick” so a birding field trip success!
Coming up next…..Birdfreak and Veery visit Maquoketa Caves on their field trip and Dakota meets a celebrity birder!
Who was John Gould?
September 14, 2007
Article in: Birding
John Gould was born on September 14, 1804, in England. He became a known artist for his stunning bird prints, his most famous being the Monograph of the Trochilidae, or Family of Hummingbirds.
Phriday Photo x2
September 14, 2007
Article in: Photography
Here’s a double shot of some of the hardships of birding, starring Naturalist D, aka Kingfisher.
It’s not always easy to get a good view of the wetlands, and it can be sore on your butt!
Drinking fountains can be so unforgiving
