The OYBC Conference in Columbus, Ohio had amazing young speakers this year! We thought they were so good – we would write about each one of them separately!
Lake Erie Water Snake: Beyond Birds with OYBC
Speaker: Kathleen
In August 2011 the OYBC went on a unique field trip to explore not birds, but snakes. Specifically, the Lake Erie Water Snake (LEWS). This snake is one of only 23 species to ever be removed from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s endangered wildlife list. Oddly enough, their success is largely because of the abundance of the invasive non-native round gobie fish that came accidently from Europe.
Kathleen gave a wonderful presentation on the study and restoration of the LEWS. The LEWS is a subspecies of the Northern water snake and has one of the smallest geographic ranges of any vertebrate in the world and is only found on the islands of Lake Erie.
Ohio young birders are interested in many environmental topics from birds to snakes to plants and Kathleen’s presentation was a great addition to the conference!
