Midwest bird watching

Mourning Warbler

7/18/2016

Discovered in 1810 by Alexander Wilson in Philadelphia, the Mourning Warbler migrates through Indiana in the spring on its way to its breeding grounds in Canada and northern portions of the U.S., and again in the fall on its way to the wintering grounds in the tropics. According to Audubon scientists, the Mourning Warbler breeding ground is expected to move much further north over the coming decades, as illustrated by Audubon's interactive model: http://www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird/mourning-warbler. The change will likely impact the timing of their migration and their appearance in Indiana.

With their subdued coloring, preference for thickets, and solitary nature, it can be difficult to spot a Mourning Warbler. Like most warblers, they have a habit of darting from branch to branch, particularly if you are trying to take a photo! Most Indiana birders struggle to find a Mourning Warbler out in the open, so imagine, if you will, seeing a variety of different warblers, including Mourning, all in a line, holding still, ready to be photographed! Gene Stratton-Porter had that experience and she shared it with us in "Homing with the Birds":

"In a line on a wire fence, there was a string the length of a city lot, of warblers gathering for migration, while over several bushes before and close behind the fence flocked dozens upon dozens more of these trim exquisite little birds. Of course, the predominant colour was yellow, there being the pure gold of the summer yellow bird and the slightly deeper shade of the prothonotary. There were the deep orange of the Blackburnian and the mottled yellow of the magnolian. There appeared prominently on the wire the yellow head and throat of the blue-wing, the stronger touch of yellow of the redstart, the black-throated green warbler, the yellow pine and the yellow-touched hood and mourning warblers. There were a number of specimens of the black-throated blue warbler and the still paler cerulean. There was at least one specimen of the bay-breasted warbler, with robin-breast colour on the top of its head and all over its underparts, and there were enough chattering, little warblers I could not identify to have made a large flock...As a rare and unusual sight I can think of no experience in field work to surpass the beauty of this picture."

Prairie Warbler

5/15/2016

Despite its name, Prairie Warblers are not typically found in prairies or in back yards. As an early successional species, they prefer large brushy areas and young trees. They are not widespread in Indiana, and even the earliest records of sightings are few. Prairie Warblers were first recorded in the northern half of Indiana in 1892, with one recorded in Wabash on May 2, 1892 and two in Lebanon on April 29, 1892. In that year, the Prairie Warbler had only been reported in four locations across Indiana. (Amos Butler, Proceedings of the Indiana Academy of Science, Volume 3, 1893).

This tail-wagging little bird has been featured on several postage stamps, including stamps in Grenada, Barbados, British Virgin Islands, and most recently in St. Kitts. In 1951 the National Wildlife Federation offered Peterson's illustration of a Prairie Warbler in the form of a collectible conservation stamp, and American Bird magazine offered slides of male, female and nestling Prairie Warblers for $0.50 in 1903. For the more gruesome, barbaric collector, you could buy a Prairie Warbler skin for the low price of just $0.15 in 1895. That was a bargain compared to the cost of a Bald Eagle at $6.00. (Natural Science News, Volume 1, October 5, 1985).

Thankfully we no longer shoot songbirds and sell the skins as collectibles. Nevertheless populations of many birds remain in decline largely due to human activity, loss of habitat, predation, and parasitism. The USGS North American BBS (Breeding Bird Survey) Population Trend Map for 1966-2013 shows an unmistakable decline in breeding Prairie Warblers in several states including Indiana. Between 1966 and 1993, the Midwest had an alarming 44% decline in breeding Prairie Warblers, and an overall 66% decline from 1966 to 2014. By the way, I confess I have a bit of an obsession with these BBS Trend Maps. I am in charge of the BBS for Adams County, and I assist with the BBS in Wabash and Huntington Counties, so I look at the Trend Maps often. Even if you are not helping with the BBS, I would encourage you to take a look at the Trend Maps for your favorite birds. You might be surprised. Incidentally, when the map indicates a percentage decline, that's not the total decline. It's a yearly decline. A "-1.5" indicates that the population dropped 1.5% each year from 1966 to 2013. Those declines add up!

Indiana University professor Val Nolan, Jr. studied the Prairie Warbler populations extensively and wrote a book in 1978 about his findings: "Ecology and Behavior of the Prairie Warbler". His findings were troubling. The nests he studied suffered 24% parasitism by cowbirds, only 69% of the warbler nestlings survived to adulthood, and the annual female mortality was 35%. Using those numbers, he calculated that the population would barely replace itself. The U.S. Forest Service has conducted a more recent study of the Prairie Warbler and found that the biggest cause of the decline is no longer the cowbird, but habitat loss. (Conservation Assessment for Prairie Warbler, U.S. Forest Service 2001).

Fortunately, several Prairie Warbler habitats are being preserved. I found the bird in this photo happily residing at the Indiana Dunes last spring. New Jersey has set up a 1200-acre preserve specifically for Prairie Warblers: the Michael Huber Prairie Warbler Preserve.

If you decide to go in search of a Prairie Warbler, and if you bird by ear, take note: Prairie Warblers have two distinct songs. One song is used for courtship while the second song is used to mark territory. An excellent video of a Prairie Warbler singing his heart out can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLKLCqN8WS0

Albinism vs. Leucism vs. Dilution vs. Progressive Greying

3/6/2016

Is this hummingbird an albino? Or is it suffering from leucism? Or perhaps it is displaying signs of dilution? Or maybe it has a condition causing progressive greying? The answer might depend on whom you ask.

There has been some confusion and disagreement in the scientific community about the exact nature of each of these conditions. For example, is leucism caused by a lack of pigment? Or by a significant reduction in the amount of pigment deposited in the feathers? We aren’t completely certain. However, the basic cause and definition of each condition is generally agreed upon.

Albinism is caused by a genetic mutation that results in a complete absence of tyrosinase in pigment cells. Tyrosinase is an enzyme that is located in melanocytes. Melanocytes produce melanin, which is the substance that gives your skin, hair and eyes their color, and it gives color to a bird’s feathers. With no tyrosinase, no melanin is produced, so a bird’s feathers will appear white, and the eyes will appear pink. Albinism also affects the bird’s eyesight, causing the bird to have difficulty spotting predators and shortening its lifespan. Since albinism is an all-or-nothing condition, there is no such thing as “partially albino”.

Leucism is a reduction, rather than a complete lack, of pigment. Birds with leucism may have a few white feathers (partially leucistic), or be predominantly white, depending on the extent of the condition. Leucism is inherited, but it usually displays differently in the parents than in the offspring. A parent may have white feathers on the wings, while the offspring has white feathers on the tail, for example. It is an inherited trait, but it is recessive so it can skip generations.

Dilution is a condition that causes the feathers to appear more pale than normal. The bird may appear to have been sprayed with a fine mist of white paint and look washed out. In these birds, the melanin is present, but the cells are not producing as much pigment as normal birds.

Progressive greying or vitiligo results in white feathers, but the change occurs over time. The bird may have normal coloring when young, but the bird turns whiter as it ages. It is caused by the progressive loss of pigment cells with age.

So which condition does this hummingbird have? I’ll let you be the judge!

Pine Siskin

2/28/2016

This finch dressed like a sparrow can be seen in abundance one year, then rarely the next. The migration patterns are variable. During irruption years Pine Siskins travel further south and east in the winter in search of food. Normally seen in the northern states, some irruption years have resulted in large flocks of Siskins in places as far south as Louisiana, Alabama and Florida. In the winter of 2007-8 there were Pine Siskins reported at only 24% of the Project FeederWatch Sites. The following year was an irruption year, with 50% of the Project FeederWatch sites reporting flocks of Pine Siskins. Their movements are variable, with some migrating from northeast to northwest, while others migrate from north to south. A Siskin banded in Pennsylvania was later recaptured in Washington, while another bird banded in Texas was recaptured in Minnesota. They migrate in flocks of a half dozen to hundreds, often stopping at nyjer feeders along the way to dine alongside goldfinches.

They consume a variety of insect and weed pests, including aphids, scale insects, and thistle. As the flock forages through the trees, parts of the flock "leapfrog" over one another. "Often when feeding, there are no birds in flight; at other times part of the flock may take wing and pass over those still feeding to other food trees. As the birds thus go "leapfrogging", the entire mass of the flock of busy, lisping birds appears to flow through the forest. Then all of a sudden the lisping ceases and the flock is silent; it takes flight with a very audible whirring of wings and flies rapidly away" - A. C. Bent, "Life Histories of Familiar North American Birds".

The courtship is a sweet combination of a song and a dance on the wing. Louise de Kiriline Lawrence, naturalist and frequent contributor to National Audubon Society's magazine "Audubon", described the courtship beautifully: "With a beam of sunshine illuminating his golden flashes, the male rose into the air with tail spread wide and wings in a blur of rapid motion. To the accompaniment of a flight song which seemed to express far more musical adoration than could be contained in so small a body, he described circle after circle around his chosen mate. That the female reflected none of her partner's emotion in no way seemed to dampen his ardor and, after he dropped on to a twig from pure exhaustion to catch his breath, a few moments later he rose again in a repeat performance no less ecstatic than the first... In the midst of all this sweet singing, two birds swing into the air in an extensive 'cloud chase,' their movements tightly synchronized as they alternate in the roles of pursuer and pursued... The female sat on a twig. Presently the male alighted on the same twig, hopped up to her and offered her a small particle, of what I could not see. She crouched and, with trembling wings, accepted the offering."

Siskins are often thought to be rather tame. E. R. Davis studied the Siskins in 1926 and wrote: "In a short time the birds came to regard me as their friend, and in the days that followed grew to be exceedingly sociable and to lose every vestige of fear. Whenever I would appear at the window, or step outside the door, down they would come and, settling upon my head, shoulders, and arms, would peer anxiously about for the food that they had learned to know I held concealed from them in a box, dish, or other receptacle."

Pine Siskins may be tame, but they are also tough. They can withstand temperatures down to -94˚ (that's 94 degrees below zero!) by increasing their metabolic rate up to five times their normal rate for several hours! They also put on large fat deposits to help insulate themselves, and they store 10% of their body weight in seeds inside their crop to sustain them for up to 6 hours in subzero nighttime temperatures.

Dark-eyed Junco

2/16/2016

"A very quiet and well-conducted little member of our winter choir, with habits similar to those of the nuthatch, is the junco, with dark head and back, white breast, and grey sides. With an ivory-white bill, he feasts daintily at our winter offerings, occasionally remarking: 'tsip, tsip'. This is merely a whisper of sound. Occasionally he pauses and whispers a high, halting strain of a few notes with small variation that I am unable to give any form of syllabication." - Gene Stratton-Porter, "Homing with the Birds".

You have no doubt seen these cute little birds hopping on the ground underneath your bird feeder in the winter, but you aren't the only one watching them! Scientists have studied this species extensively. Over 1,300,000 Juncos have been banded since 1955, and over 15,000 of the banded birds have been recovered.

Researchers at Indiana University have conducted numerous studies on Juncos. They built the Kent Farm Bird Observatory facility including indoor and outdoor free-flight aviaries for housing flocks of juncos. A recent I.U. study monitored the effects of testosterone on Juncos. Increased testosterone allowed males to win mates, but they lost interest in raising their young had a shorter lifespan (Ketterson, et al., Indiana University 2007). In 1994, I.U. scientists studied the ability of Juncos to survive in winter when food is scarce by tracking the variations in their fat reserves. They noted that Juncos choose different wintering latitudes as they age (Rogers, et al., Indiana University 1994).

Scientists in other areas of the country have also be studying Juncos extensively. Their movements over (or more typically around) hills were tracked for three years in New Jersey. Not surprisingly, the birds chose the lower altitudes whenever possible (Schaeffer, "North American Bird Bander" 1979). The Junco's increased oxygen demands in winter are met by the bird's ability to increase its oxygen-carrying capacity (Swanson, Oregon State University 1990). Scientists have even studied the preening oils of Juncos and found that Juncos can distinguish between males and females by the odor of the oils, and they can use the odor to determine whether a bird is larger or smaller. Surprisingly, the females seemed to prefer the smaller males in this study (Whittaker, et al., "Behavioral Ecology" 2011).

Why are Juncos studied so often? They are easy to observe! They are common and sociable so it is not difficult to find a large group. They come easily to feeders so it is a simple task to attract them to net sites.
The interest in this bird and volume of study has even resulted in a popular documentary: "The Ordinary Extraordinary Junco" (http://juncoproject.org/). The film was designed by Indiana University to be a revolutionary type of multimedia textbook, teaching high school and college students in 8 "chapters" about the scientific method, ecology, genetics, physiology and animal behavior. I.U. allows free screenings of the 88-minute film for non-profit organizations and independent theaters upon request, so if you want to learn more about Juncos, you might want to arrange a screening for your local Audubon Society. As Bob Duquesne stated in his review of the film in "BDN Maine Outdoors" , "I will never look at a junco the same way again... [T]his little gray bird has a lot to teach us, about birds and about ourselves."

Creating a Backyard Habitat

10/14/2015

White-Throated Sparrow

7/14/2015

Many of you know that the White-throated Sparrow comes in two forms: white-crowned and tan-crowned. What you might not know is why. First, the two colors rarely mate with each other. They follow the adage "opposites attract" rather than "birds of a feather". Males prefer females with white stripes, but females prefer males with tan stripes.

Second, the genetics roughly follow Mendel's infamous but simple pea plant chart (Punnett Square). In simple terms, Mendel noted that pea plants have round peas (R) or wrinkled peas (r), where R and r are two different alleles for a single trait. A heterozygous plant would carry both R and r (Rr). A homozygous plant would carry only RR or rr. If two heterozygous plants are bred, the four resulting offspring would have the following: RR, rr, Rr and Rr.

In the case of the White-throated sparrow, the tan form of the birds is homozygous (WW). The white form of the birds is heterozygous (Ww). The white stripe is inherited as a dominant trait. With this combination of genes, the way in which the different forms choose mates, and the difference in parenting behavior between the two color variations, the result is an approximate 50-50 split in the stripe color. We have approximately an equal number of tan-striped and white-striped birds ("Behavioral Characterization of a White-throated Sparrow Homozygous for the ZAL2m Chromosomal Rearrangement", Horton, et al, 2012).

An interesting side-effect of the difference in coloration is the level of aggression demonstrated by each color of sparrow. The White-throated Sparrows with white stripes are more aggressive than those with tan stripes. The white-striped birds also sing more, but the tan-striped birds are better parents ("Alternative reproductive strategies in the White-throated Sparrow: behavioral and genetic evidence", Tuttle, 2002). The birds are therefore becoming important subjects for scientists who want to determine whether behavior in organisms is tied to physical traits and if so, how and to what extent? It will be interesting to see what their studies suggest.

White-throated Sparrows have also been known to hybridize with Juncos. They look just as you might imagine: a very dark bird with some striping like a sparrow, white throat, and white belly and outer tail feathers of a Junco. One such hybrid was captured in Maryland and studied extensively ("Behavior and Parentage of a White-throated Sparrow x Dark-eyed Junco Hybrid", Jung, et al. 1994). The bird sang a mixed song of a Junco trill followed by the sparrow "peabody" notes and seemed to prefer the company of female White-throated Sparrows over female Juncos.

Next winter, when you're watching your feeders, take a close look at your White-throated Sparrows and take note of their coloration and behavior.

Red-Bellied Woodpecker

7/13/2015

I have had the pleasure of helping to band a Red-bellied Woodpecker. Their size and the length of their beak may seem fearsome, but they are far less aggressive when being extracted from the net than a Northern Cardinal. Cardinals will grab your skin with their beak and twist it!

I was in for a pleasant surprise with this bird: I got a close-up view of its tongue! It's one thing to see a Red-bellied Woodpecker use that amazing tongue at your feeder, but it's a far different thing when that tongue whips out right in front of you. The length is unbelievable: about three times the length of the bird's beak. It resembles a weapon from a fictional apocalyptic movie: a long spear with multiple barbs facing backward toward the throat (like a harpoon on steroids), ending with a sharp point on the end, and coated with a sticky substance. It is a perfectly designed tool for extracting insects from their burrows, able to reach into a narrow opening, blindly search for and locate insects, and pull the insects out using the barbs and goo. In the case of a grub, the the sharp end of the tongue may be used to skewer its prey. "En garde! Oops. Too late."

The beak itself harbors another weapon, this time used against unsuspecting nuts. The woodpecker cracks open nuts by using its beak as a hammer and a tree as an anvil. Wedging the nut into a crevice in the bark, the woodpecker pounds on the nut with its beak until the nut's shell gives way.

Nuts are one of the bird's favorite foods, but the other is insects. The Red-bellied Woodpecker is a voracious predator of some of our most harmful insects. One tree can contain 1,000 adult Emerald Ash Borer beetles. Woodpeckers have been observed consuming 95% of the larvae before they can emerge as adults, making them a natural and native biological weapon against these invasive and expensive pests ("Emerald Ash Borer in North America: a research and regulatory challenge", Cappaert, et al., 2005). A friend of mine, birder and naturalist extraordinaire Jim McCormac, wrote about the increase in the Red-bellied Woodpecker and its relationship to the Emerald Ash Borer: http://jimmccormac.blogspot.com/2013/12/woodpeckers-boom-probably-because-of.html In Ohio where Mr. McCormac resides, the CBC totals in 2012 showed a 55% increase in population of Red-bellied Woodpeckers since 2003. Indiana's 114th CBC had record numbers of Red-bellied Woodpeckers: 1929 statewide.

Red-bellied Woodpeckers are also painfully aware that it is prudent to save for a rainy (or snowy) day. They store food to sustain them during times that meals are hard to find.

Now let's discuss the elephant in the room: the misleading name. People often mistakenly call this a Red-headed Woodpecker. It does have a red head after all, but the true Red-headed Woodpecker has a far more spectacular red head, so it claims that name. But what about the "red belly"? It's not often that you can see the reddish color on the bird's stomach while in the field. If you look very closely, you might see a reddish patch with a yellowish wash on the belly that looks as if someone dropped a dollop of paint on the bird and made a poor effort of trying to wash it off.

The invasive European Starling has been a constant source of irritation for our native Red-bellied Woodpeckers, evicting the woodpeckers from their nest cavities about 50% of the time ("Nesting phenology and competition for nest sites among Red-headed and Red-bellied Woodpeckers and European Starlings", Ingold, 1989). This video of a battle between a Starling and a Red-bellied Woodpecker over a nest cavity will make you cringe: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1x5W9w-fxik

Peregrine Falcon

6/1/2015

The Peregrine Falcon is the fastest animal in the world, capable of traveling up to 200 mph in a “stoop” or dive. Their primary food source is birds, and they have been documented preying on over 450 species of birds in North America, including Sandhill Cranes, White-throated Swifts and hummingbirds. As fast as Peregrines are, however, they could not escape the deadly impact of humans.

Like the Bald Eagle, the Peregrine Falcon was dramatically affected by the pesticide DDT. By 1965 no Peregrines were known to be nesting east of the Mississippi, and less than 40 pairs were nesting west of the Mississippi by 1975.

Unwilling to sit idly by and watch these magnificent birds of prey go extinct in the U.S., Dr. Tom Cade created the Peregrine Fund, a captive breeding program to reintroduce Peregrines. Getting the Peregrine Fund started was not easy!

I had the honor of interviewing Mr. Cade about his work with the Peregrine Fund. This is what he had to say about the early days of the Fund:

“The main problem was to find the money necessary to do the captive breeding and the release of falcons back into outdoor environments. In 1967 I joined the faculty of Cornell University as a professor of zoology. One of the conditions of my hiring was that the university would build a breeding facility for falcons. It took the university four years to find the money to build the facility for $150,000, but we finally got started in December of 1970. Being an academic scientist all of my experience in raising money for research had relied on obtaining grants from organizations such as the National Science Foundation, Office of Naval Research, and the National Institutes for Health, and I thought I could support the falcon program that way. It never occurred to me in the beginning that I would need to establish a nonprofit organization called The Peregrine Fund. For the first four years I did receive support from NSF, but it was little more than enough to provide salaries for a couple of assistants, and it became clear that what we were trying to accomplish was too applied to attract much support from the scientific community. Then the Laboratory of Ornithology, with which the falcon program and facility were associated at Cornell, began receiving unsolicited contributions from the general public to support the falcon work. That gave me the idea to seek this source of funding actively, and I went to the university’s Development Office for advice and help. They agreed to help but advised that I would have to abide by their priorities for asking major donors for support. To make a long story short, the arrangement never worked, because every time I wanted to approach a potential donor, the Development Office had a higher priority for that person. One of the private breeders who cooperated with me in keeping and breeding birds of prey suggested that we form our own nonprofit corporation independent of the university to support our mutual interests in breeding and releasing Peregrine Falcons; that was done in 1975. Soon we were receiving funds from various conservation organizations, foundations, many private donors, and both federal and state agencies involved in endangered species work. It turned out to be the smartest thing I ever did, but I can’t claim much credit for dreaming it up. Plato, or someone back in his time, said that ‘Necessity is the mother of invention.’”

Needless to say, the Peregrine Fund was a huge success and serves as a model of conservation. Thanks to the Fund’s efforts, by 1999 there were over 1650 breeding pairs in the U.S. and the Peregrine was removed from the endangered species list. Mr. Cade was present at the bittersweet moment when his first brood of fledglings that were hatched in the wild flew away. I asked him what he felt at that moment. He said, “This was a great time in the peregrine recovery program. I will never forget climbing up into the nest tower at Brigantine National Wildlife Refuge near Atlantic City with my colleague, Jim weaver, and banding the four nestlings. Looking out over the expanse of the Brigantine marshes, I realized that we had surmounted the last hurdle...”

He also informed me of some interesting survival rate differences based on nesting sites. “At first when falcons started nesting on buildings, and particularly on bridges, it appeared that fledging success was quite a bit less than for young fledged from cliffs. On bridges quite a few young fell into the water below when they first tried to fly and drowned, but some made it out of the water. But the Peregrines have persisted in moving into urban and industrial landscapes to nest on manmade structures in a spectacular way, so that the fatalities may simply look worse than they really are in terms of population maintenance and growth.”

During his work, Mr. Cade noticed an oddity that remains a mystery. “Falcons that breed successfully in captivity lay eggs that average smaller than the eggs collected from wild birds. However, this is not an inherited trait, as the young birds that are released into the wild and become breeders lay eggs of normal size. Something about captivity reduces egg size, but we do not know what it is.”

The Peregrine Fund has expanded their focus beyond that of the Peregrine Falcon.

“The Peregrine Fund now works on a worldwide scale on many kinds of projects to do with birds of prey, so naturally there are many projects I would like to see done.” One goal is to have at least one trained raptor biologist in every country to monitor populations. Another project is the California Condor. “We have been trying to reintroduce captive-bred condors into northern Arizona and southern Utah for the past 15 years but are unable to establish a self-sustaining population because of lead poisoning from bullet fragments and bird shot in the carcasses they eat. It is easy to breed condors in captivity, relatively easy to get them re-established as independent, free-flying birds in the wild, but no condors have survived long enough to produce more than one or two young before they die of lead poisoning. We desperately need some kind of a national PR campaign to convince the shooting public to stop using lead bullets and lead shot in their ammunition. Ideally this problem should be taken care of by state and federal regulations, but political idealism is hard to come by these days.”

His advice to anyone interested in starting up a conservation program: “Start small with a well defined goal that you are totally committed to, and come hell or high water you will succeed.”

The Inaugural Indiana Dunes Birding Festival

5/14/2015

Since it was the first year for the Dunes Birding Festival, I am sure people expected a lot of hiccups, low attendance and holes in the schedule. However, Brad Bumgardner was the Festival Chair, and he had assembled a fantastic group of people to help him organize the Festival, so it was fantastic! More people than anticipated signed up for the festival, with more streaming in every day hoping to squeeze in to sold-out events.

From the moment I arrived, there was a sense of excitement. Big, beautiful banners were everywhere greeting the birders. The welcome station was staffed during the entire Festival by friendly, helpful people, and the goody bag had so many wonderful things including a really cool bird whistle. The Program Guide looked professional and contained a lot of information in a neat package.

There was a full slate of events Thursday through Sunday: field trips, talks, activities and social events. There was something for everyone from beginning birder hikes to advanced instructions on the identification of difficult birds. You would have to attend the Festival several years to see and do everything!

The night before the Festival began, I was given the job of running the Festival’s official live Twitter feed to report on interesting sightings, let people know about upcoming talks and activities, post photos of birds and the presenters, and tell people when and where events were occurring. Although I could not always stay for the entire activity (I had to drive back and forth to different events which were often scheduled at the same time, sometimes a half hour away), I had the unique opportunity to catch pieces of almost all of the Festival. It gave me a wonderful overview of the depth of activities provided. The variety was astounding, and I was impressed at the amount of thought the organizers put in to plan the Festival.

Each field trip was unique. The Dunes area has one of the most diverse collections of habitat in the country, so it attracts an incredible variety of birds from Whooping Crane to Mourning Warbler. You want warblers? We had places dripping with them! You want a Black Vulture? We’ve got that! How about ducks? No problem! No matter what field trip you went on, you were sure to see something you hadn’t seen before. Better yet, every morning before the field trip you were greeted with coffee, pastries and smiling faces.

I was lucky to both lead and attend field trips, and I was thrilled with each group! The other people leading the field trips were excellent! They were able to find rarities for the experts in the group, and help beginners feel more confident. On the tour I led, I had a mixture of beginners, experts and photographers. It was wonderful! We connected over the birds in a way that felt as though we had known each other for a long time. We spotted some good birds (Sora walking along the road, Golden-winged Warbler, Orchard Oriole, Sandhill Cranes and more), and several members of the group got lifers!

The presentations were all professionally done by some of the most respected people in birding. We heard about conservation and restoration projects, Sandhills, migrant traps, the use of radar to track bird movements, the unique geology of the area, the importance of right-of-ways to birds, big years, Brazilian flora and fauna, Gene Stratton-Porter, feeding and attracting birds, and birdscaping. We learned how to identify difficult birds like warblers and gulls. I got to combine two of my favorite subjects - birds and technology - and speak about them.

There were workshops for bird photography, wildflower photography and Flying WILD. The younger attendees had special programming sponsored by the Indiana Young Birders Club, from bilingual hikes to building Bluebird boxes.

Birds of prey were in abundance and up close thanks to several organizations, and visitors had the chance to see songbirds closely at banding programs. The Whip Walk was heart-stopping, with Whip-poor-wills flying close to our heads and landing in the walkway a few feet in front of us.

Incredibly, almost all of the talks, field trips and activities were free with a one-time reasonable admission charge. Since we had to pay so little for admission, we had plenty to spend on specially priced items from optics to bird supplies. Plus, we could bid on wonderful silent auction items including signed Peterson prints, optics, gift baskets, bird houses, sculptures, and even a refrigerator! The money raised by the auction went to a good cause: half of the proceeds were given to the Indiana Young Birders Club.

The evening social events were cleverly designed to force everyone to get to know one another in easy conversation starters. There was no way to attend the event without getting to know someone new! Plus, there were a multitude of prizes, so you gained a new friend and a gift each night.

The keynote speech was one of the best I have ever heard. James Currie, author and star of Nikon’s Birding Adventures, was an incredible story teller! He made everyone in the room alternately laugh, gasp and sigh. The food at the keynote dinner was like something from a 4-star restaurant, with prime rib cut to order and luscious, chocolate-covered strawberries.

Every venue was very nice, both inside and out. Birds surrounded each building and once you stepped inside, you were sure to learn quite a bit just by looking at the exhibits in the lobbies.

I’ve been to several birding conferences, and there is no question that the Dunes Birding Festival was one of the best. I cannot wait until next year!

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