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Identifying and
Appreciating Spring Warblers
Friday, May 6, 3 p.m.
Monday, May 9, 7:30 p.m.
Friday, May 13, 3 p.m.
All at Ottawa NWR Visitor Center
Fee: $10
Registration required.
 Of
the many birds present in northwest Ohio in
spring, the warblers undeniably make up the
centerpiece of the Biggest Week. This area is
called the “Warbler Capital of the World” with
good reason in the month of May, and most
visiting birders will want to soak up the
experience of the dizzying variety and dazzling
colors and activity of these magical sprites.
Although many warblers are easier to identify in
spring than in fall, they can still present some
challenges, especially for new birders. In this
presentation, Kenn will provide numerous tips on
learning to identify the warblers in the field.
He’ll also give an overview of the warbler
family, including their impressive diversity,
their surprising habits, their varied songs and
calls, and their incredible migrations. The
program should help you to identify warblers
with more confidence and to enjoy them even
more.
Understanding What
You See For Better Bird ID
Friday, May 6, 7:30 p.m.
At Ottawa NWR Visitor Center
Wednesday, May 11, 7:30 p.m.
At OurGuest Inn & Suites, Port Clinton
Fee: $10
Registration required.
 Spring
2011 will see the publication of Kenn’s
brand-new Kaufman Field Guide to Advanced
Birding. Despite the title, this book is
definitely NOT just for “advanced birders” – it
is designed to help birders at all levels of
experience to increase their skill at bird ID.
The basic point of the book is that learning to
identify birds is not a matter of memorizing
more field marks; rather, it relies on building
up a better understanding of what we are seeing
and hearing.
Drawing on key sections of the book, this
program will give an overview of this approach,
with surprising examples involving familiar
birds. Kenn will show how to avoid being misled
by tricky birds, and how a few basic and general
ideas can make the identification of all birds
less confusing and more fun.
Basics of Identifying
Shorebirds
Saturday, May 7, 3 p.m.
Wednesday, May 11, 3:00 p.m.
Both at Ottawa NWR Visitor Center
Fee: $10
Registration required.
 The
shorebirds – the sandpipers, plovers, and their
relatives – include some of our most impressive
migrants, traveling every spring from southern
South America to the high Arctic, with many
stopping over in northwest Ohio. Their elegant
shapes and subtle patterns make them favorites
of many birders. However, they can be very
challenging to identify at times, especially for
new birders.
In this program, Kenn will break down the
challenge of shorebird ID to make it manageable.
He will explain how to observe shorebirds in the
field, what to look for first, how to understand
the changing plumages of these birds, and how to
avoid being misled by potential points of
confusion. Finally, he will offer shortcuts to
help name these birds quickly, so that we can
spend our time enjoying these elegant migrants
rather than puzzling over their identity.
Wake Up and Shade
the Coffee
Saturday, May 7, 7:30 p.m.
At Our Guest Inn & Suites
Port Clinton
Fee: $10
Registration required.
 For early morning birding, many of us rely on a
jolt of coffee to get us going. But we may not
think about the fact that the kind of coffee we
drink can have an impact on our birding, not
just today, but for years to come.
Coffee is a crop that can be grown in a variety
of conditions in the American tropics. It can
be grown in full sun, with heavy chemical use,
if you don’t care about the health of your farm
workers or the taste of your coffee. Or it can
be grown in the shade. Under ideal conditions,
where it is grown in the understory of native
forest, the coffee farms can provide good jobs
for local communities, can produce superior
coffee, and can serve as wonderful habitat for
resident and migratory birds. Many of the
spring migrants that we celebrate in northwest
Ohio may have spent the winter on “Bird
Friendly” coffee farms. Kenn and Kimberly
Kaufman visited one such farm last winter, and
in this program Kenn will describe the
fascinating and inspiring story of how “the good
coffee” is produced and how it benefits the
birds and the birders.
Basics of Identifying
Sparrows
Sunday, May 8, 3 p.m.
At Ottawa NWR Visitor Center
Fee: $10
Registration required.
 The
North American sparrows seem to create an
unreasonable amount of confusion and difficulty
for the average birder. This is partly because
they are often hard to see, partly because there
are so many species to choose among, and partly
because their field marks for many of them seem
to be so similar. A birder catching a glimpse of
a sparrow may be at a loss to even begin to put
a name on it.
The best approach to identifying sparrows
doesn’t begin with field marks at all. In this
program, Kenn will illustrate the importance of
putting the sparrows into groups on the basis of
their shapes, habitats, and behavior. Once a
sparrow has been placed in the right group, it
becomes much easier to narrow it down to species
by looking at a few key field marks. By getting
past the ID challenge, we can focus on the
beauty of these subtle birds.
Patterns of Bird Migration in North America
Sunday, May 8, 7:30 p.m.
Thursday, May 12, 7:30 p.m.
Both at OurGuest Inn & Suites, Port Clinton
Fee: $10
Registration required.
We can’t help being fascinated by the phenomenon
of migration – in fact, that migration is the
reason we’re all here at this season, and the
migration is what makes the Biggest Week so
big. But where are all those birds coming from,
and where are they going? The answer is
surprisingly complicated. We may think of birds
as going north in spring and south in fall, but
there are hardly any birds that follow such a
simple pattern.
In fact, there is some bird migration going on
in North America practically every day of the
year, and some birds are traveling in every
direction imaginable. In this program, richly
illustrated with maps and pictures, Kenn will
unravel some of the most interesting and unusual
patterns of migration on (and off) this
continent, to explain where the birds are going,
when, and even why they undertake
such strange travels.
Basics of
Identifying Gulls
Monday, May 9, 3:00 p.m.
at Ottawa NWR Visitor Center
Fee: $10
Registration required.
 Beginning
birders are often driven to despair by the
gulls. These birds are often very easy to see,
but they can be extremely difficult to identify.
Many gull species are similar to each other,
each species goes through a whole series of
different plumages, and each plumage is subject
to a large amount of individual variation. And
to top it off, gull species may interbreed,
producing hybrids that muddy the picture even
further. No wonder many birders try to ignore
the gulls for as long as possible.
In this program, Kenn will share his strategies
for making gulls easier to understand. He will
show the predictable ways in which their color
patterns change with age and season, which field
marks are most important and reliable, and how
to learn one species at a time to build up a
foundation that will make gulls not only
identifiable, but even enjoyable.
Identifying and
Appreciating Spring Warblers
Monday, May 9, 7:30 p.m.
and on
Friday, May 13, 3 p.m.
Both at Ottawa NWR Visitor Center
Fee: $10
Registration required.
Of
the many birds present in northwest Ohio in
spring, the warblers undeniably make up the
centerpiece of the Biggest Week. This area is
called the “Warbler Capital of the World” with
good reason in the month of May, and most
visiting birders will want to soak up the
experience of the dizzying variety and dazzling
colors and activity of these magical sprites.
Although many warblers are easier to identify in
spring than in fall, they can still present some
challenges, especially for new birders. In this
presentation, Kenn will provide numerous tips on
learning to identify the warblers in the field.
He’ll also give an overview of the warbler
family, including their impressive diversity,
their surprising habits, their varied songs and
calls, and their incredible migrations. The
program should help you to identify warblers
with more confidence and to enjoy them even
more.
Basics of Identifying
Terns
Tuesday, May 10, 3 p.m.
At Ottawa NWR Visitor Center
Fee: $10
Registration required.
 Only
a handful of tern species are found in most
places in North America, but they present many
challenges in identification. Several of the
species are quite similar to each other, and
their differences can be hard to see when the
birds are seen only in flight, as often happens.
Birders may fall into the habit of leaving terns
unidentified, or perhaps making assumptions or
guesses as to what they are likely to be.
All of our tern species are readily identified,
with a good view, if we know some basics. In
this program, Kenn will illustrate the key field
marks of terns, including shapes, wing patterns,
bill patterns, and tail lengths, and will
describe how many of these points change with
season and age. He will show how an
understanding of these variations can make it
possible for anyone to recognize terns quickly
and accurately.
Basics of Identifying
Birds of Prey
Tuesday, May 10, 7:30 p.m.
At OurGuest Inn & Suites, Port Clinton
Fee: $10
Registration required.
 The
diurnal raptors, or day-flying birds of prey –
hawks, eagles, and falcons – are tremendously
popular, even with people who don’t care much
about other birds. Many of the species can be
surprisingly difficult to identify, and they
present different kinds of challenges in
different situations: the types of field marks
that work for migrants passing a hawkwatch site
may not work so well for a lone hawk in the
woods. Birders who want to master the birds of
prey may have to learn more than one approach.
In this program, Kenn will show how to break the
raptors down into groups that make sense in the
field, how to learn the flight silhouettes and
flight actions of each species, how to
understand their variations in pattern by age
and individual, and how to avoid being
distracted by those variations that are less
significant.
Basics of Identifying
Shorebirds
Wednesday, May 11, 3:00 p.m.
At Ottawa NWR Visitor Center
Fee: $10
Registration required.
The
shorebirds – the sandpipers, plovers, and their
relatives – include some of our most impressive
migrants, traveling every spring from southern
South America to the high Arctic, with many
stopping over in northwest Ohio. Their elegant
shapes and subtle patterns make them favorites
of many birders. However, they can be very
challenging to identify at times, especially for
new birders.
In this program, Kenn will break down the
challenge of shorebird ID to make it manageable.
He will explain how to observe shorebirds in the
field, what to look for first, how to understand
the changing plumages of these birds, and how to
avoid being misled by potential points of
confusion. Finally, he will offer shortcuts to
help name these birds quickly, so that we can
spend our time enjoying these elegant migrants
rather than puzzling over their identity.
Understanding What
You See For Better Bird ID
Wednesday, May 11, 7:30 p.m.
At OurGuest Inn & Suites, Port Clinton
Fee: $10
Registration required.
Spring
2011 will see the publication of Kenn’s
brand-new Kaufman Field Guide to Advanced
Birding. Despite the title, this book is
definitely NOT just for “advanced birders” – it
is designed to help birders at all levels of
experience to increase their skill at bird ID.
The basic point of the book is that learning to
identify birds is not a matter of memorizing
more field marks; rather, it relies on building
up a better understanding of what we are seeing
and hearing.
Drawing on key sections of the book, this
program will give an overview of this approach,
with surprising examples involving familiar
birds. Kenn will show how to avoid being misled
by tricky birds, and how a few basic and general
ideas can make the identification of all birds
less confusing and more fun.
Basics of Identifying
Ducks
Thursday, May 12, 3 p.m.
At Ottawa NWR Visitor Center
Fee: $10
Registration required.
 Some
male ducks in breeding plumage are among the
easiest birds to identify, sitting out on the
open water with bold, colorful patterns that
make them recognizable at a glance. Ironically,
that can make it harder for birders to learn to
ID the rest of the ducks: it’s too tempting to
just look at the easy individuals and ignore the
rest. But most female ducks and most molting
males can be more challenging, and it’s
worthwhile to take the extra effort to get to
know more than just the easy ducks.
In fact, ducks are wonderful for demonstrating
the value of recognizing birds by shape, since
practically all our species can be separated by
shape, both when swimming and in flight. They
also demonstrate some key points about plumages,
molts, and the arrangement of feathers. Kenn
will use this program to show that not only are
ducks beautiful, they’re also superb study
subjects for keen birders.
Patterns of Bird Migration in North America
Thursday, May 12, 7:30 p.m.
At OurGuest Inn & Suites, Port Clinton
Fee: $10
Registration required.
We can’t help being fascinated by the phenomenon
of migration – in fact, that migration is the
reason we’re all here at this season, and the
migration is what makes the Biggest Week so
big. But where are all those birds coming from,
and where are they going? The answer is
surprisingly complicated. We may think of birds
as going north in spring and south in fall, but
there are hardly any birds that follow such a
simple pattern.
In fact, there is some bird migration going on
in North America practically every day of the
year, and some birds are traveling in every
direction imaginable. In this program, richly
illustrated with maps and pictures, Kenn will
unravel some of the most interesting and unusual
patterns of migration on (and off) this
continent, to explain where the birds are going,
when, and even why they undertake
such strange travels.
Identifying and
Appreciating Spring Warblers
Friday, May 13, 3 p.m.
At Ottawa NWR Visitor Center
Fee: $10
Registration required.
Of
the many birds present in northwest Ohio in
spring, the warblers undeniably make up the
centerpiece of the Biggest Week. This area is
called the “Warbler Capital of the World” with
good reason in the month of May, and most
visiting birders will want to soak up the
experience of the dizzying variety and dazzling
colors and activity of these magical sprites.
Although many warblers are easier to identify in
spring than in fall, they can still present some
challenges, especially for new birders. In this
presentation, Kenn will provide numerous tips on
learning to identify the warblers in the field.
He’ll also give an overview of the warbler
family, including their impressive diversity,
their surprising habits, their varied songs and
calls, and their incredible migrations. The
program should help you to identify warblers
with more confidence and to enjoy them even
more.
Kingbird Highway:
Extreme Birding in Another Era
Friday, May 13, 7:30 p.m.
At Ottawa NWR Visitor Center
Fee: $20
Registration required.
 The
idea of “Big Year” birding has developed enough
appeal in recent years that it has even
attracted the attention of Hollywood! But this
type of birding has a long history. Some of the
first year lists were kept in northern Ohio
around 1900, and continent-wide attempts at big
years go back at least to the late 1930s.
Kenn Kaufman is known today mainly as a bird
identification expert and an editor of field
guides to nature subjects, but as a teenager he
was a rabid bird-lister. He spent five years
hitch-hiking around North America in pursuit of
birds, culminating in an all-out Big Year effort
on a budget of less than a thousand dollars. His
book about that adventure, Kingbird Highway, has
become a cult classic. In this program, Kenn
tells some of the stories behind the story, and
relates that intense era to today’s birding
scene.
Basics of
Identifying Flycatchers
Sunday, May 15, 3 p.m.
At Ottawa NWR Visitor Center
Fee: $10
Registration required.
 Some
of the most difficult birds to identify in North
America include members of the flycatcher
family, especially the small flycatchers of the
genus Empidonax. The peak migration of these
birds (affectionately known as “Empids”) through
northwest Ohio is in late May, after the dates
of the Biggest Week, but we can expect to see at
least a few during the event itself. In this
program, Kenn will give an overview of the
challenging groups of flycatchers, including
kingbirds, crested flycatchers, wood-pewees, and
Empids, with the unique characteristics of each
group and with pointers that will help in
identifying these birds anywhere. In the latter
part of the program, he will focus on the five
species of eastern Empids that can be expected
in northwest Ohio, with tips on how to identify
them by sight and by sound.
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