FIELD PROGRAMS
Ohio Young Birders Club Guided Walk
 May
12
9 a.m. to ??
Meet at the west end of the Magee Marsh
Wildlife Area Boardwalk
Fee: FREE
Young birders ages 12-18 are encouraged to join
us on the famous Magee Marsh Boardwalk and other
local birding hotspots to search for the most
recent arrival of migrants in the area.
Families & Beginner Birdwatchers Guided
Walk
Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge
Daily
9 a.m.
Fee: FREE
If you
feel intimidated at stepping into the breech on
the boardwalk, then we are running daily walks
for beginners and families to escape the crowds
and take our time to run through some birding
basics. This will range from how to use
binoculars, what field guides to use, and of
course how to work out some of the common
species around Ottawa. Ottawa NWR makes an ideal
location for this as large and impressive
waterbirds abound in this huge refuge that
flanks Magee Marsh. Here we can enjoy brilliant
white egrets and bold herons fishing in the
marshes, as well as Bald Eagles surveying the
swamp for their latest catch. A short woodland
walk will also introduce you to some of the
common and colorful songbirds of the area that
include both the dazzling warblers of the
treetops and thrushes of the woodland floor. For
those of you who do not possess a pair of
binoculars or a field guide, a limited supply
will be available, free of charge, for these
walks from the Ottawa NWR.
This guided field trip is also offered with a
Spanish speaking guide on May 8, May 12, & May
15.
PROGRAMS GIVEN BY YOUNG BIRDERS
Program:
Black-capped Vireos: Saving An Endangered
Species
Saturday, May 7
11 a.m. - Noon
Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge Visitor Center
Presented by Ryan Steiner.
Registration required.
Fee: $10
 Okay, so you probably won't find any
Black-capped Vireos in northwest Ohio, but if
you're interested in birds--and we think you
probably are--you'll find this presentation
fascinating. Ryan Steiner, a talented young
birder from right here in Ohio, spent the summer
doing intensive studies of the endangered
Black-capped Vireo on their breeding grounds.
As if the species itself wasn't interesting
enough, the location for their breeding habitat
is on the U.S. Army Base in Fort Sill, Oklahoma.
Since military bases have some very well managed
habitats, most of them have their share of
endangered species. Fort Sill is no different.
The 93,000 acres of Fort Sill and the 55,000
acres of the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge
are just about all the native habitat left in
Southwest Oklahoma. Much of the rest is used for
ranching, farming or housing. This makes Fort
Sill an ideal place for many species of wildlife
that don't survive well in the surrounding area,
but the one species that is classified as
endangered is the Black-capped Vireo.
Ryan will share insight into the decline of the
species; an overview of the project; what it's
like to do field work under some "interesting"
conditions; and the current status of the bird
today.
Program:
The
Indispensable Field Notebook:
The How and Why of Successful Field Notes
Sunday,
May 15
1:30 p.m. - 2:30 p.m.
Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge Visitor Center
Presented by Harold Eyster.
Registration required.
Fee: $10
 Harold Eyster will explain why you want to take
field notes, even if you haven’t realized it
yet. He will guide you through a detailed
step-by-step approach covering all aspects of
field note taking, from sketching birds to
depicting bird songs. Audience participation
will be encouraged through drawing exercises
during the talk. The program will be illustrated
with Harold’s own field notes and drawings, as
well as with those of famous naturalists.
Everyone will leave the program with new skills,
and hopefully, a new desire to draw birds.
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