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Christian CooperBetter Living Through Birding: Notes From a Black Man in the Natural World
Date: Friday, May 3, 2024
Time: 4:00 - 5:00 p.m. Fee: $15 Location: Ballroom - Maumee Bay Lodge and Conference Center Book signing immediately following keynote Christian's book will be available for purchase at the festival. |
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About Christian
Christian Cooper is a NY Times best-selling author, with his debut memoir, Better Living Through Birding. He is also the Host and a Consulting Producer for National Geographic's hit series: Extraordinary Birder with Christian Cooper. Practically born with a pair of binoculars in his hands, he served as president of the Harvard Ornithological Club in his college days; currently as a vice president of New York City Audubon he advocates for greater, safer access to green spaces for all, with a focus on outreach to youth in underserved communities. A longtime activist on issues of racial justice and LGBTQ equality, Christian combined his passions in the BLM graphic short story "It’s a Bird” from DC Comics, and he continues to seek synergy at the intersections of storytelling, progressivism, and environmentalism. |
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Tammah WattsKeep Looking Up: Your Guide to the Powerful Healing of Birdwatching
Date: Saturday, May 4, 2024
Time: 4:00 - 5:00 p.m. Fee: $15 Location: Ballroom - Maumee Bay Lodge and Conference Center Book signing immediately following keynote. Copies of Tammah's book will be available for purchase at the event. Birds are beautiful, funny, mystical, and enduring, just like we are. Like them, we come in varying colors, shapes, and sizes and it is our differences and what we have in common that serve as our greatest strengths. -Tammah Watts
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About Tammah
Tammah Watts is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT), Certified Kripalu Mindfulness Outdoor Guide, and an advocate for the equitable accessibility of nature, health, and mental health for all. She has served communities for over 35 years in managerial, clinical, and consulting roles for private, non-profit, community college, and public sectors. KEEP LOOKING UP: Your Guide to the Powerful Healing of Birdwatching, with Hay House, is her first book–a narrative memoir and guidebook with contemplative exercises– that chronicles her journey towards healing by meaningfully connecting with birds. She brings that same passion to conservation and birding and serves on the Advisory Board for DISES + Project Feeder Watch, Audubon CA Advisory Board of Directors as the Southern California Audubon Chapter Council Representative, as well as her local chapter’s board Conservation and EDIB committees. Tammah has appeared in various media outlets including the New York Times, Psychology Today, Therapy For Black Girls, MetroUK, The Authors Guild, Ray Brown’s Talkin’ Birds Show, and Hay House’s You Can Heal Your Life-Empower You. She lives in San Diego, California with her husband, Harrison and their little dog, Sophie Cat, all the while trying to combat empty nesters syndrome by visiting (and birding) with their children and grandchildren whenever possible. |
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Kevin KarlsonDate: Sunday, May 5, 2024
Time: 4:00 - 5:00 p.m. Fee: $15 Location: Ballroom - Maumee Bay Lodge and Conference Center Through the Looking Glass: Reflections of a Grateful Birder
This light-hearted presentation examines birdwatching through Kevin’s eyes and explores some of the reasons why so many people enjoy watching and studying birds, including a unique camaraderie with other birders. Photos of birds, people and other creatures from various locations will be shared, as well as humorous events and stories that make the ride so interesting. Forty-five years of casual and passionate birding have shaped Kevin’s life in so many ways, with much of it revolving around the study and enjoyment of birds, and this show shares his appreciation for the journey. Come along for a ride through time that we all can relate to, with birds, people and special places the stars of the show. Kevin is planning to retire from many bird related activities, and this will be his last keynote talk, so come and celebrate the journey with him. |
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World Record Birder
Peter Kaestner has done what no human before him has ever done. On February 9, 2024, when he trained his binocular on an Orange-tufted Spiderhunter in the Philippines, he achieved a feat that no one thought possible: he'd seen 10,000 of the world's 11,000 bird species! Join Peter for a rousing presentation on his pursuit of the world record, and the incredible destinations, cultures, and travel adventures he's experienced during this decades long passion for birds and birding. |
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About Peter
Peter is a retired U.S. diplomat and an active independent birder who has spent a lifetime sharing his passion. On February 9, 2024, he achieved his supreme goal when he saw his 10,000th species, an Orange-tufted Spiderhunter. Always a birder, Peter took his first international trip at age ten, when he visited the Bahamas with his brother and mentor Hank. As of February 2024, he has birded in 190 eBird countries and territories and holds the record for the world’s life lists in eBird (9840) and IOC (10,002). Peter is also recognized in the Guinness Book of Records as the first person to see a representative of every bird family – a feat that he accomplished in October, 1986. The highlight of Peter’s birding career came in 1989, when he lived in Bogotá. Just 50 kilometers east of the Colombian capital, he discovered a bird new to science, the Cundinamarca Antpitta (Grallaria kaestneri). |
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The Birds that Audubon Missed: Discovery and Desire in the American Wilderness
Date: Tuesday, May 7, 2024
Time: 4:00 - 5:00 p.m. Fee: $15 Location: Ballroom - Maumee Bay Lodge and Conference Center Book signing immediately following Kenn's keynote. Copies of Kenn's books will be available for purchase at the event. Intense competition. Raging ambition. Towering egos. Heroic effort alternating with plagiarism and fraud. That was the state of bird study in eastern North America in the early 1800s, as a few intrepid characters raced to find the last few bird species that were still unknown to science. When Kenn Kaufman began delving into this period in ornithological history, he was surprised to see how many events of two centuries ago have a direct connection to our experience of birding today. The book that resulted from his research, The Birds That Audubon Missed, is a celebration of discovery and rediscovery, the lure of the unknown, the complexity of nature, and the endless power of birds to delight and amaze us. The book is scheduled for publication on May 7, 2024, and it will officially launch at The Biggest Week.
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About Kenn
Kenn burst onto the North American birding scene as a teenager in the 1970s hitch-hiking all over the continent in pursuit of birds, an adventure later chronicled in his cult-classic book Kingbird Highway. After several years as a professional bird tour leader taking groups to all seven continents, he transitioned to a career as a writer, editor and illustrator. Most of his energy currently goes into book projects and painting bird portraits. His 13 books include seven titles in his own series, Kaufman Field Guides which are designed to encourage beginners by making the first steps in nature study as easy as possible. His next book is The Birds That Audubon Missed scheduled for publication in May 2024. Kenn is a field editor for the National Audubon Society and a Fellow of the American Ornithological Society, and is the only person alive to have received the American Birding Association’s lifetime achievement award twice. |
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The Backyard Bird Chronicles
Date: Wednesday, May 8, 2024
Time: 5:30 - 8:30 p.m. Location: Ballroom - Maumee Bay Lodge and Conference Center Book signing immediately following her keynote. Copies of Amy's books will be available for purchase at the event. At age 64, I took up nature journaling, and by learning to sketch my backyard birds over multiple seasons and years, I made unexpected discoveries on how birds learn, adapt, survive, and play. Along with highlights from my journals, I will provide methods I used to defeat marauding squirrels, prevent window collisions, and provide the single most important resource to attract a variety of birds. This will be a slide presentation, showing drawings of some of the 65 species of visitors to my yard, including two rare vagrants.
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About Amy Amy Tan is the author of seven novels, two children’s books, and two memoirs. She is the co-screenwriter of The Joy Luck Club film adaptation, and librettist for the opera The Bonesetter’s Daughter. Her latest book is The Backyard Bird Chronicles, published by Knopf. She is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the recipient of the National Medal of the Humanities, and a board member of American Bird Conservancy. She lives in Sausalito, California and New York City. Read Amy's full bio HERE. Amy Tan will be the featured speaker for the 2024 Biggest Week In American Birding Birder's Banquet. To learn more, visit the BIRDER'S BANQUET page. Can't register for the festival but want to attend the banquet? Click the button below! |
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Conquereee, Drink your Tea, Who Cooks for You
Date: Thursday, May 9, 2024
Time: 4:00 - 5:00 p.m. Fee: $15 Location: Ballroom - Maumee Bay Lodge and Conference Center Birding by ear is not difficult, and it is well worth the effort for any birder. I will cover how I got involved in birding, how it has enhanced my life, and some of the challenges I have faced, as a birder who is blind. I will play a series of bird sounds and talk about what they mean to me, and tools I use to remember them, such as mnemonics. I will then invite participants to request bird sounds. (I'll have my laptop loaded with hundreds of bird sounds, which I can quickly find and play.) I'll also talk about a few apps, such as Merlin Bird ID. I'll leave time for questions at the end.
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What an Owl Knows: The New Science of the World's Most Enigmatic Birds
Date: Friday, May 10, 2024
Time: 4:00 - 5:00 p.m. Fee: $15 Location: Ballroom - Maumee Bay Lodge and Conference Center Book signing immediately following Jennifer's keynote. Copies of Jennifer's books will be available for purchase at the event. For millennia, owls have captivated and intrigued us. Our fascination with these mysterious birds was first documented more than 30,000 years ago in the Chauvet Cave paintings in southern France. With their forward gaze and quiet flight, owls are often a symbol of wisdom, knowledge, and foresight. But what does an owl really know? And what do we really know about owls? Scientists have only recently begun to understand in deep detail the complex nature of these extraordinary birds. Some 260 species of owls exist today, and they reside on every continent except Antarctica, but they are far more difficult to find and study than other birds because they are cryptic, camouflaged, and mostly active in the dark of night. Join Jennifer in a multimedia presentation on what we have learned lately about the nature of the world’s most enigmatic birds. With remarkable photos, videos, and audio recordings, Jennifer explores the rich biology and natural history of owls and examines remarkable new scientific discoveries about their brains and behavior.
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About Jennifer
Jennifer Ackerman is an award-winning science writer and speaker, and author of the New York Times bestselling books, What an Owl Knows, The Bird Way, and The Genius of Birds. She has been a bird lover since she was a child and went birdwatching with her father in Washington, D.C. She has been writing about nature and science for more than three decades. Her most recent book, What an Owl Knows: The New Science of the World’s Most Enigmatic Birds (Penguin Press, June 2023), was an instant New York Times bestseller and has been described in reviews as “eloquent and engaging”, “revelatory”, a “fascinating read”, “a masterful survey”, and an “enchanting guide.” Jennifer’s previous books include The Bird Way (2020), which won the 2021 Whitley Book Award and was a finalist for the 2021 PEN/E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award. The book was named a Best Science Book of 2020 by National Public Radio's “Science Friday” and a Nature Book of the Year by the London Sunday Times. |
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