2024 GENERAL WORKSHOPS
Thank you for an amazing 2024 festival!
Please sign up for our emails to be the first to learn about 2025 details!
The following information is based on the 2024 festival.
Please sign up for our emails to be the first to learn about 2025 details!
The following information is based on the 2024 festival.
Subscribe to the Biggest Week eNews for all the latest updates on 2025!
The Rising Tide of Avian Nocturnal Flight Call Monitoring
Presented by Bill Evans
Date: Saturday, May 4
Time: 11:30 a.m. -12:30 p.m.
Location: Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge
Fee: $10
Registration Required: Yes
Date: Saturday, May 4
Time: 11:30 a.m. -12:30 p.m.
Location: Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge
Fee: $10
Registration Required: Yes
|
Bill’s presentation will span from the early pioneers of avian night flight call monitoring to the cutting-edge research of today. He will play examples of night flight calls and discuss how anyone can get involved in monitoring the calls (including how to add 10+ species to your yard list). He will also review the migration weather forecast and discuss what can be expected to be heard during the conference...if the weather cooperates, he hopes to lead a listening session or two!
About Bill Evans Bill Evans is founder and director of Old Bird Inc., a 501(c)(3) nonprofit since 2000 promoting avian nocturnal flight call monitoring for science and environmental education. Bill has studied the avian nocturnal flight call (nfc) phenomenon since 1985. He collaborated with the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology in the mid-1990s to develop the first automatic computer-assisted nfc detector, and in 2002 he co-authored the first field guide to flight calls of landbirds in eastern North America with Michael O’Brien. Bill’s research on avian night flight calls has been widely covered and his latest publications can be found at Oldbird.org/pubs.htm |
|
Sorting out the Singers in the Chorus
|
Presented by Lisa Rainsong
Date: Monday, May 6 Time: 1-2 p.m. Location: Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge Fee: $10 Registration Required: Yes Everyone’s Singing at Once! Sorting out the singers and learning one step at a time. Have you ever tried to learn bird songs in May? If so, you quickly discovered that everyone seems to be singing at once. Although it may feel almost impossible to sort out the singers and the songs, music theory professor Lisa Rainsong will introduce you to a step by step approach that is engaging and enjoyable. If weather permits, we’ll walk outside after the indoor presentation so that we can practice our listening skills.
|
|
|
About Lisa Rainsong
Lisa Rainsong is a naturalist and educator who has also spent decades as a professional musician and as member of the music theory faculty at the Cleveland Institute of Music until her recent retirement. She holds a Doctor of Musical Arts from the Cleveland Institute of Music and a Naturalist Certificate from the Cleveland Museum of Natural History. She now joyfully dedicates her time to her work as a naturalist who especially loves teaching at the intersection of music and natural history. She makes field recordings of birds, insects, and amphibians for the music of natural history classes she teaches across Ohio. As a citizen scientist, Lisa does field research on crickets and katydids – research work that is done primarily by ear – and done surveys for regional park districts through NE Ohio. She has created an online field guide to the crickets and katydids of NE Ohio at listeningtoinsects.com. Her website is listeninginnature.com and her recordings and stories from the field are at her blog, Listening in Nature at listeninginnature.blogspot.com |
|
Behind the Scenes of Merlin Sound ID
|
Presented by Alli Smith
Date: Tuesday, May 7 Time: 11:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. Location: Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge Fee: $10 Registration Required: Yes The Merlin Bird ID app, created by the Cornell lab of Ornithology, is a global field guide and a powerful tool to help identify the birds around you. Merlin can identify 1,000+ bird species by sound even when you can’t see them - but how does it work? We’ll take a deep dive behind the scenes of Merlin to learn how Sound ID was developed, and how you can help us expand Merlin to cover more species worldwide.
|
|
|
About Alli Smith
Alli Smith’s love of birds was sparked on a middle-school field trip to Cape May to see the annual spring spawning of horseshoe crabs and the shorebirds that depend on them. She earned a BS in Wildlife Science from SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry in 2016 to pursue her dream of working in the world of bird conservation. In the many jobs Alli has worked since graduating (with puffins, shorebirds, and owls) she most enjoyed working with citizen scientists, volunteers, and birders, which is what has led her current role at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. As the Merlin Project Coordinator, Alli connects millions of people around the world to birds through the Merlin Bird ID app, and through eBird. Alli enjoys teaching people how to use these tools to become better birders and contribute to conservation. Outside of work, Alli spends much of her time on art, where she takes her bird observations from the field and turns them into ceramic works or cuddly crocheted plushies. |
|
From Checklist to Conservation:
How your eBirding helps birds
|
Presented by Emily Engle
Date: Wednesday, May 8 Time: 1-2 p.m. Location: Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge Fee: $10 Registration Required: Yes Did you know you can help birds every time you go birding? Your eBird checklists are used by scientists at the Cornell Lab and all around the world to better understand bird movements, population trends, and more. In this talk, we’ll show you how your checklists are used, how we manage data quality by reviewing reports of rare birds, and share tips on how to get the most out of eBird.
|
|
|
About Emily Engle
As an outdoor enthusiast, wildlife lover, and outreach coordinator, Emily helps connect people to nature through Merlin Bird ID and eBird. A background in large carnivore research and environmental education inspired her passion for engaging people in nature and science. After falling in love with the birds and landscapes of Little St. Simons Island, Georgia as a naturalist, she helped share conservation projects and stories through digital outreach. Following her passion, Emily joined the Cornell Lab of Ornithology team where she helps engage communities in birding, data collection, and conservation through eBird and Merlin. |
|
Birds: Just what are they thinking?
|
Presented by John Kricher
Date: Thursday, May 9 Time: 11:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. Location: Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge Fee: $10 Registration Required: Yes Birds are hyperactive, warm-blooded, and perceptive animals and any birder soon becomes aware of various bird behaviors. But to really understand bird behavior requires that we try and "think like a bird." Is this really possible? John Kricher will present a series of intriguing examples of how ornithologists have tried to explain and understand why birds do what they do. With well over 10,000 species of birds in the world, behaviors among species vary considerably but underlying this diversity, birds all have one thing in common: intelligence and cognition layered with a good dose of genetically-based instinct. The devil is in the details. Once you have heard John's talk, your birding will hopefully be enhanced and you will gain even more empathy for birds and what they are.
|
|
About John Kricher
John Kricher taught ecology and ornithology at Wheaton College (Massachusetts) for 48 years. He is a fellow in the American Ornithological Society and past-president of the Wilson Ornithological Society, the Association of Field Ornithologists, and the Nuttall Ornithological Club. He is a recipient of the Alexander F. Skutch Medal for Excellence in Neotropical Ornithology from the Association or Field Ornithologists. His books include The New Neotropical Companion (2017), Peterson Reference Guide to Bird Behavior (2020) and Galapagos: A Natural History, second edition (2022). He lives with his wife Martha Vaughan in Hingham, Massachusetts.
Songs in the Wild: Field Workshop
|
Presented by Scott Whittle
Date: Saturday, May 11 Time: 9-10:30 a.m. Location: Magee Marsh Wildlife Area boardwalk east entrance Fee: $30 Registration Required: Yes Join bird expert Scott Whittle as we explore the world of song in real life! Scott is an expert and bird sounds and is currently creating Terra, a device that will collect and identify sounds from around the world. He'll talk about ways to listen to and learn bird songs, and use the sounds we hear as examples to hone our skills. All skill levels are welcome - there's always something to learn whether you're a new birder or a lifelong listener. |
|
|
About Scott Whittle
Scott is a bird expert and author. His passion for the natural world has led to co-authoring The Warbler Guide and the Warbler Guide App, and he is currently the director of the Terra Project. He is excited at the idea of making technology that will bring people closer to nature while helping nature thrive alongside people. |
|