2026 KEYNOTE SPEAKERS
Black Swamp Bird Observatory is thrilled to share our 2026 Keynote Speaker Lineup!
Laura Erickson
Fifty Years a Birder
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Date: Friday, May 8
Time: 4-5 p.m. Location: Maumee Bay Lodge, Ballroom Fee: $15 Registration Required: Yes Birds, birding practices, and the birding community have changed enormously in the past 50 years. Some of the changes have been wonderful, and some species have fully recovered from endangerment even as many others have declined tragically. Laura will talk about her birding experiences over the years, highlighting historical trends she has personally witnessed for such birds as the Lesser Prairie-Chicken, Kirtland's Warbler, and Hawaii's Iiwi, her backyard favorites, the Pileated Woodpecker, Blue Jay, and Black-capped Chickadee, and more.
About Laura
Laura is a birder, conservationist, educator, former wildlife rehabber, author of a dozen books about birds, and, since 1986, producer of "For the Birds," the longest running radio program about birds in the country. |
Coralie Rossbach
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Understanding Changes in Hummingbird Migration
Date: Saturday, May 9
Time: 4-5 p.m. Location: Maumee Bay Lodge, Ballroom Fee: $15 Registration Required: Yes As the effects of climate change have increased over the past few decades, scientists and society have worked hard to understand and predict its impact on birds and the broader ecosystem. Migratory hummingbirds, in particular, may be especially vulnerable to climate change and habitat destruction. Hummingbirds have incredible migrations, some of which seem impossible–yet these amazing birds travel incredible distances every year anyway!
Coralie’s talk will connect perspectives and learnings from her research on how climate change and human activity impact various migratory hummingbird species in different ways. She will talk about her research on the relationship between Ruby-throated hummingbirds pre-migratory health and precipitation, changes in Rufous Hummingbird migration over time, and her newest research on interspecies social cues to trigger migration. This talk will raise awareness about hummingbirds and how to help them in this ever-changing environment. About Coralie
Coralie Rossbach is an eighth grader from Austin, Texas, who studies hummingbird migration. Her research includes studying changes in Rufous Hummingbird migration patterns over time, and their relationship to habitat destruction, as well as correlations between hummingbird population behaviors and environmental phenomena such as weather. She has presented her research at the Wilson Ornithological Society Conference, and given a keynote presentation at the Ohio Young Birder’s Conference. Her research has also won 1st place at the Greater Austin Regional Science Fair. When not photographing, watching, or studying birds, she enjoys drawing, blacksmithing, and aerial silks. |
Joanna Wu
The Most Overlooked Birds in North America: Females
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Date: Sunday, May 10
Time: 4-5 p.m. Location: Maumee Bay Lodge, Ballroom Fee: $15 Registration Required: Yes Female birds often hide in plain sight. Typically drabber and more inconspicuous than males, there is an unconscious bias towards male birds in birdwatching, photography, and even in our scientific knowledge about birds. This talk explores the history of focus on male birds, why it’s important to focus on females, and gives female bird identification tips. Joanna challenges the audience to confront their own biases towards a more equalized birding experience.
About Joanna
Joanna Wu is a PhD student studying female birds in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at UCLA. She previously worked at the National Audubon Society and is a member of the Galbatross Project, a group of birders, scientists, writers, and conservationists who are passion-ate about spreading awareness about female birds. |
Scott Weidensaul
The Return of the Oystercatcher: Saving Birds to Save the Planet
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Date: Monday, May 11
Time: 4-5 p.m. Location: Maumee Bay Lodge, Ballroom Fee: $15 Registration Required: Yes At a time when the news for birds – for the planet – has rarely seemed more grim, there is reason for hope. We’ve restored faltering bird populations in the past, bringing back once nearly extinct raptors and waterfowl. And despite the odds today, all around the world, people are actually reviving bird populations, providing a roadmap for wider recovery. In his newest book, The Return of the Oystercatcher, best-selling author and researcher Scott Weidensaul shows why we should never underestimate the resiliency of birds, and why creating a world that works for birds will work for everything, including us. He’ll trace this work of optimism and progress from a tiny island off the Maine coast to the bird-rich Danube Delta on the Ukrainian border where even war has not stopped progress; from vulture restoration in the mountains of Bulgaria to oases of sanctuary for endangered seabirds in the highlands of of Hawaiʻi, and across the world’s largest and most intact forest in Canada where Indigenous communities are permanently protecting hundreds of millions of acres of some of the most important migratory bird habitat on Earth, a win as well for social justice.
About Scott
Scott Weidensaul is the author of nearly 30 books on natural history, including the Pulitzer Prize finalist "Living on the Wind" and his the New York Times bestseller "A World on the Wing." His latest book, Return of the Oystercatcher, coming in April 2026, showcases what’s working for bird conservation around the world. Weidensaul is a contributing editor for Audubon magazine, a columnist for Bird Watcher’s Digest, and writes for a variety of other publications including Living Bird. He is a Fellow of the American Ornithological Society and an active field researcher, studying saw-whet owl migration for 30 years, as well as winter hummingbirds in the East, bird migration in Alaska, and the winter movements of snowy owls through Project SNOWstorm, which he co-founded. |
Day Scott
The Wild Rewrote Me: Birds, the Journey, and Becoming
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Date: Tuesday, May 12
Time: 4-5 p.m. Location: Maumee Bay Lodge, Ballroom Fee: $15 Registration Required: Yes After surviving a traumatic brain injury, Day Scott’s world shifted. Her body, mind, and sense of self felt disconnected in ways that would change how she navigated through life forever. Amid that fear and uncertainty, she found healing in an unexpected place: with birds. Observing them grounded her; learning about them gave her joy, and writing about them gave her connection. Those moments helped in her continuing recovery and influenced her path toward becoming a wildlife ecologist. Through the lens of science, this talk shares a story of transformation and the silver linings discovered along the way. Her journey reminds us that, like the wild itself, we are shaped by change—and strengthened by it.
About day
Day Scott is a disabled wildlife ecologist, photographer, and science communicator who is passionate about the natural world and our relationship with it. After a life-changing car accident involving a herd of pronghorn antelope left her with a traumatic brain injury, she turned to nature during her recovery. She found calmness in watching birds and joy in photographing them—an experience that helped her reconnect with the world around her and inspired her path toward wildlife research. Her work has spanned from studying forest owls in the Chiricahua Mountains and burrowing owls across the American West to land snails in the Peruvian Andes. Today, her impact reaches global audiences through collaborations with the Irwin family at Australia Zoo, and she is featured in Jennifer Ackerman’s bestselling book What an Owl Knows (Penguin Random House, 2023). Her wildlife photography has also been featured on Animal Planet, Discovery, and other major media outlets. Day is a graduate researcher at the University of Idaho studying animal movement and behavior in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. She and her research are featured in the documentary series Saving Yellowstone. Day is also a co-author of the forthcoming book Inclusive Nature (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2026). As both a scientist and an influential communicator, she uses storytelling to build awareness, inspire appreciation, and encourage people to care for wildlife and wild places. Learn more about Day Scott at www.thewildernessgoddess.com. |
Virginia Rose
Be Accessibility Champions! What it is, who benefits, and why it matters!
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Date: Wednesday, May 13
Time: 4-5 p.m. Location: Maumee Bay Lodge, Ballroom Fee: $15 Registration Required: Yes Virginia Rose, founder of Birdability, wants to make you an Accessibility Champion!
Her mission: To share the joys of birding with people who have disabilities and other health concerns; to ensure that birding locations are physically accessible, and birding communities are welcoming and inclusive. Hear her story and learn about ACCESS to Nature: what it is, why it matters, the people who benefit and where to find them! Learn about what makes a trail accessible and how to use the amazing Birdability Map! Finally, learn about welcoming and inclusive language and practices. About virginia
Virginia Rose is the founder of Birdability. In 1973 at age 14, she was paralyzed in a horseback-riding accident and has used a manual wheelchair ever since, 52 years now! Twenty-two years ago, she discovered birding and life changed. Seeing no other disabled people birding, she decided to find them and introduce them to birding. She founded Birdability in 2018 and is proud and honored to report that the Birdability Map boasts more than 2000 birding sites with access information across the U.S. and 15 other countries! We have over 75 Birdability Captains nationwide who are helping people with access challenges experience the joy of birding! Virginia likes to say she found her best self and her greatest happiness in birding. |
Rosemary Mosco
Bird Words: An Adventure Through Birding Terminology
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Date: Thursday, May 14
Time: 4-5 p.m. Location: Maumee Bay Lodge, Ballroom Fee: $15 Registration Required: Yes Join cartoonist and author Rosemary Mosco for a humorous walk through birding slang and terminology based on her book The Birding Dictionary. Relax, laugh, and have fun while learning a few new things about birding.
About rosemary
Rosemary is an author, illustrator, and speaker whose work connects people with the natural world. She has made many science books for kids and adults, and creates the nature comic Bird and Moon, which won the National Cartoonists Society’s award for Best Online Short Form Comic and was the subject of an award-winning museum exhibit. She’s written and drawn for The New York Times, Audubon, Rewiring America, the PBS Kids show Elinor Wonders Why, Ranger Rick, and more, and makes a regular comic strip in the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's Living Bird magazine. She does a pretty good White-throated Sparrow impression. |
Julie Zickefoose
Books, Birds and Following Passion’s Path
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Date: Friday, May 15
Time: 4-5 p.m. Location: Maumee Bay Lodge, Ballroom Fee: $15 Registration Required: Yes This talk is an origin story; a close look at the making of a natural history writer and illustrator. It follows the threads of inspiration from formative books and influential artists in Julie’s early years, to the creation of her own books. Zickefoose tracks in intimate detail the exceptionally close interactions she has with birds under her study and care. These experiences have given her deep insight into the way birds think and see the world. “There’s no better way to come to know a bird than to be its mama. Then, to let it go and watch it learn to navigate its world and become what it was meant to be—this is how I come to understand birds: from their beginnings on outward.”
Illustrated with the author’s own photographs, drawings and paintings, this lecture brings viewers into Julie’s world, and that of the birds she has come to know. A brood of Carolina wrens: ferociously intelligent, surprisingly affectionate, inventive and comical, consumed Julie’s summer in 2023. You’ll leave with a far greater appreciation of these small brown birds, and all birds, who have been Julie’s best instructors in the ways of the wild. about julie
Julie Zickefoose lives and works quietly on an 80-acre wildlife sanctuary in the back country of Whipple, Ohio. She is a prolific writer and painter who was an All Things Considered commentator for five years. Her illustrated work, The Bluebird Effect, was an Oprah's Book Club pick in 2012. After 37 years of contributing art and writing to Bird Watcher's Digest, Julie became Advising Editor to the new and improved BWD Magazine in 2022. Her heavily illustrated books include Natural Gardening for Birds, Letters from Eden, The Bluebird Effect, and Baby Birds: An Artist Looks Into the Nest. Saving Jemima: Life and Love with a Hard-Luck Jay and the newly revised and updated Birdwatching for Dummies are her two most recent titles |
Kenn Kaufman
Program Title Coming Soon!
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Date: Saturday, May 16
Time: 4-5 p.m. Location: Maumee Bay Lodge, Ballroom Fee: $15 Registration Required: Yes Details are still in the works for this keynote, but we already know it’s going to be a great one! Stay tuned! We’ll update this page as soon as we have information to share.
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 most recent book was The Birds That Audubon Missed, published 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. |