Three Life Birds and Many New Friends

It's been just a whirlwind of an adventure here at The Midwest Birding Symposium in beautiful Lakeside, Ohio. Unfortunately, I am unable to post photos on my iPad so I will have to wait until I get home to my laptop. Ruthie and I went to a bird banding demonstration at the Black Swamp Bird Observatory this morning and were treated to great looks at Gray-cheeked Thrush, a female Black-throated Blue Warbler, Indigo Bunting and a pair of cranky Northern Cardinals. The naturalists there gave us terrific information about the banding process and about the birds they netted. After the banding Kim Kaufman invited us to go along on a Birds and Blooms bird walk on the boardwalk at the famous Magee Marsh. I cannot say enough about the generosity of both Kenn and Kim Kaufman. Ruthie and I had the best time! I got fabulous looks at three new life birds: the Gray-cheeked Thrush, the Yellow-billed Cuckoo and a Philadelphia Vireo. Those three birds brought my life bird total to 297! I sure am hoping that tomorrow I will be able to make it to 300!
This afternoon we listened to a presentation on attracting hummingbirds and butterflies by one of my favorite speakers Connie Toops. I have heard Connie speak twice before at the New River Birding and Nature Festival in Fayetteville, WV and knew this talk would be great. We've done quite a bit of shopping (no surprise there!) and I'll share photos of my cool purchases when I get home.
Tonight's keynote speakers will be a real treat. Julie Zickefoose will speak about her new book (I pre-ordered mine yesterday) called The Bluebird Effect: Uncommon Bonds With Common Birds. Following Julie we will hear one of my favorite people, Al Batt. Al is from Hartland, Minnesota. Al is a classic story teller and is also one of the kindest people I've met. Can't wait for tonight!

We Made It!

Ruthie and I left her house at 0530 yesterday morning after scraping frost of the car windows. We had a wonderful drive, with only two near misses. I came very close to hitting a coyote while still in Minnesota, and we almost ran out of gas in Ohio! But after twelve long hours of driving we pulled into Lakeside barely ten minutes before we were to board the boat for the event kick-off. We skipped the birding trips this morning and got some much needed rest. But now we're off to register and explore. There are some terrific speakers lined up, shopping to do and friends to make.

I love being here at the Midwest Birding Symposium in Lakeside, Ohio!

Road Trip!

I haven't been around much this summer. Between changing from part time to full time work, and our major time commitment to our building at Hasty Brook, (and I will admit to spending more time on Facebook), I have neglected this blog. Life gets busy and my good intentions to get back to blogging slipped away.

But- life is good here. So I will pick up where I left off and turn my back on the guilt.

My best birding friend Ruthie Johnson, the Nature Knitter emailed me a while back asking if I was interested in joining her for another girls' road trip to The Midwest Birding Symposium in Lakeside, Ohio on the shore of beautiful Lake Erie. It only took me a moment to think it over. Described as "America's Friendliest Birding Event", the weekend September 15-18 will be jam-packed with fun. The line-up of speakers is incredible! There are field trips to the area's amazing birding spots and the Birder's Marketplace has 68 vendors offering a wide range of products and services.

It will be an opportunity to reconnect with old birding friends, meet birders that I've gotten to know through blogging and Facebook, and make new friends.

I am excited to have been chosen to be an Official MBS Blogger! Check out the link on my side bar. It will take you to the MBS website and detail all of the great information describing this amazing weekend of birding, birders, entertainment and FUN!

It's not too late to sign up.

I hope to see you there!