Nov. 30th-Dec 2nd
The day didn’t start off on a good note. About one hour into our trip to Deer Creek State Park in Mt. Sterling, OH, for the 1st ever Ohio Bird Conservation Symposium (sponsored jointly by the Ohio Ornithological Society and The Nature Conservancy) the car I was riding in blew its engine. After about a five hour delay and a bit of money later, we were off again. We arrived at the lodge a little late and the evening festivities have already begun. Running on no sleep from a previous night’s work, I was exhausted. Luckily, others were still arriving after us.
Friday night, Jaime and I met with Scott Weidensaul and got our copy of Return to Wild America signed. That night, we took a trip to near Chillicothe, OH to see the Saw-whet Owl banding setup of Kelly Williams-Sieg.
Saturday consisted of speakers speaking on various topics relating to bird conservation. The speakers were all wonderfully knowledgeable and interesting. Many topics were covered and not just birds were discussed, as everyone knows that everything is connected in the web of life. It just goes to show what can be done when everyone works together to accomplish goals in bird conservation. It also shows what work still needs to be done in Ohio. I especially enjoyed the keynote speaker Scott Weidensaul who discussed his book Return to Wild America. It almost brought me to tears. I forgot my camera in the room that day, and didn’t want to miss any presentations to go back and get it. Also that night, Jaime put in money to a raffle to win me a carved wood decoy of a Blue-winged teal made by Tim and Laura Dornan, and by golly she won it. It really is very nice!
I had a very wonderful time; it was a very nice & needed break from the wheels. For a more detailed account, please see the President of the Ohio Ornithological Society - Jim McCormac’s blog and The Cerulean, the newsletter of the OOS.
