Seminars & Keynotes
Thursday, 12 November
2:00p – 3:30p
You’ve probably been hearing a lot about eBird (www.ebird.org), the internet-based birding tool that is changing the face of modern birding. But what is it, exactly? It’s a checklist program built for birders by birders—allowing you to post sightings, keep life lists and place lists, and manage your personal records. It’s a data-sharing program—making all this remarkable information available for science and conservation efforts. This workshop will teach you what eBird is, how to use it, why it’s important, and how it can benefit you as a birder. Get started eBirding, and get empowered to make your observations count!
Note: This workshop will begin by an outside data-gathering walk, followed by an inside session learning how to enter data. Though not necessary, bring your laptop to get really hands-on!
BRIAN SULLIVAN, Project Leader for eBird at Cornell, has conducted fieldwork on birds throughout North America for the past 17 years. Birding travels, photography, and field projects have taken him to Central and South America, to Antarctica, the Arctic and across North America. He has written and consulted on various books, popular, and scientific literature on North American birds. Research interests include closing the gap between science and birding. He is also a project leader for the Avian Knowledge Network (www.avianknowledge.net), photographic editor of the Birds of North America Online (http://bna.birds.cornell.edu/BNA/), and photographic editor for the journal North American Birds (http://www.americanbirding.org/pubs/nab/index.html). You can email him at bls42@cornell.edu.
4:00p – 5:00p
Do you feel like you’ve learned the basics of bird identification but are stuck in a rut? Are you trying to get the next level? Have you been in the field with experts able to identify just about every bird before you could even focus your binoculars? Did you think you’d never be able to do that? In a presentation sure to be as entertaining as it is educational, Chris Wood and Jessie Barry will demystify how experts identify birds.
CHRIS WOOD and JESSIE BARRY are widely heralded as leaders of the next birding generation. They join us from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, where Jessie is the Assistant Curator in the Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds and Chris serves as the Project Leader for eBird and the Avian Knowledge Network. Their engaging personalities, brilliance in the field, and genuine warmth make them the favorites at birding events. Chris and Jessie also host the online birding show Inside Birding. (Back to Top)
.
THE LONGEST, THE WILDEST: The Great Texas Birding Classic Fee $7
6:15p Keynote
Big Sits, Big Days, Big Weeks…What’s it all about? Join Bill Baker, whose team has won the Week-long April-held tournament, sponsored by the Gulf Coast Bird Observatory, for five consecutive years. This event has raised hundreds of thousands for bird conservation and involves scores of teams from all over the United States. Spring migration along the Texas coast is an exciting phenomenon, and Bill’s sharing of stories and recounting of adventures will make the experience come alive.
BILL BAKER, Manager of Ecological Programs for RRI Energy, holds degrees in Wildlife and Fisheries Biology and Environmental Sciences, and worked as a Marine Biologist with Texas Parks and Wildlife before joining RRI Energy and its predecessor companies. He has worked across the United States on a host of habitat restoration and preservation projects over the past 31 years, including wetlands restoration, reforestation, prairie restoration, carbon sequestration, and artificial reef construction. He serves on numerous advisory councils, boards for environmental concerns, and is a staunch supporter of the Great Texas Birding Classic. (Back to Top)
____________________________________________________________________________
Friday, 13 November
INTRO TO BIRDING IN SPANISH Fee $5
11a – 12n
In this informative seminar, given completely in Spanish, discover the fun and excitement of birding in our unique region. Topics will include general identification tips, field techniques, the best time for birding, basic optics, as well as bird feeders, homemade water drippers, and how to find good locations for these—all helping you attract a variety of birds to your yard.
En este seminario informativo, dado completamente en español, descubran la alegría y la emoción de observar aves en nuestra región incomparable. Se incluyirán entre los temas de discusión recomendaciones generales para identificación, técnicas de campo, las horas óptimas para observar aves, equipo básico de óptica, y también comederos para aves, goteros caseros de agua, y cómo encontrar lugares ideales para estos-todo esto para ayudarle a usted atraer una variedad de aves a su jardín.
BENITO TREVINO is a botanist and naturalist who has dedicated his life’s work to the preservation and conservation of native plants, as well as the wildlife, history, and culture of the Rio Grande Valley. He owns and operates Rancho Lomitas Native Plant Nursery, located just north of Rio Grande City, where in guided trailer tours, participants learn about unique edible, medicinal, and poisonous plants. (Back to Top)
.
EAVESDROP ON BIRDS: A LISTENING WORKSHOP Fee $5
2:00p – 3:30p
Unlock avian language secrets with expert Don Kroodsma. If possible, first a walk outside to listen to what birds have to say, concentrating less on identifying them (“birding by ear”), and more on identifying with them, using their voices as a window on their minds. Then inside, using a computer and Raven software, the songs of our most common birds will be explored in detail. Listen to all that “just a robin” has to say and marvel at what our opened ears now hear. Listen to blue jays converse, or vireos or sparrows or buntings or wrens or flycatchers or warblers or larks. Hear the details that the birds themselves hear, by slowing songs down, and imagine what it is like to be the bird itself.
DONALD KROODSMA is a former professor of biology at the University of Massachusetts whose work on birdsong is legendary. His book The Singing Life of Birds won the 2006 John Burroughs Medal and led to the American Birding Association’s Robert Ridgeway Distinguished Service Award for excellence in publications pertaining to field ornithology. In 2003 the American Ornithologists’ Union called him the “reigning authority on the biology of avian vocal behavior.” Kroodsma received his Ph.D. at Oregon State University and has traveled all over North and South America researching birdsong. He is a fellow of the American Ornithologists’ Union and the Animal Behavior Society and is well known for both his academic research and his popular articles on birdsong.(Back to Top)
.
TROPICAL TOPICS: NORTHEAST MEXICO and ECUADOR Fee $5
4:00p –5:00p
WHAT’S OVER THERE, ANYHOW?
If there are Green Jays and Altamira Orioles here, what on earth must they have over there? One can’t help but wonder what avian treasures lie just across the river. The short answer is that they have an awful lot, including representatives of whole families of birds that have never been seen north of the border and a goodly number of species found nowhere else in the world. This short program is designed to satisfy your curiosity about our surprisingly accessible neighbor to the south and to give you a tantalizing taste of birding in the true tropics.
JEFFREY A. GORDON – please see bio below / Saturday Keynote
CONSERVATION IS AS MUCH FUN AS BIRDWATCHING
We’ll continue southward for the second half of this seminar—into amazing Ecuador. Birding has exploded there in the past decade, with new reserves, facilities, awareness—and mostly due to concentrated efforts to save endemic birds by very creative means. Find out why birders and visitors are crucial to this process, and are making big differences in the conservation of this truly tropical and very diverse country, boasting over 1500 species in an area that’s a third the size of Texas.
MERCEDES RIVADENEIRA has been a force in the famous Mindo area of Ecuador for fifteen years, running one of the first eco-lodges, then forming Neblina Forest Birding Tours, which now has operations beyond Ecuador, in Peru, Brazil, and Bolivia (www.neblinaforest.com). She and her husband Xavier Munoz have had roles in the Jocotoco Foundation, the acquiring of Andean cloudforest, and have been strong voices for conservation and for the positive role eco-tourism. (Back to Top)
.
BIRDSONG BY THE SEASONS Fee $7
6:15p Keynote
In this fascinating and unique presentation, come celebrate the sounds of the seasons, from January through December. Hear a young, female pileated woodpecker headed to roost on New Year’s day or the bustling sounds of Everglades wading birds on a January night. In March, the din of a half million cranes over the Platte River is irresistible, and in May and June, songbirds abound. By August, young of the year babble as they practice their songs, and on September nights, hordes of migrants call overhead, making their way south with gentle north winds. A ruffed grouse drums during October, for reasons unknown. And in late December, as the sun begins its comeback, just listen to the birds announce that yes, the winter solstice is in fact their first day of spring, renewing the cycle all over again.
DONALD KROODSMA – for bio, see above (Back to Top)
______________________________________________________________________________
Saturday, 14 November
THE ART OF ILLUSTRATION Fee $5
2:00p – 3:00p
Children’s books are often a marvel of art and information, delighting kids big and small. Author and illustrator Ram Papish will present his works, focusing on natural history subjects that combine educational content with entertaining story, and give an insider’s look at the fascinating process of book creation.
RAM PAPISH blends his long background in fine art with his varied experience as a field biologist to create artistic, yet accurate, wildlife images. Ram’s interests has led him to work on projects in many locations—from Panama to Puerto Rico, Florida to Texas, Jamaica to the outer islands of Hawaii. His strongest interest over the years has been studying the wildlife of Alaska, and has worked in the state for twelve field seasons. Ram lives near Newport, Oregon with three chickens, one goldfish, and one Chia pet.(Back to Top)
.
4:00p – 5:00p
The natural soundscape of the Lower Rio Grande Valley is amazingly rich—it sparkles with the melodic coos of White-winged and White-tipped Doves, the harsh scolds of Green Jays and Great Kiskadees, and the raucous chatters of Plain Chachalalcas and Ringed Kingfishers. And add in an extra treat—the enchanting choruses of the region’s special frogs and toads. Tour this treasure of the Valley’s unique voices with sound professional Lang Elliott, who will present and play highlights from the newly released Valley Bird Songs CD.
LANG ELLIOT is a man of many faces—sound recordist, writer, photographer, videographer. He is the author of The Songs of Wild Birds, The Frogs and Toads of North America, The Songs of Insects, and many other book/CD packages, not the least of which is the Stokes Field Guide to Bird Songs, the basis for the popular birdJam software and iPod application. Visit him at www.naturesound.com and www.musicofnature.org. (Back to Top)
.
THE GREAT SOUTH TEXAS BIRDING QUIZ SHOW
6:15p Keynote
Tired of birding programs that, while informative, can get just a little, um, you know–boring? Join quizmaster Jeffrey Gordon and special guests for a multimedia hour of birding trivia and friendly (and perhaps fierce) competition that will have you laughing, cheering, and maybe even learning a little about the birds of South Texas and around the world, not to mention seeing a different side of some of your favorite birding personalities, authors, and trip leaders. The quiz will be designed to allow for lots of audience participation and interaction. In fact, you are welcome to send suggested questions to info@rgvbirdfest.com. Please include the words “Quiz Show,” in the subject line. If your question is selected for use, your name will be entered into a drawing for a special prize.
JEFFREY A. GORDON is a writer, naturalist, and frequent speaker at birding and nature festivals across the country. He serves as Field Editor for Bird Watcher’s Digest, and has worked as an interpretive naturalist at national parks including Yosemite and Acadia, and at the Valley’s own Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge. He spent 12 years leading birding tours worldwide for Victor Emanuel Nature Tours and authored 11 of the chapters in Identify Yourself: The 50 Most Common Birding Identification Challenges. For more information on Jeff’s activities, visit www.jeffreyagordon.com.
