Leelanau holds second annual Bird Fest
By Dave Barrons
Come to our beautiful county to see the birds that migrate through your yard as they carry out their nesting responsibilities at our birding venues. Join us May 30-June 3 for the Second Annual Leelanau Peninsula BirdFest, where you can see more than 100 different species of nesting birds, including the rare Great Lakes Piping Plover.
The Leelanau Peninsula BirdFest is in its second year. It is a ‘standard’ birdwatching festival in that it is a combination of scheduled, guided field trips and evening keynote addresses. Field trips go to various habitat locations to observe as great a variety of birds possible. Field trips are led by top flight birders who in most cases are capable of identifying birds by sight and sound. Birdwatching festivals generally feature a specific bird or birds, or field trips offering a special experience.
Our BirdFest has all of that. Nine different guided trips offered at various times over a four-day schedule. Birding by Tall Ship is our extra special, and I believe unique, field trip. That is a journey aboard the Inland Seas to Gull Island to observe Caspian terns and a variety of gulls. The trip leader is Dr. Bill Scharf renowned expert on Great Lakes gulls and terns. Among others we also offer pontoon boat birding going up Victoria Creek in the Cedar River Natural Area off south Lake Leelanau, plus a bus trip to the prairie development in Benzie County.
And of course our ‘big money’, big attraction bird (and our brand icon) is the Piping Plover. One of our most popular field trips offers a full education session on plovers conducted by Sleeping Bear National Lake Shore staff and then guided trips to see plovers on the nest on the SBDNLS beaches.
Our keynote presentations are top flight … Friday night Jerry Weinrich … godfather of Kirtland’s warbler restoration; Saturday night Greg Butcher, former Director of Bird Conservation for the National Audubon Society, now Migratory Species Coordinator for US Forest Service International Programs.
We have a Bird and Bug Safari offering for young children on Saturday morning in Suttons Bay and several more offerings that do not require full registration. Our web site, www.mibirdfest.com Complete field trip information and electronic registration are available there.
Registration is $35. That covers most of the field trips and the Friday night keynote. Several field trips cost an additional fee (covering boat rental fees and bus charges,only) … and the dinner and Saturday night keynote are additional as well.
