The state of Ohio has a long history of leadership in the birding world, going back at least to the 1890s, when Lynds Jones and W. L. Dawson were the first birders to break the barrier of 100 species in a day in North America. There are still a lot of great things happening in the state today. I want to focus on one particular area in which Ohio is making an impact. Recently throughout North America there has been a new focus on getting young people outdoors and trying to get more young people involved in birding. Some good progress is being made in a number of regions, but some of the most spectacular success has been right here, with the Ohio Young Birders Club. This organization for 12-to-18-year-olds has been drawing national and international attention. I'm lucky enough to be married to the adult coordinator of that club, so I've had a chance to watch its development from up close. A lot of adults in other places have pondered the question, "how do we get kids interested in birds?" My wife Kim didn't waste any time just pondering the question -- she took it straight to the kids and asked them. From the very beginning, the Ohio Young Birders Club has been successful because the young birders made the decisions -- there is an active youth advisory group that has decided everything about focus, activities, field trips, age limits, even the name of the club. One of the biggest examples of the success of this approach was the first annual conference, held in May 2007 at Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge. At the planning meetings, the group kicked around some ideas of expert adult birders who might give programs, but then decided they'd rather give the presentations themselves. So at this first conference, all of the speakers were 18 or younger, including the keynote speaker who came in from Florida for the event. As I reported in my column in Bird Watcher's Digest, the result was one of the most amazing days I've ever witnessed, seeing these awesome young birders in the spotlight. The great news is that the second annual conference is coming up: it's going to be October 4th in Walnut Creek, Ohio. This is in the Amish country of east-central Ohio, famous for the great birds found at all seasons. Seven Ohio birders, all aged 18 or younger, will be speaking on topics as varied as ecotourism, tropical birds, radiotelemetry studies of rails, Lake Erie winter rarities, and the birds of Killbuck Marsh. The keynote speaker is Hope Batcheller (age 16) from New York, talking about studies of fledgling birds. Rounding out the day will be field trips to hotspots in the area. The idea of a conference for young birders, put on BY young birders, is attracting a lot of attention. As proof of that, one of the top binocular manufacturers in the world, Leica Sport Optics, is helping to sponsor the event. They're even sending representative Jeff Bouton -- a long-time friend of mine, top-notch expert birder, and leading authority on digiscoping -- to attend the conference and lead a digiscoping workshop the following morning, October 5. I want all Ohio birders to be aware (and proud) of what the state is accomplishing in terms of bringing up the next generation of birders. If you know anyone in the 12-to-18 age group who might be interested, please let them know about the conference. And even if, like me, you're slightly over 18, you can still attend the conference and see some phenomenal young experts in action. The registration is amazingly inexpensive, especially if you're an adult supporting member of the Ohio Young Birders Club. All the information is available at http://www.ohioyoungbirders.org/annual_conference.htm Hope to see you there! Kenn Kaufman Oak Harbor, Ohio ______________________________________________________________________ Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society. Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list. Additional discussions can be found in our forums, at www.ohiobirds.org/forum/. You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask]