I'd like to thank everyone who joined Black Swamp Bird Observatory and Discovery Tours for our Lake Erie Pelagic trips this November. We had ridiculously good time and saw some great birds too. Yesterday's Pomarine Jaeger was a real highlight for everyone, but plenty of people had lifer looks at Horned Grebe and Purple Sandpiper too. Major props to our field trip leaders John Pogacnik and Kenn Kaufman for lending their expertise to these trips. I'd like to thank Andy Jones and Jim McCormac as well. Andy and Jim thought they were coming for a relaxing boat ride, and instead, got put to work helping people spot birds. Man, do we have some great birders in Ohio, or what?!! To Bob Faber -- thanks for making the trip possible. And to the Captain and Crew of the HOLIDAY, thank you for making the trip wonderful! We had such a good time that we're planning another trip in early January! No date set just yet, but we'll keep you posted. We send out monthly updates on all the stuff BSBO has going on and we'll announce the date for the next pelagic via this 'eNews' as well. You can sign up to receive those announcements here: http://www.bsbo.org/subscribe.htm Some pictures and other "stuff" about the first trip can be seen here: http://birdingwithkennandkim.blogspot.com/2009/11/pelagic-magic-when-gales-of-november.html Several members of the Ohio Young Birders Club were on board yesterday and it was the perfect way to cap off a weekend that also featured the OYBC's third annual conference on Saturday. I can't even articulate how fabulous the conference was. I think any anyone who attended got their $20 bucks worth, and then some! Our speakers--all under the age of 18--presented dynamic programs on birds and bird conservation issues and took it a step further by offering practical solutions to some of the challenges the natural world faces. Our keynote speaker, Malkolm Boothroyd (who got his lifer Purple Sandpiper on the pelagic trip yesterday - thanks to Becky Cullen for spotting it!) shared the adventures that he and his parents shared on their Bicycle Big Year for Bird Conservation that took them on a 13,000 journey in a loop around the U.S. and raised more than $25,000 for conservation. Malkolm is a very poised and articulate speaker, and I would love to be able to bring him back to give his presentation again, but he lives in Whitehorse,Yukon, Canada, and it creates some logistical and financial challenges to transport a teenager under the age of 18 through all that. Maybe he could just ride his bike down.... Three of Ohio's own remarkable teens captivated the audience as well. Sarah Winnicki presented: For the Love of Condors: A Conservation Story. Sarah's talk was literally one of the best bird-related talks I have ever seen, and I guarantee you will be hearing more about Sarah and seeing other organizations in Ohio featuring this amazing presentation. Lucas Padegimas shared his interest in and concern for the Piping Plover in a presentation that took us to Cape Henlopen State Park in Delaware. Inspiring, informative, and funny, this is another talk that you'll see offered again! And finally, hats off to the young man running the show, our Master of Ceremony, Elliott Miller, who did a great job of keeping things on track and keeping us totally entertained in between the speakers. Elliott is now cued up to give a presentation next year! right, elliott... : ) An audience spanning the ages of 7 to 89, completely packed the conference room at Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge for our event. The Refuge staff helped with the conference in many ways and we owe them a debt of gratitude. There are many organizations, agencies, companies, and individuals who made this conference--and the OYBC itself--possible. No one person or organization could accomplish something like this alone, and BSBO--the proud founder of this club--is very lucky to have such a strong band of partners in Ohio and beyond! To date, 14 other states have followed our model and launched their own version of the Ohio Young Birders Club. Yikes, I think I'm edging in to "your post is too long" territory, and totally clobbering any hope I had of blogging about this stuff too. Oh well....It seems right to share it with Ohio Birders first. Thanks again, everyone! Kim Kaufman Executive Director Black Swamp Bird Observatory 13551 West State Route 2 Oak Harbor, Ohio 43449 419-898-4070 www.bsbobird.org ______________________________________________________________________ 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]