Hi all, On behalf of Columbus Audubon and the Ohio Ornithological Society, I want to announce an upcoming symposium focusing on waterfowl. The location will be the wonderful, brand spanking new Grange Audubon Center in downtown Columbus, Ohio, hard on the bank of the mighty Scioto River. This is a gorgeous building and perfectly suited for such an event. The date of the main event is Saturday, February 27th. We've got a stellar lineup of speakers, including: Jesse Barry and Chris Wood of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, speaking on The Secret Life of Ducks and Saving Waterfowl with e-bird data; Paul Baicich on the importance of the Federal Duck Stamp and what it has done to conserve waterfowl; Keith Lott presenting data on the most comprehensive aerial survey of Lake Erie waterbirds ever done, which just wrapped up and produced some fascinating results; Dr. Gwen Myers presenting the work that she has done with one of North America's most fascinating ducks, the Spectacled Eider, which winters in one of the most inhospitable places on earth, open leads in the otherwise frozen Bering Sea; And there'll be more! A very special treat is our Saturday evening keynote speaker, all the way from Iraq - Dr. Azzam Alwash, CEO of Nature Iraq, who will share a fascinating program about his work to restore the marshlands of Iraq, and their waterfowl. Alwash is fascinating and engaging - you won't want to miss him, or any of the others! Adding to the treats is a special Friday night performance, also at the Grange Audubon Center, of the one and only Swinging Orangatangs, that wild and wacky band straight out of Whipple, Ohio, fronted by Julie Zickefoose and Bill Thompson. That'll be great fun, a good way to meet fellow birders from here and there, hang out and have a great time. Be there or be square! Weather permitting, we'll have topnotch birders posted at the best local patches for finding waterfowl on Sunday. If the thaw is underway, as it often is by late February, open water areas in Central Ohio can have lots of fowl pushing on north. For the complete scoop, and to register, visit the OOS website at: http://www.ohiobirds.org/calendar/society_events/current/waterfowl.php We also have a link to our partnering organization, Columbus Audubon, where you can register online if you wish: http://columbusaudubon.org/production/index.php?option=com_content <http://columbusaudubon.org/production/index.php?option=com_content&view=art icle&id=438&Itemid=200> &view=article&id=438&Itemid=200 Hope to see you there! Jim McCormac Jim McCormac Columbus, Ohio Like nature? Visit my blog: http://jimmccormac.blogspot.com/ Like birds? Join the Ohio Ornithological Society: http://www.ohiobirds.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]