Greetings Birders- This weekend is filled with exciting field trips. The Toledo Naturalists' Association is excited to announce that we are teaming up with Magee Marsh & Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge this Saturday, August 25, 2012 to help kick-off the 'Pledge to Fledge' Campaign that was announced on the Ohio Listserv August 15, by Dave Magpiong, co-founder and director of the Global Birding Initiative. We would like to encourage birders of all skill levels to bring a child, parent, sibling, friend, neighbor, co-worker, or any other non-birder, who might be a great candidate for a "fledgling" new birder, to two of the hottest spots to bird in Northwest Ohio. Ethan Kistler will start off the day off at 8:00 a.m. by leading a Fall Warblers field trip at Magee Marsh. We will meet at the west end of the parking lot and walk the boardwalk in search of fall migrants, including those confusing fall warblers. At 10:00 a.m., we will meet Rebecca Hinkle from ONWR at the new visitors center parking lot for a Shorebird field trip inside the normally closed refuge. There, we will join field trip leaders Gabe Leidy, Ethan Kistler, and myself, who will bus and/or carpool us back to a special location along the north dike of the estuary that will provide us point blank views of shorebirds foraging on the mudflats. This is your chance to view the birds from within the refuge on higher grounds providing a panoramic view of the estuary. This spot yielded a Piping Plover a few years ago during a shorebird survey I participated in, and at least 20 species of shorebirds have been reported in the last week - including American Avocets, Whimbrel, Marbled Godwits, Red Knot, White-rumped & Baird's Sandpiper, Buff-breasted Sandpiper, Short & Long-billed Dowitchers, and Wilson's Phalarope. Since we will be visiting closed areas of the refuge with a bus and/or carpooling during the shorebird field trip at 10:00 a.m, we will need to limit the amount of attendees and are requesting those interested to sign-up no later than August 23, 2012. You can do so by emailing Sherrie Duris at birdgirl (at) toledonaturalists.org or visiting the TNA Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/toledonaturalist. That same Saturday, August 25, 2012, BSBO is hosting a "Shorebirds for Beginners" regional field trip for the Birding Ohio Facebook Group starting at 8:30 a.m. at Pipe Creek - another awesome spot in Ohio for shorebirds. See the group event page on Facebook for details. Magee Marsh Naturalist, Marry Warren, is also leading a walk for non-birders at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday, August 25, 2012. Participants will meet at the Magee Bird Center at 10:00 a.m. Mary encourages birders to bring a non-birding friend, relative, neighbor, young person, co-worker or other non-birding person on the walk, in honor of the Pledge to Fledge campaign. Binoculars for the non-birders will be available for loan. Together we can all make a difference by sharing our passion for birds. By teaming up and joining forces, we are doing our part by encouraging participation in these multiple field trips as an easy way to get those non-birders outdoors with you so they can see what the excitement is all about! To learn more about the Pledge to Fledge Initiative, visit their website at http://www.globalbirdinginitiative.org/pledge-2-fledge/ Good Birding & Happy Fledging! Sherrie Duris Vice President & Field Trip Coordinator Toledo Naturalists' Association www.toledonaturalist.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]