Birding By The Bay Festival

With the vernal equinox just around the corner, Birding By the Bay organizers in Munising, MI, are encouraging birders to “Think Spring!” The weekend event, slated for May 20, 21 and 22, 2005, will celebrate International Migratory Bird Day by offering birding and nature recreation field trips, speakers and other events for bird lovers of all ages.

If you enjoy watching birds – whether you’re an amateur or a hardcore birder – Birding By the Bay has activities to suit! Plans for the third annual festival include numerous field trips, mini-workshops, booths, speakers, children’s activities and an evening banquet.

Have you wondered what’s happening with eagles here and around the world? Keynote speaker for the event will be nationally recognized bald eagle researcher, Bill Bowerman, now of Clemson University, but born and raised in Munising. Birders will flock to see Bowerman’s Saturday evening presentation, The Status of the World's Sea Eagles and What They Tell Us About the Health of Our Planet. According to Bowerman, eagles of the Genus Haliaeetus, or Sea Eagles, occur on every continent except South America and Antarctica. Their associations with aquatic systems make them vulnerable to many environmental and man-caused stresses. In this talk you will learn about their ecology, the current status of each of the 8 species, and their use in assessing the health of the planet from the eyes of a researcher who has been studied four of these species over the past 20 years.

Birding enthusiasts will also enjoy the festival’s opening presentation by Scott Hickman, PhD, who has recently moved to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Hickman’s Friday evening slide show is entitled “Birding the Melting Edge of the Polar Ice.” He will describe what it was like to be part of a small group birding and camping on the floe edge of the high arctic northeast of Baffin Island. Scott was part of a Field Guides tour that traveled by sleds pulled by Inuit snowmobilers to the edge of the melting polar ice cap to view birds such as Northern Fulmar, Long-tailed Jaeger, Ivory Gull, and Dovkie. Snow-capped mountains rising out of the sea, glaciers, icebergs, polar bears, crossing leads - the opening cracks in the polar ice, and the Inuit, all make this area one of the most beautiful for those that love the far north.

The Festival features birding field trips into Upper Peninsula Michigan’s scenic public lands, including Grand Island National Recreation Area, Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, Seney National Wildlife Refuge and Hiawatha National Forest. These guided birding field trips will venture across the central Upper Peninsula, exploring terrain and habitats including Lake Superior's cliffs and beaches, northern hardwood forests, mixed conifer forests, grasslands, and various inland wetland settings. Species of special interest include Kirtland's and other warblers, peregrine falcon, piping plover, sharptail grouse, boreal chickadee and other species of interest.

Be forewarned: despite the reasonable field trip prices (most are free) the field trips aren’t entirely about birding – they’re also about fun! When registering, birding enthusiasts may choose among field trips that combine their birding passion with recreation opportunities such as Lake Superior sea kayaking, canoeing an inland river, birding on Grand Island National Recreation Area, lighthouse-looking, hiking Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, and touring Seney National Wildlife Refuge.

Saturday, a selection of raptors will be on hand along with the experts who care for them. They’ll make visits to area schools and will make public presentations, too. Families will also enjoy kid-oriented activities and a wildflower presentation by Forest Service botanist Deb LeBlanc and retired Park Service ranger, Fred Young.

Vendors will round out the weekend with their wares. For example, last year our vendors included two natural history associations and an excellent array of woodcarvings.

Ready to sign up for Birding By the Bay 2004? You can obtain registration information from the festival’s website, or by contacting the Alger Chamber of Commerce (906-387-2138).

The event is co-sponsored by Alger Chamber of Commerce, Hiawatha National Forest, Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, and Seney National Wildlife Refuge. Other sponsors of the event include Hiawatha Interpretive Association, Seney Natural History Association, Munising Visitors Bureau and Eastern National.

Organizers hope the festival, now in its third year, will develop public appreciation for the significant birding opportunities in Michigan's central upper peninsula. In addition, the festival aims to introduce area children and adults to the popular hobby of bird watching.