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Firelands Aububon Meetings:
Our monthly meetings run September through may. They are held on the fourth Tuesday of the month, usually at 7PM. see the calendar of Events for exact times and dates.
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The meetings are conducted in the Firelands Room of The Frost Center at Osborn Metropark (unless stated otherwise).
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Our meetings are filled with information, slide presentations and wonderful speakers all in a welcoming environment.
Guest Speaker: William Rapai
Kirtland Warbler Alliance
October 22, 7-8pm
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The Kirtland’s Warbler: From the brink of extinction to a new model for endangered species conservation
The Kirtland’s Warbler is an iconic species in Michigan, nesting primarily in the jack pine forests of the northern Lower Peninsula. As recently as 1987 there were fewer 400 birds in the entire population. Today, there are more than 4,000 birds, and the population continues to grow to a point where the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has determined its population is now at a level to be considered “recovered.” In October 2019, the Kirtland’s Warbler was removed from the Endangered Species List.
That’s a reason to celebrate, but it doesn’t mean we can wash our hands and walk away because conservation of the Kirtland’s Warbler has special challenges. Unlike every other animal that has been removed from the Endangered Species List, the Kirtland's Warbler will require continued
human intervention to ensure its survival.
William Rapai, is author of The Kirtland’s Warbler: The story of a bird’s fight for survival and the people who saved it and executive director of the Kirtland’s Warbler Alliance, a nonprofit created to support Kirtland’s Warbler conservation.
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Guest Speaker: Richard Dolbeer
Christmas Bird Count
November 26, 7-8pm
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The Firelands Christmas Bird Count: 50 years and counting!
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Christmas Bird Counts were initiated in 1900 by Frank Chapman and the nascent Audubon Society to counter the prevailing tradition of competitive Christmas Bird Hunts. The 25 localities in the USA and Canada that held counts in 1900 has grown to about 2,500 counts today. The newly chartered Firelands Chapter of Audubon Society held its first CBC on 19 December 1971; this year (14 Dec 2024) will represent our 54th count.
How many different bird species have been recorded on the Firelands CBC? What year had the most species counted? Which species have never been observed that should have been observed. What was the coldest temperature on count day? Which species have shown the most dramatic increases and declines since 1971. Come to the meeting and learn the answers to these and other questions in this interactive presentation!
Potluck and Slideshow Safari
January 28, 6-8pm
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Slideshow Safari: Share your travel photos and nature sightings!
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Bring a dish to share for the dinner, as well as some of your favorite photos and stories from the past year (or so). A laptop and projector will be available to use. Feel free to bring photos on an SD card or a USB drive.
Guest Speaker: Courtney Brennan
Understanding and Enjoying Migration & Lights Out Cleveland
February 25, 7-8pm
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For some five billion individual birds, migration is an essential and stunning annual accomplishment.
Join Courtney Brennan for a dive into why and how these birds undertake this grueling journey and how they find their way to wintering grounds they have never seen before.
Most species of songbirds migrate at night, and lights can disorient them and draw them into collision situations, though efforts like Lights Out Cleveland are working to reduce these collisions. Lights Out Cleveland is part of a growing international movement to protect migratory birds endangered by city lights.
It is part of a collaborative effort between citizen scientists, researchers, regional wildlife organizations, and local businesses committed to reducing light pollution during peak migratory seasons.
Guest Speaker: Nancy Ransom
Forest and Physiology
March 25, 7-8pm
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Forestry and Physiology: How sustainable forestry practices may actually help the survival of forest-nesting birds.
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Birds are highly vulnerable to predation and loss of body condition during their annual molt. They experience impaired flight ability and greatly increased energetic demand due to shedding of the old feathers that insulated them and the growth of new feathers to take their place. In fact, some migratory birds undergo so intensive a molt of their flight feathers that they become functionally flightless for a period of time (Rimmer). Therefore, forest birds actually may benefit from having access to a habitat close to the mature forest that has dense cover for protection from predators, as well as abundant food, such as invertebrates and fruits. Forest edges can provide this sort of habitat, and so too can tree gaps, both natural and human made, within the forest.
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Nancy Ransom is a graduate student at Bowling Green State University who collected bird banding data in conjunction with the National Aviary and the Foundation for Sustainable Forestry for the last four years. These last two years she has collected data towards a master's thesis on how birds molt under varying sustainable forestry treatments. The Foundation for Sustainable Forestry uses a novel forest clearing method called femelschlag, or “gap silvaculture,” which creates a mosaic in the forest with gaps of varying ages.
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General data on bird diversity and abundance within these unique gaps were collected by Dr. Steven Latta, Director of Conservation and Field Research at the National Aviary, and Nancy is observing how birds molt their feathers in these gaps.
Early successional habitats provide cover to birds during this very energy demanding process in their annual cycle. In this talk we will explore what sustainable forestry methods are, how birds molt, and what the collection of molt data over the last two years has taught us about the importance of forest gaps to birds during the brief but critical period following nesting and prior to migration.
Guest Speaker: Dr. Laura Kearns
The Recovery of Fish-eating Raptors in Ohio
April 22, 7-8pm
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Bald eagles and osprey have both made incredible recoveries in Ohio. This talk will include the latest state-wide population estimates for the bald eagle, discussion of the recovery efforts for both species, and how the regulations landscape has changed as their populations have grown.
Annual Meeting
Guest Speaker: Diana Steele
Lynds Jones - The Birdman of Oberlin
May 27, 7-8pm
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Lynds Jones (1865-1951) was a pioneering ornithologist and ecologist from Ohio who is responsible for many of the common practices that recreational birders take for granted as “standard practice” in the field, more than a century later, including keeping lists, doing Big Days, and the Christmas Bird Count.
At Oberlin College in 1892, Jones began teaching ornithology, which was the first course of its kind ever offered at an American college or university. Not only was he a professor at Oberlin for nearly four decades, Jones also had a tremendous impact on the fields of ornithology and recreational birding. He founded both an ornithological society (The Wilson Ornithological Society, 1888) and a journal (now the Wilson Journal of Ornithology, 1889); both are active today.
Jones was also an early pioneer and mentor in ecology and founded the first-ever department of animal ecology in 1915.
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Diana Steele has been a science writer for more than 30 years. She is an avid birder and has birded in all 50 U.S. States and six continents. An active volunteer with Black River Audubon Society, she is a birding guide on the Lake Erie Islands and a former board member of the Ohio Ornithological Society.