Most people
wouldn’t know a cerulean warbler from a horned grebe, but even beginners
may be able to pass as resident ornithologists after three days at this
weekend’s Oil Region Birding Festival.
There will
be an intriguing array of bird-watching possibilities Friday through
Sunday, including nocturnal owl prowling, dawn patrols at Justus and
Kahle lakes and six workshops Saturday afternoon at Venango Campus.
Veteran birders Gary Edwards, Kathie Goodblood and Jerry Stanley will
lead participants on educational nature walks.
Edwards,
past president of the Seneca Rocks Audubon Society, will present a
program at dusk Friday on owls at Oil Creek State Park. That will be
followed by a walk along dirt roads in search of great horned, barred
and Eastern screech owls.
Last year,
Edwards played a screech owl tape from the park office that was answered
from the forest.
“There were
three or four children in the group, and they were really excited,”
Edwards said.
Moments
later, a screech owl flew past the group, then back to the edge of the
forest. A spotlight gave everyone a clear view of the small owl.
Goodblood
and Stanley, who are husband and wife, will lead dawn workshops Saturday
and Sunday through their 462-acre property, Buttermilk Hill Nature
Sanctuary. Participants will be taken by bus to the Sugarcreek
woodlands, home to a wide range of birds and other wildlife.
Goodblood,
the president of the Bartramian Audubon Society, and Stanley “first
became interested in ornithology 25 years ago in Vermont,” Goodblood
said. “A bird kept waking us up outside our bedroom window. We got a
bird book in order to identify it, and binoculars, and soon we were
often on walks in search of birds,” she said.
John Karian
of Franklin, a well-known nature photographer, is presenting a workshop
at 1 p.m. Saturday at Clarion-University-Venango Campus for both
beginning and advanced shutterbugs with an emphasis on landscapes,
avians and close-ups. The intrepid Karian arrives at wetlands even
before the birds, allowing him to capture flora and fauna in the
dramatic light of early morning.
The six
workshops at Venango Campus will be held Saturday throughout the
afternoon and evening. Presenters will include Audubon coordinator Kim
Van Fleet, nature columnist Arlene Koch, wildlife diversity biologist
Tim Hoppe and Goodblood.
Paul
Baicich will be the keynote speaker Saturday evening at the 6:30 p.m.
birders banquet. Baicich is a well-known tour guide, co-author of “A
Guide to the Nests, Eggs and Nestlings of North American Birds” and
co-editor of “Birding Community E-bulletin.”
Award-winning photojournalist Jerry Sowden of The Derrick and The
News-Herald will lead a photography expedition at dawn Sunday at Two
Mile Run County Park’s Justus Lake.
Pre-registration is requested since space is limited for some of the
birding festival events, and anyone who wants to make reservations or
who wants more information can contact Toni Kresinski at the Oil Region
Alliance at 677-3152, ext. 110, or 1-800-483-6264.
