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The 5th annual Beaver Island Birding Festival, Warblers on the Water, will be held on May 25-27, 2018, on Beaver Island, in northern Lake Michigan. The island is a spring migratory song and shorebird mecca with over 200 species of birds recorded from the island. Registration is limited and birders are urged to register early through the Beaver Island Birding Trail website at http://www.beaverislandbirdingtrail.org/

Transportation to the island is via ferry or air taxi. Lodging is available on the island, and transportation for the various field trips will be provided to registered participants. More information about transportation and lodging is available on the website.
Expert speakers, researchers, and field guides will lead workshops and field trips to some of the island’s 30+ birding sites. Whether you are a novice or expert birder there will be something for you during this Memorial Weekend event.

Featured speakers include Bill Parsons, wildlife biologist with the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa, who will present, “Bald Eagle Research in the Beaver Island Archipelago.” Andrea and Terry Grabill will lead us on better birding techniques, Dr. Beth Leuck will share information on the Piping Plover recovery efforts in the Great Lakes with emphasis on the archipelago, and Dr. Nancy Seefelt, a biology professor at Central Michigan University, will present “Nesting Waterbirds in the Beaver Archipelago.” Great field trips around Beaver Island are scheduled, including one led by Dr. Ed Leuck and Elliot Nelson called Birding and Botanizing at French Bay. In addition, a featured field trip to Garden Island is scheduled. We are also pleased to announce that the Emmy Award-winning film, Green Fire: Aldo Leopold and a Land Ethic for Our Time, will be available for viewing during the weekend.

For more specific information about Warblers on the Water visit http://www.beaverislandbirdingtrail.org/warblers.html. Information about transportation to and accommodations on Beaver Island can be found at http://www.beaverislandbirdingtrail.org/accommodations.html, and for information about the island visit the Chamber of Commerce’s website at http://beaverisland.org/


Kick off Memorial Day Weekend and summer with a birding trip to one of Michigan’s most scenic and pristine locations– Beaver Island– where there are “no crowds, no traffic; just good birding.”

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