Laura Erickson's For the Birds

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Fantastic birding festival

Oh, man--what a great festival I was at this weekend. The Chequamegon Bay Birding and Nature Festival in Ashland, Wisconsin, was filled with wonderful programs and wonderful birds. Migration's been stymied by the slow spring--a great many trees haven't even started leafing out yet. But people got grand looks at a lot of wonderful birds, including this poor Black-and-white Warbler that bonked into a window. He flew off, I hope safely, before I could get a look at the band numbers. What a cosmically handsome bird.

When I left Sunday afternoon, the species tally was closing in on 170--Ryan Brady is going to send me an update ASAP. Among the really rare species were Boreal Chickadee and Black-billed Magpie.

I stayed at the Inn at Timber Cove--a lovely bed & breakfast in Ashland. I was in a lovely cottage, where I'd love to have stayed a week or more. I highly recommend it. I'll post more photos of the festival and my splendid accommodations ASAP.