Audubon's annual Bird Festival Wings Across the Big sky
June 2010.
Missoula & Surrounding Areas
Montana Audubon, together with the Five Valleys and Bitterroot Audubon Chapters pulled off a fantastic annual festival. Downtown Missoula was a great place to meet with old and new friends, and the weather was perfect for two days of field trips all over western Montana. Information about field trips finds and awards are highlighted below.
Thank you for coming and thanks to all our volunteers! Thanks also to our major sponsors: Bureau of Land Management; Friends of Lee Metcalf; GlaxoSmithKline; Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks; Montana Natural History Center; & U.S. Forest Service
JOIN US -- JUNE 2011 -- IN GLASGOW MONTANA!
2010 Wings across the big sky -- highlights
- Keynote Speakers and Addresses
- Field Trips
- Awards
- T shirts -- still available!
- Greening the festival
Keynote SPeakers
Friday Evening. 
Kate Davis. There's an Eagle in the Classroom: Conservation through Education
For the past 22 years and in over 1200 appearances, Kate has provided educational programs with live birds of prey as Director of Raptors of the Rockies. She is now on her second generation of kids that know her birds by name, and adults that have become avid bird enthusiasts. Kate’s impact is wide–ranging, with appearances on television, radio and the web, and with the publication of two books (and another on the way). Kate told great stories about a life surrounded by birds, the wonders they can inspire, and brought three live birds to gawk over!
Saturday Lunch.Dr. Erick Greene. Bird Talk: What are They Saying?
Erick Greene, professor of Biology and Ecology at the University of Montana has conducted research on everything from arctic seabirds, to Galapagos finches to our neighborhood chickadees. Birds communicate much more information to each other than we ever suspected and their early warning systems make it a challenge for hawks and other predators. Erick entertained us with a multi-media presentation on his wealth of bird communication research. Thanks Erick!
Saturday Evening Banquet. Dr. Steve Running. The Latest Science (and Politics) on Global Climate Change.
Steve Running is a Regents Professor of Ecology in the College ofForestry and Conservation at the University of Montana. He serves on the board of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), and along with many other IPCC scientists received the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize for their efforts. In his highly engaging talk, Steve shared emphasized the need to reach the segment of the population that is disengaged from the climate change debate. He spoke convincingly that the scientists have done their job explaining, with graphs and charts, the perils our planet faces unless we take action. And he challenged all 150 Audubon friends in attendance to reduce their own carbon footprint – “drive a hybrid, drive slower, hang out your laundry!” – and work to influence our elected officials so that a sustainable future is possible.
Field Trips
Saturday and Sunday mornings were packed filled with great birding all over western Montana. All told, we found 186 species during the two days of outings. Download the full list >>
Thanks to all our field trip leader volunteers. And a special thanks to Larry Weeks for organizing!
If you want to see who led each trip and where we went go HERE >>
montana audubon awards - 2010
We present the following awards during the festival:
- Lifetime Achievement Award ~ Jim Brown
- Conservationist of the Year ~ Dr. Steve Running
- Educators of the Year ~ Sue Reel and Dick Hutto
- Special Achievement Award - The Bitterroot Chapter for their work with Important Bird Areas
Details and photos and accolades are HERE >>
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T-Shirts
We have new 2010 Wings Across the Big Sky T-shirts this year.
These shirts are natural in color, made of organic cotton and feature the art work of Kate Davis (thanks Kate).
Lots of styles and sizes avialable (Men's Women's and Children's). Order with your registration and we will bring the T-shirts to the festival.
Lots still available!
2009 Bird Festival T-Shirts will continue to be available. These were hugely popular, and we plan a second order to accommodate festival and post-festival requests.
The shirts are natural in color, made of organic cotton and feature the artistry of Bob Petty (thanks Bob!).
Greening the festival
We are committed to carbon neutral and climate-friendly events! We collected data on our carbon emissions/carbon footprint and are creating a plan to offset our emissions.
We encouraged attendees to please....
Carpool to and from the festival and on our field trip.
Bring your own water bottle and coffee mug.
Offset our carbon emissions -- we will do this .... And report back!
Donate to Montana Audubon's Global Warming program so we can help make the changes we need to reduce emissions at home and across the world. Go to our support page HERE >>
2009 festival in great falls
Montana Audubon and the Upper Missouri Breaks Audubon Chapter, together with birders from across the state, came together for our 2009 annual festival in Great Falls. And the rain didn't dampen our spirits a bit!
AWARDS: At our annual 2009 festival we presented four awards:
- George Engler ~ Lifetime Achievement Award
- McKenzie Graye ~ Conservationist of the Year
- Lisa Flowers ~ Educator of the Year
- Richard Mousel ~ Special Achievement Award
Find out why these amazing individuals are deserving of these accolades on the "Annual Awards" section of our website HERE >>
FIELD TRIPS were varied and plentiful, and though the rain may have dampened our opportunities to see birds, it didn't dampen our spirits. And all together we identified over 180 species!
The simple field trip bird list is available HERE >>.
You may be interested
in the details: which birds we saw on which field trip. If so you can download the excel spreadsheet version or the in-depth pdf version.
You can read about where we went HERE >>
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