BEN comes to Jekyll

I am catching up on the last couple of fast paced birding weeks. From Sunday February 22 thru Wednesday February 25 The Jekyll Island Club hosted the second National Gathering of the Bird Education Network. It was long hours of sheer educational fun. There were panel discussions,

break out sessions and of course a lot of good birding going on.

One of the big thrills for me was being part of an instructional Bird Ramble. One of my big goals is to reconnect humans to the outdoors. What is the best way to do that? Going outdoors is a good start but there is more to it. And that is what we discussed on these two rambles. The Tuesday morning Ramble was easy as far as finding birds was concerned. High tide had gathered up some pretty neat birds. The main issue was that there were so many birds to watch. How do you balance the interesting birds right in front of you with the understanding the time limitations of the walk?
The Wednesday afternoon Ramble was the opposite. How do you keep the groups interest when the birds are spread out and some are just little brown dots on brown mud? To save us we finished at the amphitheater with large white birds and a Great Horned Owl.

It was a once in a life-time event for me. Yes, I was able to show off my adopted home Jekyll Island but I was being able to rub shoulders with a great group of dedicated teachers. There were so many wonderful people at this gathering. I would like to thank Paul Baicich, Josetta Hawthorne and Geoffry Castro for pulling this together.
For great pictures of this gathering click on this website http://www.flickr.com/photos/35932775@N07/page1/

And a special thanks Paul Baicich, Kenn & Kim Kaufman for helping lead the rambles.

Kenn Kaufman and Paul Baicich are discussing some ideas for improving bird walks.

Kim Kaufman was an inspiration with her insights on how to get young people involved in birding.