We hope you’ll join us in May for Great Birding on A Great Lake!
By WSO Convention Organizers
Come join us for WSO’s annual convention on May 17-19 in Two Rivers at the Lighthouse Inn and Conference Center right on Lake Michigan. Convention registration will run from March 1 to April 25. More information is available on the WSO website at https://wsobirds.org/what-we-do/annual-convention. Online registration is available directly at https://wso.wildapricot.org/event-5621629.
For early birds, we are excited to offer a Birds & Beers Social and Bird Trivia Contest, complete with complimentary appetizers and trivia prizes, at a local brew pub on the evening of Thursday the 16th. Take advantage of this bonus birding time and come have fun with your fellow bird nerds!
Thursday and Friday you can bird on your own or connect with friends found at Birds & Beers. Field Trip organizer Joel Trick is providing information on local hotspots for birding at peak time. Also, Woodland Dunes Nature Center and Preserve is celebrating its 50th anniversary and will be offering guided hikes and other programs.
Check-in for the convention and field trip sign-ups will begin on Friday at 3 pm. A cocktail social and dinner buffet will follow at 5:30 pm. Starting at 7 pm, WSO will hold its annual awards ceremony.
On Saturday morning, a variety of field trips to local birding hotspots will leave from the Lighthouse Inn at staggered times. Beginning at 1:15 pm, convention goers will enjoy learning presentations, followed at 3:30 pm by the annual member meeting.
Social hour starts at 5 pm and bidding continues on a silent auction with one-of-a-kind travel and learning experiences. A banquet dinner follows at 6:30 pm. This year’s keynote speaker, Dr. Ben Zuckerberg, will begin at 7:30 pm. Zuckerberg, whose UW lab has found overwhelming evidence that wildlife populations are responding to modern climate change, will discuss how birds are responding to a warming world, including some Atlas data.
More field trips will be offered on Sunday morning for locations that proved most exciting on Saturday. Amar Ayyash will also be at the Manitowoc Impoundment and possibly elsewhere along the lakeshore helping everyone apply the skills he presented on Saturday about gull identification.
We look forward to seeing you there!
