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"Pride in the Name of Birding"
Kenn's,
Pride in the Name of Birding,
presentation is brand new and has only been seen
once; the sold-out audience gave Kenn a standing
ovation for this hilarious presentation that
delivers a very powerful message! We highly
recommend NOT missing this one!
 Friday,
May 7 &
Sunday, May 16
At
Ottawa NWR Visitor Center
7:00 p.m.
Fee: $10
Registration required.
If you’re reading this, you probably know
already that birding is exciting, fun,
challenging, endlessly rewarding, and cool. But
you may have noticed that the general public
thinks of birding in terms that are exactly the
opposite.
As a rabid kid birder, Kenn learned to ignore
that public image. But now he has a new
suggestion: don’t just ignore that negative
image, challenge it! This isn’t just a matter
of self-esteem. We live in an age when birds
and their habitats need all the friends they can
get. And many people won’t take up birding
because they’re scared away by that dorky
stereotype. To build support for the survival
of birdlife, it’s time to exercise Birder
Pride.
We have good reason to be proud. Did you know
that Alexander the Great, Cleopatra, Socrates,
and Napoleon were all birders? That Marco Polo,
Robert Frost, and Lewis and Clark were all
birders? Did you know that birding played a
role in the development of mathematics,
philosophy, computer science, and rock & roll?
Come along on Kenn’s fast-paced review of the
world according to birders, and he promises that
you’ll end up with a new sense of pride in our
birding heritage.
“Patterns of Bird Migration in North America”
Tuesday, May 11
7:00 p.m.
At
OurGuest Inn & Suites, Port Clinton
Fee: $10
Registration required.
We can’t help being fascinated by the phenomenon
of migration – in fact, that migration is the
reason we’re all here at this season, and the
migration is what makes the Biggest Week so
big. But where are all those birds coming from,
and where are they going? The answer is
surprisingly complicated. We may think of birds
as going north in spring and south in fall, but
there are hardly any birds that follow such a
simple pattern.
In fact, there is some bird migration going on
in North America practically every day of the
year, and some birds are traveling in every
direction imaginable. In this program, richly
illustrated with maps and pictures, Kenn will
unravel some of the most interesting and unusual
patterns of migration on (and off) this
continent, to explain where the birds are going,
when, and even why they undertake
such strange travels.
“Birds and the Undiscovered World”
 Sunday,
May 9
Saturday, May 15
At OurGuest Inn &
Suites,
Port Clinton
7:00 p.m.
Fee: $10
Registration required.
In this modern age, with so much information
available at our fingertips, we may tend to
assume that everything of importance has been
discovered already. But that’s just an
illusion: we are surrounded by mysteries on all
sides. The unknown and undiscovered world
begins on our doorsteps and extends out to the
horizon.
Kenn won’t claim that he can tell you all about
the undiscovered world – because, of course, it
hasn’t been discovered yet! So instead, he’ll
share a story about a small boy (with the
initials K.K.) who had a fascination with the
voyages of Christopher Columbus, with the world
of birds, and with the idea of exploration.
Weaving the events of 1492 together with the
state of the world in 2010, Kenn will show how
discovery and mystery and the unknown will
always be an essential part of the excitement of
birding.
“Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Sparrow”
 Wednesday,
May 12
At
Ottawa NWR Visitor Center
7:00 p.m.
Fee: $10
Registration required.
It’s the biggest week for warblers – do you
know where your sparrows are? Or do you care?
Sparrows are the poor relations of the songbird
world, never getting the respect or the
attention that’s lavished on warblers, tanagers,
orioles, or other more colorful creatures. But
Kenn Kaufman likes sparrows, and he thinks that
you should like them too, and in this program he
will give you thirteen good reasons.
Don’t expect this to be a strictly
ornithological program. To give the sparrows
their due, Kenn will delve into symbolism,
music, poetry, the rise of civilization, the
development of language, the themes of
extinction and resurrection and survival, the
changing roles of women in research, bizarre
scientific questions involving dirt-common
birds, and the value of everyday mysteries. By
the end, you’ll realize that the big challenge
was limiting our viewpoints to a mere thirteen.
“Audubon’s Warblers: Personal Connections to
Elusive Birds”
 Thursday,
May 13
At OurGuest Inn &
Suites,
Port Clinton
7:00 p.m.
Fee: $10
Registration required.
Pioneer artist and ornithologist John James
Audubon was known for his flamboyant style,
producing bird paintings that were wildly
exciting and colorful. But his paintings of
warblers – well, they were deadly dull, and his
writings about warblers revealed that he didn’t
know what he was talking about. He
misidentified warblers all the time, failed to
recognize them for what they were, and
repeatedly claimed to have discovered new
warblers that really weren’t new. So what was
Audubon’s problem?
As an Audubon fan who now lives in the Warbler
Capital of the World, Kenn was bothered by this
blot on the great artist’s record, so he went in
search of understanding. In this program, Kenn
describes how Audubon’s warblers reveal things
about birds and human nature, triumph and
failure, love and loss, and the magical place
that was the young America two hundred years
ago.
“Wings of the Imagination: Why We Need Birds”
 Monday,
May 10 &
Friday, May 14
At
Ottawa NWR Visitor Center
7:00 p.m.
Fee: $10
Registration required.
If you’re caught in the grip of a birding
addiction, how do you explain that to someone
you love – or to yourself? How do you make the
lure of bird watching understandable to someone
who has never tried it? How can you explain to
someone why we really need birds? No,
Kenn doesn’t have the answers to these
questions, either. But in this wide-ranging and
thought-provoking program, he calls on a host of
his unusual birding pals – bikers, spies,
musicians, monks, gourmet chefs, polar
explorers, and more – to help him look at the
questions, and at the birds themselves, from a
series of brand-new angles. Even if we don’t
get to the actual answer to the original
question, we’ll have interesting detours through
stories about deadly chickadees, tasty
hornworms, idiotic courtship behaviors, and the
magic and mystery that we need in our lives.
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