2023 Leelanau BirdFest 

Field Trips

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DeYoung Natural Area – Leader, Greg Nobles
Charter Sanctuary – Leader, Jim Kartsimas
Piping Plover and Prairie Warbler – Leader, Dave Dister 
Popp Road Ponds and Bodus Road Fields - Leader, Brian Allen
Leelanau State Park – Leader, Brian Allen
Native Plant Guided Walk – Leader, Mike Berst

Activities

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All activities take place at the Saving Birds Thru Habitat Discovery Center, 5020 N. Putnam Rd., Omena, Michigan

Thursday, May 18th

2:00 PM to 6:00 PM: Registration Opens/Packet Pickup
Packet Pickup at Habitat Discovery Center / Packets include directions to each starting location, identification badges, and much more.

After Dinner: Bird Trivia, with Kirk Waterstripe Form a team and test your knowledge of bird identification, bird biology, names and distributions, and birds in culture. 

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Friday, May 19th

8:00 AM – 12:00 PM: Packet Pickup at Habitat Discovery Center

8:00 AM: DeYoung Natural Area – Leader, Greg Nobles
Starting Location: DeYoung Natural Area, 9509 East Cherry Bend Road, Traverse City, MI. Park on the east (barn) side of the road.

8:00 AM: Charter Sanctuary – Leader, Jim Kartsimas
Starting Location: Meet at Habitat Discovery Center, 5020 N. Putnam Road, Omena, MI. Will visit a property privately managed for bird habitat to see Soras, Common Yellowthroats, Yellow Warblers, and Eastern Kingbird.

1:00 PM: Piping Plover and Prairie Warbler – Leader Dave Dister
Starting Location: Meet at the Sleeping Bear Coast Guard Station Maritime Museum just west of Glen Haven. The leader will lead the group to Piping Plovers and adjacent wooded trails. Other birds expected include Semipalmated Plovers, Gulls, and Terns, plus migrant Warblers. The second half of the trip will be a hike to see Prairie Warblers. The location is about seven miles further south. Other birds expected in the open country shrubby dunes include Brown Thrasher, Gray Catbird, Field Sparrow, Vesper Sparrow, etc.

1:00 PM:  Native Plant Guided Walk – Leader, Mike Berst
Starting Location: Meet at Habitat Discovery Center, 5020 N. Putnam Road, Omena, MI.  Check out the native plants there with Leader, Mike Berst, and then drive the half mile to his house to see a yard completely covered with native plants.

Husband and wife team, Mike Berst and Kathie Albright, have been propagating and cultivating native plants on their property in Omena for 10 years.  Each year over 200 native plant species bloom in their yard.  On the guided walk through the property, you can learn how they identified the native species that showed up once they had eliminated the lawn and exotic plants, and about the native plants they added.  Their yard now supports a wide variety of pollinators, butterflies, moths, amphibians, and nesting birds.

5:30 PM:  Buffet Dinner (dinner starts at 6:00 PM)

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Saturday, May 20th

8:00 AM: Leelanau State Park – Leader, Brian Allen
Starting Location: Meet at the Leelanau State Park (the park opens then). There is an entrance fee.  Will bird the roadways in the campsite as well as the area around the lighthouse as this can be an exceptional migrant trap for Warblers, Tanagers, Thrushes, Orioles, and Grosbeaks.  Time permitting, may continue to Lighthouse West Natural Area for trail birding and more migrants.

8:00 AM: DeYoung Natural Area – Leader, Greg Nobles
Starting Location: DeYoung Natural Area, 9509 East Cherry Bend Road, Traverse City, MI. Park on the east (barn) side of the road.

8:00 AM: Charter Sanctuary – Leader, Jim Kartsimas
Starting Location: Meet at the Habitat Discovery Center, 5020 N. Putnam Road, Omena, MI. Will visit a property privately managed for bird habitat to see Soras, Common Yellowthroats, Yellow Warblers, and Eastern Kingbird.

1:00 PM: Piping Plover and Prairie Warbler – Leader Dave Dister
Starting Location: Meet at the Sleeping Bear Coast Guard Station Maritime Museum just west of Glen Haven. The leader will lead the group to Piping Plovers and adjacent wooded trails. Other birds expected include Semipalmated Plovers, Gulls, and Terns, plus migrant Warblers. The second half of the trip will be a hike to see Prairie Warblers. The location is about seven miles further south. Other birds expected in the open country shrubby dunes include Brown Thrasher, Gray Catbird, Field Sparrow, Vesper Sparrow, etc.

1:00 PM:  Native Plant Guided Walk – Leader, Mike Berst
Starting Location: Meet at Habitat Discovery Center, 5020 N. Putnam Road, Omena, MI.  Check out the native plants there with Leader, Mike Berst, and then drive the half mile to his house to see a yard completely covered with native plants.

Husband and wife team, Mike Berst and Kathie Albright have been propagating and cultivating native plants on their property in Omena for 10 years.  Each year over 200 native plant species bloom in their yard.  On the guided walk through the property, you can learn how they identified the native species that showed up once they had eliminated the lawn and exotic plants, and about the native plants they added.  Their yard now supports a wide variety of pollinators, butterflies, moths, amphibians, and nesting birds.

5:30 PM: Buffet Dinner Dinner starts at 6:00 PM

7:00 PM: Presentation by Dr. Daniel Klem, Jr.,  author of Solid Air. Dr. Klem is the world’s leading expert on birds crashing into windows. He has studied the issue for 50 years. 

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Sunday, May 21st

9:00 AM: Native Plant Presentation, by Brian Zimmerman, at Habitat Discovery Center.
Coffee and breakfast rolls will be available.