April 5–7, 2019
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ackinaw MRAPTOR FEST AprilApril 55––7,7, 20192019 www.MackinawRaptorFest.org 1 Welcome to the Mackinaw Raptor Fest Welcome to the fourth annual Mackinaw Raptor Fest, offered by the Mackinac Straits Raptor Watch (MSRW). This boutique event attracts both repeat attendees and newcomers. Timed to offer you a chance to see Red-tailed Hawks, Rough-legged Hawks and Golden Eagles during spring migration, the Fest also lets you share the company of other birders and learn about raptors and water birds from exceptional presenters and interpreters. Through your attendance, volunteering, and generous donations, you have enabled MSRW to celebrate its fifth MACKINAC STRAITS RAPTOR WATCH BOARD anniversary. Since 2014, our bird migration research OF DIRECTORS, L-R: STEVE BAKER, DAVE has expanded to embrace hawks, owls, and waterbirds MAYBERRY, JOSH HAAS, JACKIE PILETTE, during both spring and fall migration. Volunteer or KATHY BRICKER, STEVE WAGNER, ED PIKE contracted raptor naturalists greet people and teach NOT PICTURED: BERT EBBERS, MELISSA them about birds at the Hawk Watch. HANSEN, JOANN LEAL, SUE STEWART Starting in 2016, education increased through launching the Mackinaw Raptor Fest, giving dozens of talks and exhibits around Michigan, and earning What is ? more media and on-line coverage. To promote conservation of needed habitat, MSRW submitted data to key decision-makers about the importance of Mackinac Straits Raptor Watch supports the Straits to waterbirds and other migrants. In late the conservation of habitat for migrating 2018, Executive Director Richard Couse joined MSRW birds of prey and waterbirds in the Straits of to enable even more successes. Mackinac region. It: As MSRW launches into its sixth year of 2019, we thank Conducts research to quantify the species you for your support. diversity and abundance of raptors and waterbirds migrating through the Straits Enjoy the 2019 Mackinaw Raptor Fest! of Mackinac, and to document changes in migration patterns over time. Provides educational opportunities for people of all ages to increase understanding On the cover: of raptor and waterbird migration, and The 2019 Mackinaw Raptor Fest logo the special significance of the Straits and features a photograph by Keynote the natural resources surrounding it for Speaker, Todd Katzner. He explains: migrating birds. “This Golden Eagle was captured, tagged, and released in 2006 near Supports the conservation and stewardship the Allegheny Front Hawkwatch, of the natural resources in the Straits region near Central City, Pennsylvania. We to optimize the size, location, suitability, tracked that eagle for a couple of years and learned and sustainability of stop-over habitat for that it summered in Quebec and wintered in the central raptors and waterbirds. Appalachians of Pennsylvania and West Virginia.” 2 www.mackinacraptorwatch.org Thank you to all! Fest Mission It is my great pleasure to welcome back this awesome event. Mackinaw City, one of the major flyways for migrating raptors, Provide an entertaining and is very fortunate to have this dedicated group of people who educational showcase to promote devote so much time and effort into this enterprise. This public awareness and knowledge being the fourth annual Raptor Fest, we as a community feel of raptors and waterbirds and the proud that this event attracts so many birders and others who significance of Mackinaw City and are curious about the nature of these migrations. We have the Straits of Mackinac during witnessed over the years that this event has taken place, a growing attendance and influx of new visitors from far and migration. wide. We thank all who attend and hope you enjoy your stay in our beautiful village. We look forward to hearing about the Promote positive public attitudes success of your watch and count. towards raptors and waterbirds Scott P. Newman, Village President and their importance to the Mackinaw City, Michigan environment. Become an internationally renowned annual festival that will generate ongoing ecotourism revenue for the Straits area and sponsorship for research on raptors. Come Visit Petoskey Too! The Petoskey Area is just 45 minutes from Mackinaw City and Raptor Fest. We invite guests to come explore Petoskey, Harbor Springs, Boyne City, Alanson and Bay Harbor either before or after experiencing this enlightening event. Keep in mind that the Sunset Coast Birding Trail includes our area and this is a paradise for birders year ‘round. PHOTO BY STEVE BAKER Visit www.PetoskeyArea.com for more information. Why So Many Hawks in Mackinaw City? Mackinac VS Mackinaw? Every Spring and Fall, thousands of hawks, eagles, and vultures Visitors to the Straits area wonder why this funnel into the Straits of Mackinac, concentrated until conditions name has two spellings. The French occupied are right to continue migration across the narrowest stretch of this region first and spelled it Mackinac, water between the Upper and Lower Peninsulas. To save energy, pronounced as Mackinaw. The British daytime raptors often soar on rising air currents to gain altitude. who followed spelled the name the way it Called kettles, these formations contain dozens, hundreds, or even sounded. Over time the city retained the “aw” thousands of birds, spiraling upward until the birds disappear from spelling while the bridge, straits, island, and sight. Those higher up strike out across the three-mile-wide Straits the county containing St. Ignace clung to the of Mackinac. Some hawks make it in only one try. Those who fail “ac” spelling. So, the Mackinac Straits Raptor will return to try again later the same day or on future days. Watch sponsors the Mackinaw Raptor Fest. 3 2019 Programs SATURDAY, APRIL 6 9:00 AM Plenary Session: “Conservation of Raptors and Michigan’s Natural Features Inventory Program” BY DAVID CUTHRELL The Michigan Natural Features Inventory has been generating and disseminating the highest quality scientific information on the location and condition of rare species for more than 35 years. David will provide an overview of the Program and its Biotics Conservation Database. This database, approaching 20,000 records, is used by many entities in the conservation of rare species, including rare raptors. 10:15 AM Breakout Session Choices: the camera. Josh Haas will share some of his favorite “Science of Lead Poisoning of Raptors” techniques for capturing inspiring images of hawks in BY TODD KATZNER flight and getting around tracking and focus issues. Lead is a poisonous metal present in a variety of He will share his favorite spots for the best photo commercial products, as a pollutant from industrial opportunities and tell how to prepare for your days of activities, and as an environmental contaminant in many photographing hawks. urban and rural habitats throughout the world. When ingested or inhaled, the body "mistakes" lead for calcium “Osprey Migration Across the and other beneficial metals, and thus transports lead into nerve cells and other vital tissues. Mankind has long known Americas” BY MARK MARTELL about lead as an agent of sickness and death. But recent Ospreys, with their worldwide distribution, large size, medical studies show harmful effects at unexpectedly and long migratory flights have been studied throughout low levels of exposure, including impairment of cognitive all phases of their life cycle. From northern nesting function and physical growth in children. grounds, along well-established migration corridors, to tropical wintering areas, they have adapted to a variety “Movement Ecology of Bald Eagles in of climates, geography, and human disturbance. Ospreys have been counted at raptor watch sites, tracked with the Midwest” BY TRISH MILLER satellite telemetry, and observed for countless hours. Bald Eagles are often found along the waterwaysof the Such research reveals how Ospreys recovered from near Midwest throughout the year. However, an increasing extinction to become one of the most widespread – number are nesting and wintering in upland areas, and in some places common – raptors, through taking where they are exposed to wind energy, electrocution, advantage of environments modified by humans. lead poisoning, and collisions with vehicles. To better understand how eagles use the Midwest and to conserve “Why Are We Here?: The Migratory this iconic species, Dr. Miller and colleagues tracked 71 Bald Eagles with telemetry. Learn about their findings Mindset of MSRW” BY RICHARD COUSE and efforts to conserve Bald Eagles in this fragmented This talk gives an overview of MSRW’s organizational landscape. history and research findings over the years. Rich will describe educational public outreach as well, through “Raptors in Flight: Photography Tips” people viewing the research sites in Cheboygan, BY JOSH HAAS Mackinaw City, and St. Ignace. He will summarize past Mackinaw Raptor Fests for those who did not attend Hawks in flight pose big challenges to aspiring bird them. The program will also allow attendees to provide photographers. Tricky lighting and erratic raptors input and reactions on possible future research, often seem like they want nothing more than to avoid education, and conservation work. 4 11:15 AM Breakout Session Choices: “Twenty Years of Recovering “Snowy Owls and Project California Condors – What To Do SNOWstorm” With What We’ve Learned About BY MICHAEL LANZONE Some Snowy Owls remain on the northern breeding Lead in the Environment” grounds or actually move onto the Arctic sea ice, hunting BY CHRIS N. PARISH in perpetual winter darkness. Others, sometimes in Humans narrowly averted the extinction of North America’s large numbers, migrate south in a phenomenon called largest flying land-bird. The trials and tribulations of an irruption. In the mega-irruption of 2013, Snowy Owls condors offer landscape-scale insights into an ever- were seen as far south as Florida and Bermuda. Most changing arena of anthropogenic forcings. Since lead people assume that hunger has driven these owls south, poisoning remains the single greatest threat to condors, and that the birds will starve to death in unfamiliar the North American Non-Lead Partnership benefits them landscapes.