We just finished up a Beginner Bird Banding class taught by certified instructor from The Institute for Bird Population. This is an intense (too intense for me) week-long course that puts everyone through the paces. They learn everything they need to get a certificate to work under a master bander. This intensive, all-inclusive event is limited to 8 people. We have had this event before, and hope to make it annual. You can learn more; just call Keith at 888.488.4836.
This week is BIG in a small way. Small birds, small groups, big fun! The New River Birding and Nature Festival is a unique event that allows our guests to spend quality time with lots of birds and each other. Yep, bird nerds are social creatures in the right environment, and man, do we have fun.
The New River Birding and Nature Festival is in its 15th year. From the beginning, we have used the proceeds to fund educational programing for the Students and Teachers of Fayette County. Our flagship program is Leadership Fayette County. We also put on a week-long middle school academy and close to a dozen other events throughout the year.
We are very proud to be part of such an OSSUM event that gives so very much back to the community.
See you in mid-May. Till then, look at a bird and smile.
For one week a year we entertain about 100 people a day, feeding them, taking them on birding and nature field trips, showing off our guides’ amazing talents with popcorn talks, evening presentations, and according to the participants, having lots of fun.
The Festival is one of our favorite times of year.
Here at OCR, we know “we” is a big word. The gargantuan “we” that makes this event happen behind the scenes are OSSUM!
From the breakfast at Burnwood in the AM to the lunches in the field (made with love by the early-rising ladies in the deli at Foodland) to the ACE adventures super-safe bus drivers that make it possible to criss-cross the New River Gorge Region as a group. Sharon, Cindy and the staff at the CVB put up with a lot over the course of the year. Pastor Ray Crook and the ladies of the ramps who feed a few lucky trips each year at the Danese Community Center.
Sherri at the NPS patiently reminds me, then re-answers the same questions I had last year as we fill out the National Park Service permit forms.
Spouses and friends all contribute in their own way, from jumping in and volunteering to stitching names on hats or keeping the home fires burning while we immerse ourselves in the week.
The landowners like Dave Ross of Dave’s Exxon who allows us to traipse onto his family’s fields and revel in the unexplainable song of the Bobolink.
I am surely missing some, like a bird I forgot to mention in all the excitement, but they are no less appreciated.
We’ve seen the birds countless times. What is amazing is when one of our guests, world famous authors, or guides sees the birds for the first time. At that moment everyone in the group can feel the wonder, awe and emotion wash over us. “We” all feel the joy.
Tears of joy are far too rare in this world. Those feelings are why we do this event.
Thank you to all our past and future guests. We are honored to share this festival with you.
The New River Birding and Nature Festival just ended, and a good bit of the festival takes place here at OCR. Somewhere between 60-100 people a day get to enjoy our slice of almost heaven during the festival. During this event, people gather to appreciate the beauty and wonder of the New River Gorge.
We do not cook for many groups, but we will if it is the right fit. And this festival is. It’s all about happy people doing fun stuff, learning, and enjoying good food.
Birding By Butt
On Monday morning we got things going in a “back porch” kind of way with “Birding by Butt”.
We spent the day milling around the grounds, watching birds from the comfort of our lawn chairs (hence the name, “Birding by Butt”), in between feedings. This helps everyone get to know each other and settle into the routine of birding, eating, and listening to great presentations.
But you could say that Birding By Butt is a bit of a misnomer, because we do spend some time walking around the 20-some acres of Opossum Creek Retreat.
The day goes something like this:
Examining a Warbler
People start rolling in about 6 AM and we have coffee and drinks ready. We get everyone checked in and give them a name tag and this spiel: “We will be taking walks and getting birds in the scopes and eating and watching Bill Hilton of Project Ruby Throat band a bird or two if we are lucky. There are plenty of chairs for you to bird by butt from, so get comfy and relax for a few minutes before we take a group for a walk.”
Of course everyone is too excited to sit down. They want to “go go go” and they soon hear, “My name is Jim McCormac” or “My name is Mark Garland” and “I will be leading a walk up the road. Who would like to join me?”. The routine of relaxing in the chairs around yard comes slower to some, but before long everyone has settled into the idea of Birding By Butt, just letting the birds come to them.
And they do.
During the rest of the week we come back to OCR after our field trips and have a ‘popcorn talk’. After that we have dinner, then the main attraction for the evening, another speaker or presentation.
It was great to look out the window and see folks sitting in chairs or just walking around looking up into the trees, smiling.
We also hosted the Roads Scholar group on Wednesday and Friday for the “Birding by Butt” routine. Keith and I also led field trips every day of the week (the best part of the week for us).
The New River Birding and Nature Festival is a great way to kick-start us out of winter season; we’d love more events like this to pour ourselves into. There is a price to pay for this much fun and we gladly pay it year after year.
By all accounts, the 10th Annual New River Birding and Nature Festival was the best one yet.
If you have a group you would like us to take care of for a week (or even just a couple of days), give us a call and let’s talk. We might even teach you how to bird by butt.
Around here crocuses and daffodils are among the first spring flowers to emerge and bloom. Neither is native to this land, but both were favorites of the Appalachian residents of long ago including my Grandmother who as a young woman planted them here in her yard. I am sure she watched them as eagerly as I do for the first indication of spring. After they have bloomed, I have learned to watch for the return of the Robins – but even then, winter is not quite finished in Appalachia.
As winter passes and the seasons change, I am reminded of a bit of weather folklore from generations past. Seasonal cold snaps, warm spells, and snow falls have names. The old-timers in the mountains had a number of named snows, including the Robin Snow, the Cabbage Snow, and the Easter Snow.
In the Appalachian Mountains and most of the northeastern U.S. the migrating American Robins return from their wintering grounds in vast flocks, eagerly hunting night crawlers and other favored foods. Robins return just before spring and are almost immediately followed by snowfall. The snow that falls after the first Robin’s song is the Robin Snow. This year the snow fell two days after the Robins’ return.
In the melting Robin Snow my brother Alan captured the image of this easily recognizable leucistic Robin that has returned to his yard year after year.
As for the crocuses and daffodils, being the first to bloom it is inevitable they will hold each of the spring snows. The delicate looking buds and petals are not as threatened by the snows icy touch as they appear. Although I witness it year after year, snow covered petals continue to be an extraordinary sight.
The sun light melts the snow and warms the earth, waking the pollinators who seek out nectar from the early blooming spring flowers; and to the delight of the Robins the night crawlers surface the saturated soils.
The early flowers have bloomed, the Robins have returned, the Robin Snow has fallen, and the long awaited spring season has finally arrived.
The next two snows to watch for in the Appalachian Mountains are the Cabbage Snow which signals the time to start cabbage seeds, and the wet and clinging Easter Snow which some folks refer to as the Fuzzy Snow.
What early signs of spring do you watch for in your neck of the woods?
The most important thing about a birding trip is not the birds. Really.
Here’s why: All kinds of things can influence the birds you see and hear. So let’s focus on stuff that really matters on a field trip: the people.
Some of my favorite folk- Birders!
It’s like soup; too much of one ingredient is boring. I love time alone in the outdoors, to be sure, but being with a group of fellow bird nerds/naturalists when everyone gets a good look at a fun bird? And it’s a lifer for someone in the bunch? And everyone is smiling and giddy? You can’t help but be excited too.
The fun of birding in a group comes mostly from these moments. They’re contagious. People are dancing smiling laughing when they see something that’s -how can I put it- exotic for them. It’s fun to share these moments. Who you’re with is way more important than what you might see.
I’ve been on dozens of field trips under every type of circumstances, from research and banding to formal surveys and counts to paid private guided field trips. And with the most bizarre groups you can imagine. By far the best groups have beginners in them; If you go out with a bunch of really good birders it can get boring real fast. I think it’s because they all know every peep and who made it and why. There’s no give and take about what is going on around you.
Also sometimes I think they are afraid to say anything because they might (heaven forbid) make a mistake. I promise you if you are on a trip with me I will miss ID a bird at some point during the day, every day. And it’s usually something really obvious and easy like last year when I called a chirping Cardinal a Chat (this is a major bird nerd no-no). Everyone looked at me like I had lost my mind, and by that point in the week, I had.
But I’m not a hired gun. No degree. No life list (that’s another story). So maybe it’s okay for me to make mistakes. Personally I like to see the pros make a mistake once in a while it shows they are human too. Perfection is way overrated.
When you have a good field guide, and some beginners, and you mix them in with other levels of interest and experience, it’s more fun. Makes me smile just writing about it.
That's a golfinch in those fingernails.
The most rewarding bird trips for me are when we’re giving back. You don’t have to be a great birder to be a ambassador for nature. You don’t have to be great at anything. “Showing is better than telling” a 4 year old told me, as I was talking too much to a school group I did a bird presentation for. She wanted more action.
I get really excited when out on a field trip and I see a new bird or bug or critter of some kind. Even plants. But when I see someone, young or old, really getting excited about what’s around them, maybe for the first time ever? That’s a wonderful feeling.
The New River Birding and Nature Festival sponsors hands-on learning experiences for local schools. These are the trips that give me the best feelings of all.
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