Birding Trail Update

[BeaverIslandAssociation]

Thanks to the island community and businesses, the 2015 Warblers on the Water event was a great success. The Beaver Island Birding Trail, used for the event on Memorial Day weekend, was designed for birders to enjoy the island's natural bounty year round. One hundred sixteen bird species were documented over the weekend and placed on Cornell University's eBird website. Last year's top bird was a migrating Kirkland Warbler found at Gull Harbor. This year's big observation was over 200 Whimbrels (a type of shorebird) flying north to nesting grounds. Here are a few comments chosen to help capture excitement and enthusiasm about the event.

â??I will be spreading the word and certainly plan to be back in future years. Wish we could have stayed longer. â?￾

â??I had a wonderful time, and I saw nothing but smiling faces among the other birders. I met a number of fantastic people.â?￾

â??When I was at Gull Harbor I heard a Black-and-white Warbler singing and found it perched on a dead stub. I got the bird in the scope and called to have some of the people take a look. Two couples were there and when one fellow's wife saw it she called out to her husband and the other couple, "Ooh you've got to see this, what a cool bird!" and they all scrambled over to see it like fourth graders on a field trip. I really enjoy it when you can get 40 to 80 year-olds excited by something new!â?￾

For more information about the Beaver Island Birding Trail visit www.beaverislandbirdingtrail.org . For more information about Cornell Universityâ??s eBird real time bird reporting website visit ebird.org/content/ebird/about/ .