Wednesday, Oct. 5, 6-8pm

Delta Hall at 5 Rivers Delta Resource Center

FREE with paid BirdFest registration

Kick off the 2011 Alabama Coastal BirdFest at the pre-BirdFest Orientation/Reception with the delightful presentation “Nature Through Our Lenses.” Kathy Hicks, the Birdfest 2009 featured artist, presents a musical slideshow of nature photos taken by the area’s finest photographers. Images donated to this presentation include those taken by this year’s poster artist, Sherry Stimpson Frost, Birdfest founding father John L. Borom, and former Birdfest artists, Bill Summerour, Terry Hartley, Kathy Hicks and Lisa Comer. In addition, the presentation will include outstanding images from members of our local camera clubs, including Mobile’s Camera South, the Eastern Shore Camera Club, and Pensacola’s Wide Angle Photo Club.  Join us for this exquisite photographic journey and witness the rich natural environment we enjoy along the Alabama Gulf Coast.

Friday, Oct. 8, 5:30-9pm

St. Lawrence Catholic Church, Fairhope (new location!)

Fee: $35 (includes seafood & BBQ dinner, beer/wine/soft drinks, dessert & coffee) 

Join us in the Fellowship Hall at St. Lawrence Catholic Church in Fairhope for our Friday night social with great southern-style seafood and BBQ, a silent auction, and a fascinating program by one of BirdFest’s favorite guides, Eric Soehren. Eric attended Jacksonville State University in Alabama for both his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Biology. He has been a Zoologist with the Alabama Dept. of Conservation and Natural Resource’s State Lands Division since 1997 and now manages the Elhew Field Station located on the Wehle Forever Wild Tract near Midway, Alabama. Some of his responsibilities include conducting field surveys for rare and poorly known faunal species, performing numerous non-game monitoring and research projects, and coordinating conservation outreach at the Wehle Center. Most of his fieldwork is performed on conservation lands acquired through Alabama’s Forever Wild Land Trust Program.

Eric’s expertise focuses on birds; he currently serves as President of the Alabama Ornithological Society, is a state coordinator for the USGS Breeding Bird Survey, holds a Master Permit to band birds through the USGS Bird Banding Lab, is a Board of Director for the Inland Bird Banding Association, and assists with a migration banding station at Whigg Meadow, Tennessee in the Cherokee National Forest. He also instructs an annual bird identification workshop for professionals and researchers focusing on the recognition of songs and calls of southeastern breeding birds. His program Friday night will highlight the great diversity of birds found on the Alabama Gulf Coast. He will also speak about the work being done in Alabama to benefit rare and declining bird species.