Off to the White Continent...

From--Home Base (for a few more minutes): Kim writes: Well, folks, this is it. Kenn and I are on our way out the door, onto a plane, and off on the adventure of a lifetime--ANTARCTICA! I got two words for ya ~
BABY PENGUINS! woooo--hoooo!!!!

We'll make every attempt to stay in touch during the trip, but just in case we can't, my techno-savvy husband has some surprises lined up for readers of this blog that you will not want to miss--so keep checking in!

Here's a link to our trip itinerary, so you can at least "follow along" if you'd like.
http://ventbird.com/system/tour_departure/legacy_itinerary/904/509AN.pdf

And here's a link the the trip writeup from the Victor Emanuel Nature Tours website to give you an idea of what this trip will be like:
http://ventbird.com/birding-tour/2009/01/05/antarctica-south-georgia-the-falklands

We wish you all the happiest, healthiest, birdiest New Year, and look forward to sharing it with you!

I am soooo excited! I can't wait to tell you all about it!

Wish us luck---and a buoyant boat!

~Kim

The Days Are Just Packed

American Oystercatchers on the beach at Jekyll Island, Georgia

From Jekyll Island, Georgia, Kenn and Kim write: Okay, we admit, we stole that title from an old Calvin and Hobbes collection. But it totally applies to our current situation. Ever since we arrived at the Bird Education Network conference on Sunday -- or, actually, ever since we left home to go judge the Ohio Wetlands Conservation Stamp contest early Saturday morning -- we’ve hardly had time to blink, let alone attend to luxuries like blogging or sleeping.

By a most amazing coincidence, on our early morning flight out of Columbus on Sunday, we wound up sitting right next to our dear friend (and wonderful artist / author / blogger) Julie Zickefoose. She was headed to Honduras, we to Georgia, and fortunate fate put us not only on the same flight but even in the same seat row. We talked about birds and families and writing and music, and never has a three-hour plane flight passed so quickly. Here at the conference we managed to sit down and have dinner with another respected leader of the bird blog community, John Riutta of Born Again Bird Watcher. But most of our time here has been a whirlwind of activity.

We gave a keynote talk together at the opening of the conference ("Working Toward a Bird-Literate Society"), we co-led two lengthy field sessions and a short morning field trip together, and each of us spoke independently at other indoor sessions (Kim on promoting birding activities for teenagers, Kenn on birders and the National Wildlife Refuge System). But there have been many other speakers and we’ve had conversations with dozens of dynamic leaders in the whole field of educating students, and the public, about birds and bird conservation. The amount of energy here is amazing, the networking that’s going on here is phenomenal, and the results of this conference should have wide-ranging positive effects all over North America and beyond. After we get all our notes sorted out, we'll have a huge selection of new ideas to try out in our own work.

And eventually, maybe, we’ll get caught up on sleep!

Georgia Geography

From home base in Ohio, Kenn writes: It just occurred to us that we should ward off any potential confusion caused by the popularity of the name "Georgia" in geographic terms. We're in the process of posting, gradually, about our recent Antarctic trip, and one huge highlight of that trip was our four-day visit to South Georgia Island. But we're about to have a four-day visit to an island in south Georgia -- or I should say, in southern coastal Georgia. And these are two different places.

South Georgia Island is beautiful, rugged, and remote, isolated in the far South Atlantic at the edge of the Antarctic region. We didn't see anyone there except a couple of British researchers and the other passengers on our ship. The island that we're visiting next week is also beautiful, but not so rugged or remote. It's Jekyll Island, Georgia, and we're going there for the conference of the Bird Education Network. We'll be seeing lots of people there, lots of our friends and colleagues and co-workers, people who are passionately committed to teaching the public about birds and conservation. Kim and I will be giving a keynote talk together at the conference and helping to lead instructional field trips, and each of us will be taking part in panel discussions. We hope to learn new approaches, share ideas, and come back with even more energy for educational work.

With luck we'll have time to post from there (as well as continuing our Antarctic series). But for a preview of what Jekyll Island is like, visit Lydia Thompson's blog. Lydia is an expert birder and a wonderful artist, and she has done more than anyone to raise awareness of the spectacular bird habitat on Jekyll Island and elsewhere along the Georgia coast.