Birding

15th Annual Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival

November 6, 2011 by Corey 2 Comments

Does anyone have a field guide to the birds of the moon?  Of Mars?  Of anywhere in outer space?  I really wonder what kinds of birds live at such low gravity. They must be very odd indeed. I can’t wait to explore outer space at the 15th Annual Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival from 25-30 January 2012!  Lugging my binoculars, camera, and scope will be no problem in low or no gravity! When I as a kid I wanted to be an astronaut and now I am doing that one better by becoming a birder-astronaut!

Wait, what? I don’t get to go to outer space as part of the 15th Annual Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival?  Is this because they ended the shuttle program?  Well, if I don’t get to go to outer space and see space-birds what the heck am I doing from 25-30 January 2012?

Five Fun Things That Corey Will Be Doing At the 15th Annual Space Coast Birding And Wildlife Festival, 25-30 January, 2012

  1. Seeing Florida Scrub-Jays. Last year Mike had the great pleasure of adding the endemic Florida Scrub-Jay to his life list and I need to catch up.  The festival has several field trips that ought to do the trick!
  2. Listening to any of the four keynote speakers – Richard Crossley, Paul Baicich, James Currie and Victor Emanuel. What a line-up!  And to think I will finally get to meet James Currie – who, of course, blogs here on 10,000 Birds – in person.  It’s about time!
  3. Joining a Florida pelagic trip! I love getting on boats to go looking for birds and this festival has its own pelagic trip to join! Here’s hoping I finally see a Pomarine Jaeger!
  4. Visiting Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge. 140,000 acres and 330 species of bird sounds great to me!  Having never birded Florida before I really have no choice but to visit what is one of Florida’s birding gems.
  5. Checking out any (many?) of the six pages of classroom presentations at the festival.  The number of topics covered is dizzying and the amount of expertise at the festival is mind-boggling.

Oh, this makes missing a trip to outer space not that big of a deal! Scrub-jays! Pelagic trip! Great speakers! Great refuges! Tons of information! I can’t wait!

Are you going to be at Space Coast in January?

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10,000 Birds is a Scrub Jay-level sponsor of the 15th Annual Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival.

Written by Corey
Corey is a New Yorker who lived most of his life in upstate New York but has lived in Queens since 2008. He's only been birding since 2005 but has garnered a respectable life list by birding whenever he wasn't working as a union representative or spending time with his family. He lives in Forest Hills with Daisy and Desmond Shearwater. His bird photographs have appeared on the Today Show, in Birding, Living Bird Magazine, Bird Watcher's Digest, and many other fine publications. He is also the author of the American Birding Association Field Guide to the Birds of New York.