Chandler S. Robbins Keynote Address 2023
The Chandler S. Robbins Friday Keynote address will be about Cerulean Warblers presented by Katie Fallon.
Friday, May 19, 7:00 pm – Saving the Cerulean Warbler
Katie Fallon, Author of Cerulean Blues: A Personal Search for a Vanishing Songbird and Executive Director of the Avian Conservation Center of Appalachia
The Cerulean Warbler is the fastest-declining Neotropical migrant songbird, losing almost 3% of its population per year since 1966. In addition to sharing tips for finding and identifying Cerulean Warblers while birding, this presentation will discuss the challenges these beautiful birds face during the breeding and non-breeding seasons. How do Cerulean Warblers attract mates? Who builds the nest, and how do they choose a nest location? How many young do they have, and how do they raise them? Once Cerulean Warblers leave North America at the end of the breeding season, where do they go? And what might they encounter along the way? Find out why your morning cup of coffee is important to Cerulean Warbler conservation, and learn ways that you can help save migratory songbirds.
Katie Fallon is the author of the nonfiction books Vulture: The Private Life of an Unloved Bird (2020, 2017) and Cerulean Blues: A Personal Search for a Vanishing Songbird (2011), as well as two books for children. She is Executive Director of the Avian Conservation Center of Appalachia, a nonprofit organization dedicated to conserving the region’s wild birds through research, education, and rehabilitation, and has served as President of the Mountaineer Chapter of the National Audubon Society. A member of the International Association of Avian Trainers and Educators, Katie has worked with birds since 1998; over the last twenty years she has given educational presentations featuring live raptors, vultures, parrots, and corvids. She is also a columnist for Bird Watcher’s Digest and has taught writing at West Virginia University, Virginia Tech, and elsewhere. Her first word was “bird.” For more: www.katiefallon.com.
Chandler S. Robbins (July 17, 1918 – March 20, 2017)
For more than 60 years, Chandler S. Robbins was both preeminent in Howard County bird research and a mentor to the birding community. For more complete information, see Chandler S. Robbins.