Space Coast Birding Fest 2010

Somewhere in a drawer or under a pile of file folders you can, with a little luck, locate your wish list of adventures in Florida you haven’t done yet. Oh, I know you have one. Yep, I’ve got one of those lists too. Pulled it out of a pile of papers on the desk the other day. At the top of the list – attend the Space Coast Birding & Wildlife Festival. Every year I want to go, but something comes up. This year I’m determined to get there. - David McRee from Bookmarklet

"The 13th Annual Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival was my first birding festival. I attended the full week and my daily schedule was packed with classes, field trips, keynote presentations, and daily visits to the exhibit room to meet vendors and meet birders. The whole experience exceeded my expectations." - David McRee from Bookmarklet

"If you are entertaining the idea of buying a new pair of binoculars or a spotting scope, the Space Coast Birding & Wildlife Festival is definitely one of your best opportunities to do so. The advantage to attending the Festival is that you can try out the entire line of binoculars, spotting scopes and all the accessories, and ask questions of the sales staff of all the vendors." - David McRee from Bookmarklet

"There are two really good places to watch gulls: the beach and the dump. On this particular morning during the Space Coast Birding Festival we went to the dump on a field trip led by gull expert extraordinaire Alvaro Jaramillo of Field Guides. I shot this short video during our visit." - David McRee from Bookmarklet

"I met lots of great folks at the 13th Annual Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival. I learned a lot about nature and birds from everyone. I thought it would be fun to introduce you to some of the personalities at the Festival, so I’ve created the short video clip above." - David McRee from Bookmarklet

"One of the main lessons I’ve learned this week at the Birding Festival is that the top birders find birds by hearing them call and by knowing which habitats the birds will frequent. We needed to learn those skills to become better birders." - David McRee from Bookmarklet

"Not all activities at the Space Coast Birding & Wildlife Festival are outdoors. Much of the festival takes place in the Exhibition Center in the Gymnatorium at Brevard Community College. Vendors who serve the birding community showcase what they have to offer." - David McRee from Bookmarklet

"I first met the friendly scrub jays when I went on a camping trip to Oscar Scherer State Park in Sarasota as a kid. These beautiful jays have no fear of humans. Since they are so habitat-specific, few people get to see them. I became reaquainted with this species this morning during a walk through the South Lake Conservation Area in Brevard County during the Space Coast Birding & Wildlife Festival." - David McRee from Bookmarklet

"After our class on gull I.D. at the Space Coast Birding & Wildlife Festival we headed over to the Brevard County Landfill and rode a bus to the top of “Mount Brevard,”" - David McRee from Bookmarklet

I started my Wednesday morning with about 20 gull enthusiasts in a class presented by gull expert Alvaro Jaramillo. He started out with the gulls most of us are familiar with–Herring, Laughing, and Ring-billed–and showed us what to look for when trying to identify a gull. - David McRee from Bookmarklet

"As of today, the 10-day forecast on weather.com for Titusville, Florida looks great. This is a relief after several weeks of sub-Florida temperatures that had most of us huddled indoors in disbelief." - David McRee from Bookmarklet

"This Wednesday is the opening day of the 13th Annual Space Coast Birding & Wildlife Festival in Titusville, Florida. The opening reception, sponsored by Swarovski Optik, is located in the Brevard Community College Gymnatorium from 4 to 6 p.m. Wednesday. You’ll find a room full of birders as well as heavy hors d’oeuvres, wine and soft drinks. Meet friends and have a look around at the Exhibit Center’s more than 70 Festival exhibitors." - David McRee from Bookmarklet

"In a study of birding economics, Paul Kerlinger of the Cape May Bird Observatory noted that in the mid 1980’s birders added an estimated $20 billion to the economy annually. In a Tampa Tribune article about birding, Yvette Hammett references a study released by US Fish & Wildlife showing that birding added $82 billion to the nation’s economy in 2006. That’s a 300 percent increase in 20 years." - David McRee from Bookmarklet

"Are you going to the 13th Annual Space Coast Birding & Wildlife Festival in Titusville the end of this month? If you are, be sure to look for me and say hello! I’ll be attending the whole week and will be blogging and tweeting about my experiences at all the classes and field workshops I signed up for. You can follow me on Twitter at www.twitter.com/beachhunter" - David McRee from Bookmarklet

"Robert Amoruso is offering three photography workshops during the 13th Annual Space Coast Birding & Wildlife Festival. Bird photography will be the focus, but all nature will be fair game. You’ll learn about metering/exposure, composition, designing pleasing backgrounds, equipment handling, photographing birds in flight and more. Most of the instruction will center on using lenses of 400mm focal length or less, though he will cover what can be accomplished with longer focal lengths." - David McRee from Bookmarklet

"The Space Coast Birding & Wildlife Festival is offering water adventures for the birder and nature lover during its week-long festival January 27 – Feb 1, 2010. Boat tours are offered for those who are not inclined to squeeze into a kayak." - David McRee from Bookmarklet

"The North American Gull Conference, to be held this year in conjunction with the 13th Annual Space Coast Birding & Wildlife Festival, will take full advantage of the huge gull population at the Brevard County Landfill by making it the site of a gull identification field workshop. Participants will see thousands of gulls, with the possibility of seeing rare species like the Glaucous Gull, Iceland Gull, Thayer’s Gull, California Gull, and the European Herring Gull." - David McRee from Bookmarklet

"Ritch Grissom Memorial Wetlands at Viera attracts birders from far and wide. If you’d like to visit, it will be the location of a field trip during the Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival coming up in January 2010. When: Jan 27, 29, 30, 31; 6 a.m. till noon." - David McRee from Bookmarklet