Speakers and Guests
Friday Night Keynote: Ted Floyd
Viva la Revolucion! Birding and Nature Study in the Digital Era
With the advent of digital photography, crowd-sourced databases like eBird, AI-based apps for bird ID, and other technologies, birding and nature study have undergone profound change in the past two decades. The pace of change, rather than slowing down or stabilizing is, if anything, accelerating. In this spirited and informative presentation, Ted Floyd takes a look at how we got to where we are today—and gazes into his crystal ball for a peek at the future.
Thursday Night Presentation: Alex Harper
Birds of the Mojave Desert
The Mojave Desert is just one of four distinct deserts in North America. Unique climatic and geographical factors have helped to set this desert apart from the Sonoran, Chihuahuan and Great Basin Deserts and influence the animals and plants diversity that we find in the Mojave. Take a closer look at the biogeography of the desert of the Joshua Trees, with a focus on the bird life found throughout the year and various plant communities that make up the Mojave Desert. We will explore how birds migrate, feed, winter and breed in this landscape.
The Thursday night presentation and social is open to all festival registrants.
Saturday Evening Presentation: Martin Tyner
Birds of Prey of the West
This program will present the differences between, hawks, falcons, eagles, vultures and owls through fun stories using beautiful photographs taken by Martin. The presentation will include several live raptors including his prairie falcon “Cirrus” or “Piper”, “Belle” the Harris Hawk, and “Scout” the golden eagle.
The Saturday evening presentation will be open to the general public as a way to help introduce birding to the widest possible audience.
Featured Photographer: Brady Iverson
