Ohio Valley Birding Festival
April 21-22 and 25-29, 2012

The Ohio Valley Birding Festival is an Evansville Audubon Society event in partnership with Wesselman Nature Society and John James Audubon State Park featuring guided spring migratory birdwatching hikes in southwestern Indiana and western Kentucky. Areas featured for guided tours include Goose Pond Fish and Wildlife Area; Bluegrass Fish and Wildlife Area; Wesselman Woods Nature Preserve; Eagle Slough Natural Area; John James Audubon State Park; Lincoln State Park; Squaw Creek Mine; Howell Wetlands; Cane Ridge Unit of Patoka River National Wildlife Refuge including Lake Gibson; Oakland City Unit of the Patoka River National Wildlife Refuge: Twin Swamps Nature Preserve; New Harmonie State Park: and a canoe trip to Hovey Lake. A "Big Day" of birding will be offered for the more adventuresome birders.

Also included is Family Day at Wesselman Woods Nature Center where members of the Evansville Audubon Society and Southwest Indiana Master Naturalists present a fun-filled day for the whole family! There are games, hands-on displays, workshops and lots and lots of fun for everyone, featuring over a dozen "birdy" activities that include making binoculars, a scavenger hunt, Bird Olympics, making a bird feeder, and planting seeds that will attract birds to your yard. All Family Day activities are FREE to the public.

Our Key Note speaker for 2012 will be Chuck Mills. Chuck has been an avid birder since the late 1960's. His world list stands at nearly 2000 and he has an ABA (American Birding Association) list of 675. He has birded in all 50 states as well as Panama, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Mexico and 22 other countries around the world. For nearly 20 years, he has monitored the federally-endangered Least Tern population at Cane Ridge in Gibson County. This is only one of two nesting sites for the state of Indiana. He has watched the Least Tern population in Indiana increase from just 2 birds in 1986 to the over 300 that were present in 2011. Chuck is on the board of directors of the Indiana Audubon Society. He has given bird-related talks at numerous schools and organizations.