GO BIRD! Providence opening dinner

Well, the opening day of GO BIRD! Providence is complete.  Registration was mostly seamless (mostly), and all enjoyed the decor of the Rotunda at the Crowne Plaza Providence/Warwick.  Cocktail hour showed many people rekindling friendships and sharing memories from past ABA events, and hypothesizing about weather conditions and what birds they might see when field trips begin in the morning.

Dinner was an amazing buffet and there was plenty to eat for all. After dinner, Field Trip Coordinator Mike Tucker thrilled us with some of his sightings over the last three days on Block Island.  I can't wait!  Cory's Shearwaters, here I come!

The talk tonight was by ABA's own Gulf oil spill correspondent and conservation coordinator, Drew Wheelan.  Drew is from right down the road in Narragansett, RI so it was a great pleasure to meet, not only him, but his parents as well.  They must be incredibly proud of their boy, just as all of us at ABA are.  Its hard to make a talk like Drew's funny or entertaining, but Drew kept us on the edge of our seats with amazing photos and stories from his 3 months on the ground on the Gulf coast.  Its amazing to me how people could say the oil is all gone when I've now seen recent photos that say otherwise.  And the people that ABA has raised money to help are plugging along with their work.  There will be years of studies to assess the true long term impacts of the Deepwater Horizon spill.  ABA is still collecting money to send to the Gulf states.  Their work is far from over!

Well, the alarm clock will ring fairly early for field trips tomorrow so I better sign off.  Look for updates on the birds we have seen each day over the next four days.  Happy birding… and blogging.

Chip Clouse
Education & Outreach Director
Birders' Exchange Coordinator
American Birding Association