Biggest Week in American Birding

In this presentation, Mark Shieldcastle, Research Director at Black Swamp Bird Observatory, and one of North America’s leading authorities on passerine migration, delved into the science that makes bird migration so intriguing, and explored the seemingly magical way that these feathered marvels move through our universe. Mark has been studying migration in the Lake Erie Marsh Region for more than 30 years. He pioneered the “wave theory” that has become a way of thinking among birders visiting Ohio’s north coast.

The Biggest Week in American Birding is an annual event held in northwestern Ohio. Every spring many species of small birds in the warbler family migrate from South America to Canada. In order to store up energy for the flight across Lake Erie, the birds spend some time on the southwestern shore of Lake Erie.