[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

Wings Over Water -- this weekend



Reminder:
	The 5th Annual Wings over Water Festival -- a Celebration of Wildlife
and Wildlands in Eastern NC, will be held this weekend, Nov. 2-4, on the
NC Outer Banks. To find out more about the festival, go to
<www.northeast-nc.com/wings>

This has been a big weekend for birders over the past 4 years, with good
birds such as Am. Tree Sparrow, 25+ Fulvous Whistling-Ducks,
White-winged Crossbill, and Rough-legged Hawk among the stars. Of
course, WOW brings in a nationally-known speaker each year; this year it
will be Don and Lillian Stokes, of the Stokes field guide series fame.

There will be dozens of trips as usual, with evening programs. Unlike
with the CBC meetings, there is no large gathering of all folks in the
evenings, so it is possible to miss catching up with friends you know
are at WOW. But, there are large boards of species seen at both Nags
Head and Buxton, so that folks can see what birds are being seen as the
weekend progresses.

As usual, I and a number of other birders will be leading field trips.
As usual, there will be a number of Freeloaders (hereafter FL) who will
take advantage of all these birders and visit the banks on their own,
without paying to take part in WOW or without volunteering to lead field
trips, but who want to find out what good birds have been turned up on
the dozens of field trips, so that they can then see these good birds.
This is America, after all, and the Outer Banks are free for birding.
But, I always like to keep tabs of who is an FL and who is a leader or
paying WOWer. WOW needs attendees on its field trips.

I hear rumors that there are not as many people signed up for WOW this
year. It could be 1. the downturn in the economy, with people not
spending money or traveling much this fall; 2. most folks have already
been to WOW a few times and aren't going again; 3. there are lots of FLs
who want to take advantage of WOW but don't want to take part at the
same time; and 4. (my personal belief) that WOW staff again have failed
to advertize nationally. All the other birding/wildlife festivals seem
to advertize in Birding. Winging It, Audubon magazine, etc. WOW did this
in year 1, but stopped. Why?  Too much money spent on advertizing? Most
of the birders I know are puzzled that WOW refuses to advertize in the
major birding magazines. Hopefully, next year we will see WOW up there
with the other national festivals being advertized in Audubon, Birding,
etc.

See you -- leaders, WOWers, and FLs -- on the Outer Banks over the
weekend. I'm leading two trips. I doubt the Sprague's Pipit will hang
around, but we shall see.

-- 
Harry LeGrand
NC Natural Heritage Program
1615 MSC
Raleigh, NC 27699-1615
(919) 715-8687 (work)
FAX: 919-715-3085
e-mail: harry.legrand@ncmail.net