by Joanna and Eric Reuter

Early May has a lot of field trips going on, as well it should, because migration makes this an excellent time of year for birding. Please check out all of the offerings on the field trip calendar.

Here, we want to draw special attention to a pair of events intended to establish a new tradition to celebrate and observe Birding Big Day, the second Saturday in May (also known as Global Big Day). A pre-big-day get-together at Logboat Brewery is a key part of the plan.

Mark your calendars: May 7 (social/planning) and May 10 (birding).

Birding Big Day occurs at the peak of spring songbird migration, a glorious time to be seduced into birding by a singing spring warbler seen through binoculars. They’ll be here soon!

Here are the goals and motivations behind the new tradition:

• Encourage lots of folks to get outside, look for, and see birds!
• Provide birders of various skill levels an opportunity to connect and plan shared small-group outings.
• Spread out the effort so eBird lists get collected over a broader geographic area than would happen if everybody gathered for a single walk.
• Provide a diversity of opportunities in terms of location, start time, duration, habitat, mode of travel (hiking, biking, vehicle), style of birding.
• Keep the logistics as simple as possible. Aim for a self-organizing event to the maximum extent possible.

So here’s the plan:
Gather on the Wednesday evening prior to Global Big Day so that potential participants can meet in person, mingle, and develop plans for shared birding outings. This event will be held at Logboat Brewery, with 6:30 p.m to 7:30 p.m. as the prime-time for planning. But feel free to hang out longer. There will be a wood-fired pizza food truck on site, and CAS will treat participants! (But if you prefer to eat something else, feel free to bring what suits you.)

If you want to partner up with others on Saturday but can’t make it on Wednesday, there are a couple of options. If you’re a Facebook user, you may be able to make connections through the CAS Facebook page. Alternatively, please email Eric & Joanna (birds@ozarkoutsider.com) with the following info and we’ll try to get you matched up with other birders:

• Desired outing duration
• Time of day constraints/preferences
• Location constraints/preferences, if any
• Mode-of-travel preferences (hike, bike, drive), if any
• Self-described skill level
• Would you prefer to be a mentor, a mentee, or to bird with folks of a similar skill level?
• Any other thoughts/preferences

We hope that many great birding experiences will result!