by Lottie Bushmann

 Missouri Birding Society

Fall Meeting, Columbia

Friday, Sept. 25–Sunday, Sept. 27

Do you love birds and learning more about them? The Missouri Birding Society is a state-wide organization here in Missouri. We host a spring and fall meeting each year (along with supporting those doing fabulous conservation work) and this month it’s going to be hosted here in Columbia. Check out the details below. The PDF reference guide really lays out the weekend and all that is included. I hope you’ll consider coming out and birding with us. It’s great opportunity to meet some birders from around the state and hear some speakers that really know their stuff. You don’t have to have any level of expertise-just a shared passion for our natural world and the beasts that inhabit it! Hope to see you there!

Edge Wade and Lottie Bushmann, MBS fall meeting co-chairs

Details are on the MBS website, registration closes at midnight on Monday, September 14!

T he Society’s annual fall meeting features guided field trips to hotspots in Boone, Cole, Callaway and Howard counties, led by local birders with years of experience birding the sites. 

Trips will go out for Friday afternoon, Saturday (morning, afternoon, and all-day trips!) as well as Sunday morning.

A special comprehensive PDF reference guide to the meeting (locales, activities, field meeting places, etc.) has been prepared by Lesa Beamer.

The weekend begins with sign-in opening at 4 p.m. at the Boone Electric Cooperative Community Building, 1431 Rangeline St., Columbia, MO. Attendees are encouraged to wear a favorite bird-themed T-shirt.

The evening will feature a get-together with hors d’oeuvres, Bill Clark regaling us with tales of the organization’s first 100 years, and Kristie Nelson on the fun and science of Christmas Bird Counts.

Saturday’s field trips are followed by the banquet (birding attire, not formal wear), a short business meeting, and a presentation by MRBO co-director Marlee Malmborg on American Kestrels in Missouri and the kestrel nest box monitoring project. 

Sunday morning features field trips and a hawk watch, followed by a catered picnic and the traditional species-sightings tally at the Leech shelter in Columbia’s Cosmo-Bethel Park.