Event Calendar

On a Tuesday night in late April 2024, Tim Baerwald, a fellow migration counter, asked Alison if she'd be able to meet him Thursday morning at a remote Upper Peninsula boat launch eight hours away. She said yes: the boat would be taking them to Manitou Island ─ five miles off the tip of the Keweenaw Peninsula ─ and Manitou Island is an incredible concentration point for migrating birds. But Manitou's migration is little-studied: the island, situated in a particularly treacherous sweep of Lake Superior, is uninhabited; its only accommodation is a decommissioned lighthouse built in the 1860s. Tim was particularly interested in banding hawks and owls, which had never been done on Manitou. Alison will be sharing what she and Tim learned about raptor migration on Manitou ─ and will share, too, the general experience of witnessing avian movement from a remote island.

Alison Világ grew up birding in Southwest Michigan and has since let birds take her around the continent. She spent two years guiding birders and photographers on Alaska's Pribilof Islands, she was a Kirtland's Warbler guide for three years, and she's conducted standardized migration counts around Lake Superior (spring and fall) and from Monterey Bay (fall) for seven years. When she's not birding, Alison works in Traverse City's hospitality industry.

We hope you'll join us on Monday, January 26th, at People's Church, 1758 North 10th Street, Kalamazoo. This program is geared to all audiences, and we enthusiastically invite families and nature lovers of any age to join us!  Come at 6:30 PM (new time – half an hour earlier this year) for some refreshments and socializing. Snacks and beverages will be provided. It's helpful if you bring your own coffee cup. The one-hour program will start at 7:00 PM. Handicap parking and access is at either the front or the rear entrance of the building.

We will have a Zoom link for those who can’t make it or feel uncomfortable attending in person. This link will be available shortly before the meeting in the February newsletter that is emailed to you, and posted on this page the day prior. We will also be recording the meeting for later viewing.