Birders’ Night: How to count four and a half million raptors… Veracruz and its River of Raptors with Steve Dougill

How to count four and a half million raptors… Veracruz and its River of Raptors with Steve Dougill.

North America hosts the largest raptor migration in the world each fall in Veracruz, Mexico. But it’s a lot more than just the birds of prey; there’s millions of migrating songbirds and storks and pelicans and anhinga … and clouds of dragonflies and colorful butterflies. It’s also a compelling story of the biologists who grew up in the small rural communities, and the non-profit that runs the counts, the education programs, forges conservation partnerships with local land owners, and hosts several MOTUS towers. Steve was lucky enough to work here for a season and so he will bring you the story and explain how to count millions of migrating raptors.

About Steve.  He grew up birding, as a young kid in the UK, and has been keen on wildlife and conservation ever since.  He has worked in many different wildlife positions around the world in both paid and volunteer capacity and now splits his time between getting paid to work with endangered birds in Southern Nevada in the summer and leading birds tours for part of the winter.  In between, he bases himself in eastern Washington, close to the Idaho State border.  He is very energized to share birds and their conservation with others and has been president of a local Audubon group in Oregon as well as heading up some fun citizen  science projects.  He does these tours because he loves sharing; he loves birding with an energetic group; and, he loves supporting the local guides and non-profits he partners with. His next goals are to work more directly with kids, to get his book published and to teach a beginning birding class to engage others in the love of birds.

The program will start at 6pm. Feel free to come early for dinner and a beverage. There is typically a nice group there by 5:00pm or so.

Seating is first come, first serve, so come early!

And Worthy Brewing offers a nice Happy Hour Menu from 3-6pm.