Symposiums
Restoration of the Illinois River Valley
Thursday, August 1, 1–4pm
Organizer: Auriel Fournier
The 2024 meeting is in Peoria, alongside the Illinois River, which has been an important area for people and wildlife for centuries. This symposium will include speakers from a variety of organizations involved in the restoration of Illinois River wetlands, as well as those involved in the preservation of the cultural resources and history of the peoples of the Illinois River Valley.
Workshops
Turning Sound Into Discovery
Monday, July 29, 4–6pm
Organizer: Wildlife Acoustics/Kyle Sheridan
Sound analysis is increasingly becoming a valuable tool for biologists, environmental scientists and managers to survey and monitor wildlife populations. It’s currently used to aid in resource management, habitat health assessment, regulatory compliance goals, animal behavior studies and even documenting the effects of climate change. Recording sound with a bioacoustics recorder is a reliable way to meet these project objectives. Bioacoustics is a non-invasive, cost-effective and an unbiased method for studying animal presence. Biologists all over the world have made the Song Meter platform the standard for bioacoustics recording with over 50,000 recorders deployed in 90 countries. This hands-on workshop will teach participants the features and set up of the Song Meter SM4 and Song Meter Mini recorders to monitor for birds, frogs, and other wildlife.
Analytical Skills: Journey Into the Tidyverse
Monday, July 29, 3–6pm
Organizers: Student and Early Professional Committees of the three host societies (Dylan Titmuss and Nicholas Russo)
The purpose of this workshop is to familiarize participants with the “tidyverse” collection of data science packages in the R coding environment, including an exploration of intermediate to advanced functions and capabilities. Packages in the tidyverse collection, including ggplot2, are useful for organizing, manipulating, and visualizing data. This workshop is consistent with the Student/EP committee’s efforts to build capacity for analytical skills among student and early professional ornithologists. Content will include components of the Software Carpentries curriculum and be led by Dylan Titmuss, a certified Carpentries instructor. Where possible, workshop attendees will use datasets relevant to ornithology to practice skills, and a survey will be sent around to participants ahead of the workshop to gauge interest in specific topics related to data wrangling and visualization. This workshop will assume participants have downloaded and installed the latest version of R ahead of time and possess some previous experience with R. This topic was voted a top choice of student WOS members from a recent Google survey.
Careers in Ornithology
Monday, July 29, 4–6pm
Organizers: Student and Early Professional Committees of the three societies (Tharindu Kalukapuge, Liza Morse, Patrick Newcombe)
The overall objective of this workshop is to provide students and those aspiring to pursue a career in the field of ornithology with insights into why people choose careers related to ornithology and how to prepare for such a career. The workshop will feature a panel discussion in a hybrid format, allowing for both in-person participation at the conference and a simultaneous Zoom session. The panel discussion will include the following components, followed by a Q&A session at the end:
- Pros and cons of pursuing a career in ornithology
- Opportunities available in North America across various sectors (government, non-government, academia, industry, etc.)
- Useful skills and assets students should acquire to secure a job in the field of ornithology
The panel will consist of three to four individuals, each allotted 15 minutes, making it a total of 1 hour for the panel discussion followed by a 20-30 minute Q&A session.
Social Field Safety: Being more inclusive and understanding risks for marginalized and historically excluded individuals who professionally work outdoors
Monday, July 29, 4–6pm
Organizers: Field Inclusive
When it comes to experiencing the outdoors, not everyone’s experiences are equal. Additionally, individuals who carry out fieldwork as a part of their job or research program experience a higher risk of conflict due to identity prejudice. At risk individuals, which include minority identities of the following: race/ethnicity, sexual orientation, disability, gender identity and/or religion, are more likely to be either harassed or questioned in certain settings while carrying out fieldwork. Everyone deserves to have a safe experience in the outdoors; therefore, it is important to continue to bring forth awareness, and support marginalized and historically excluded individuals who professionally work outdoors in any natural resources field.
This workshop will be given by representatives of Field Inclusive (FI), a new nonprofit dedicated to helping prioritize social field safety (i.e. interactions with the general public or other individuals) both on an individual and institutional level. Information will cover the history of minorities and outdoor experiences, the founding of FI, and strategies and suggestions that institutions and organizations can use in order to provide a safe environment for their researchers.
Special Events
Remembering Reed
Tuesday, July 30, 5–6pm
Organizer: Association of Field Ornithologists
Special event honoring Reed Bowman. We want to create a space where people can remember Reed’s legacy and honor his contributions to ornithology and to AFO.
LGBTQIA+ and Allies Social
Wednesday, July 31, 7–8:30am
Organizer: Kristen Covino
This social event is an opportunity to converse with colleagues who identify as lesbian, gay, bi, trans, otherwise queer, as well as allies to this community, to discuss LGBTQIA+ experiences and representation in ornithology and beyond. We will promote a welcoming atmosphere at this event and provide opportunities for folks to meet other members of the queer community and those who support the community. We will create opportunities to promote discussion in a safe atmosphere with small breakout groups and conversation topic suggestions. Breakfast will be provided for all registrants (more details to come). This event will be private. All contact information gathered when signing up will be kept confidential and not retain after the event. All attendees are expected to maintain the privacy of participants both during and after the event.
Battling Burnout in Ornithology
Wednesday, July 31 , 1:30–3pm
Organizer: Allyson Jackson
Being an ornithologist requires passion and love for our subject. That passion – when mixed with erratic funding, job insecurity, long hours, isolation from friends and family, and now the last few years spent navigating the pandemic – can lead to burnout. Being burned out means different things for different people, but it generally manifests as exhaustion, feelings of cynicism toward your work, and an inability to feel accomplished, even after hard work. Without addressing burnout in ourselves and others, we will likely lose many talented individuals from careers in ornithology.
This event is an attempt at bringing together ornithologists to understand the triggers that lead to burnout and how to identify it in yourself and others. Allyson Jackson will lead and detail her research and personal experience with burnout. Workshop participants will get time to rate their burnout and share their experiences. As a group, we will also work on strategies to help combat burnout in ornithology. Interaction among participants is crucial because an important part of helping burnout is building a community. This event is a great opportunity to build this community among other ornithologists.
Wilson, Audubon, and the Struggle to Classify American Warblers (talk and book signing)
Wednesday, July 31, 4:45–5pm
Talk immediately followed by book signing
Kenn Kaufman’s next book, The Birds That Audubon Missed, will be published this May. It’s about the discovery of bird species (by Western or Linnaean standards) in eastern North America up to about 1844, emphasizing various bird groups rather than individual naturalists. No group proved harder to classify than the birds now known as the family Parulidae. Some species were described repeatedly under different names, and early authors tried to place different species in a wide variety of unrelated Old World groups. Wilson, Bartram, Bonaparte, Vieillot, Audubon, and others added to the discussion (or to the confusion!) before the concept of American warblers came into focus.
Storytelling Event
Evening of Wednesday, July 31 (specific time TBA)
Held offsite at the Peoria Riverfront Museum (222 SW Washington St.)
Organizers: Catherine Dale and Ann McKellar
Please join your friends and colleagues for an evening of laughter, tears, and joy as we listen to five captivating stories that reflect the diversity of experiences within our ornithological community. For this engaging event, we are seeking uplifting stories that focus on experiences with field work/nature and dealing with adversity. The storytelling event will be part of a larger social event being held at the Peoria Riverfront Museum (more details to come).
We will showcase five storytellers who will share eight- to ten-minute stories with the audience and are partnering with Science Borealis (scienceborealis.ca), Story Collider (https://www.storycollider.org/), and Birds Canada’s award-winning podcast, The Warblers (https://www.birdscanada.org/warblerspodcast), to provide skilled coaching for storytellers two months prior to the meeting to craft their stories for the stage. If you are interested in telling a story at the event, please fill out the submission form no later than 5:30pm EDT on Monday, May 6!