Gibraltar Island, Ohio — Learn about all the locales ideal for birding along Lake Erie’s coastline in an upcoming Summer Seminar from Ohio Sea Grant and Stone Lab.
Stone Lab will host its first seminar of the season, a free, educational webinar, on Thursday, June 5 at 7 p.m. Presented by Ohio Division of Wildlife’s Avian Specialist, Jamey Emmert, the event, From Flickers to Fire Throats: Rekindling Ohio’s Lake Erie Birding Trail Program, will discuss the new Lake Erie Birding Trail Guidebook.
The guidebook, released in March and available for purchase online, is a 120-page compilation of 90 popular and less well-known birding spots all along Ohio’s Lake Erie coast. The book was developed by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) Division of Wildlife in collaboration with Ohio Sea Grant.
Ohio’s excellent birding attracts tens of thousands of visitors from across the world each year, many of them stopping along the Lake Erie Birding Trail. Each spring, the influx of birders along Lake Erie’s shores contributes around $40 million to local economies.
Emmert serves as the Avian Education Coordinator for the Ohio Division of Wildlife. Since joining the Division in 2003 — a year after she earned her Associate Degree in Wildlife Management from Hocking College — Emmert has dedicated her career to connecting people with Ohio’s rich wildlife and natural resources.
Her work spans a variety of conservation education efforts, including managing the revitalized Lake Erie Birding Trail program, leading public workshops, and partnering with educators and organizations to promote wildlife awareness across the state.
Thursday’s seminar will cover: Emmert’s career path, the revitalization of the Lake Erie Birding Trail, an inside look at the new guidebook, how the trail connects people to nature and promotes conservation, behind-the-sciences stories, and a surprise announcement of a new program.
The seminar will be the first of many highlighting guest speakers at Stone Lab this summer, held each Thursday in June and July. Topics will range from fish and wildlife ecology, natural history, and management of Lake Erie to natural resource policy issues relevant to coastal environments.
Audience members, including those joining online, will be able to ask the speaker questions at the end of the presentation. Presentations will be recorded and made available for free on the Ohio Sea Grant website.
To get the webinar link for the event, visit the event page or follow this Zoom link. To learn about more upcoming Summer Seminar events at Stone Lab, visit Ohio Sea Grant’s website.
For more information on the Lake Erie Birding Trail or to purchase the guidebook, visit lakeerieohiobirding.info.
Ohio Sea Grant is supported by The Ohio State University College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences (CFAES) School of Environment and Natural Resources, Ohio State University Extension, and NOAA Sea Grant, a network of 34 Sea Grant programs nation-wide dedicated to the protection and sustainable use of marine and Great Lakes resources. Stone Laboratory is Ohio State’s island campus on Lake Erie and is the research, education, and outreach facility of Ohio Sea Grant and part of CFAES School of Environment and Natural Resources.