Frontiers in Ornithology Student Symposium in Seattle was a major success!!

We had a great Frontiers in Ornithology Youth Symposium in Seattle WA on Oct 4th! We had amazing youth attendees, and parents and amazing youth and adult speakers. Watching the youth ask questions and engage with the speakers and be so passionate about their future careers was very moving for me. Youth connected with like-minded youth from across North America and made friendships and shared in their passion. The speakers were so diverse that there was something for everyone from how to paint birds to ornithologic and scientific careers and careers in social justice and Indigenous rights and conservation.

All of our speakers from Canada and the USA (except for Dennis Paulson who had to leave early :( ) are pictured in the photo below with board members and our amazing keynote Steve Hampton.

It was really nice to meet and see Bird field guide book author Cameron Cox come out to volunteer and help us, when he had no children in the event. We had so much excess catered food that the exact delicious lunch we had was also delivered to hundreds at the local Seattle Food Bank, which was heartwarming.

A few young birders came down from BC as well, which was so nice especially in this political climate. Our BC Young Birder Naomi even won a free pair of binoculars! We had scholarships so there was no financial barriers to entry.

We started off with a youth-led bird walk by Liam Hutcheson at Magnuson Park and then went into the sessions. Before the farewell dinner some of the students and speakers went to chase a Lesser Black-backed Gull which was super fun.

Thank you to all the youth who came, partners (Birds Connect Seattle and Washington Ornithological Society who donated 5000$), sponsors (KOWA, Vortex and more), speakers, volunteers and board members that made this amazing event happen. I was honoured and humbled to be a part of it! The symposium talks were all recorded, so those who signed up will be able to view them when posted soon on our website.


Birding Walk at Magnuson Park in Seattle, WA

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