FEATURED SPEAKERS
Scott Weidensaul is the author of more
than two dozen books on natural history, including the Pulitzer Prize
finalist "Living on the Wind," "Return to Wild America" and "The First
Frontier." His newest book, "A World on the Wing" about global migration,
was just released in 2020.
Weidensaul is a contributing editor for Audubon, a columnist for Bird
Watcher's Digest and writes for a variety of other publications, including
Living Bird. He is also an active field researcher, studying saw-whet
owl migration for more than two decades, as well as winter hummingbirds,
bird migration in Alaska, and the winter movements of snowy owls through
Project SNOWstorm, which he co-founded.
Tom Stephenson has been birding since he was a kid under
the tutelage of Dr. Arthur Allen of Cornell University. His articles
and photographs are in museums and many publications including Birding,
Birdwatcher's Digest, Handbook of the Birds of the World, Handbook
of the Mammals of the World, Birds of Madagascar, and Guide to the
Birds of SE Brazil.
Tom has lectured and guided many groups across the US as well as in
Asia, where he trained guides for the government of Bhutan. He has
donated numerous recordings of Eastern Himalayan rarities and other
Asian species to Cornell's Macaulay Library of Natural sounds. For
several years he was on Zeiss's digiscoping team for the World Series
of Birding; and in 2011 his and Scott's team won the World Series
Cape Island Cup. In 2014 Tom and Scott set the US record for a Photo
Big Day, taking pictures of 208 species in one 24-hour period.
His latest book, The Warbler Guide, is published by Princeton University
Press and recently won the National Outdoor Book Award. The Warbler
Guide App, for iOS and Android, includes 3D rotating models and won
the 2015 Design Award for AAUP Book, Jacket and Journal Show. His
app, BirdGenie, is a "shazam" for bird song that helps bird enthusiasts
identify over 150 common vocalizations in eastern and western US by
recording them on their smart phone. BirdGenie won the prestigious
PROSE award from the American Association of Publishers.
He is currently working on three more books and two apps for Princeton.
Tom holds a patent on technology to identify animal vocalizations
using a wide range of analytic criteria.
Anna Siegel is a young birder, climate activist, and student in Portland, Maine. She is a Core member of the statewide coalition Maine Youth for Climate Justice and a representative to the Emergency Management working group of the Maine Climate Council. Wildlife has been Anna's passion from a very young age and spurred her efforts to become engaged with the climate movement. Now she directs policy campaigns in a dozen Maine municipalities and works with legislators in the State House. Weekends are dedicated to birding with the Maine Young Birders Club, nature photography, and creating art around birds. Anna hopes to become a conservation ornithologist and explore her interests in evolution, phenology, and research biases in the field and the lab.
