Young Birder of the Year Contest

Young Birders' Conference

Camps

ABA Scholarships
   - Recipients

Connect!

A Bird's-Eye View

Join ABA

CAMP REPORTS 2003

A report on RMBO On the Wing Camp

28 June-9 July 2003

By Travis Hayward

Last summer (in 2003 ), I was a part of On The Wing, presented by the Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory. The camp was for birders between ages 12 and 18. During the ten days of camp, we visited all sorts of different environments in western Colorado and eastern Utah. Jenny and Glenn were our trusting and friendly camp leaders. They were very helpful when we were writing and researching our projects. Here is a short summary of our trip.

Before we began our ten-day journey, we spent the night at an RMBO observation building near Brighton, Colorado where the camp members got to spend time and get to know each other. There we had one of the few home-cooked meals over the next week and a half. We also saw a few Swainson's Hawks, a few American Kestrels, and a few pelicans while we were there.

Our first stop was Dinosaur National Monument, Utah, where we learned about native grasses and the prehistoric past of the area. The birds we saw and heard included some Peregrine Falcons, Golden Eagles, poorwills, and many kinds of songbirds. On the first night we were there, we took a very short night-hike and learned about how important night vision is. The few days that we spent there were really awesome.

Our next stop was Black Canyon, Colorado where we camped for three nights. Black Canyon was the subject of the project that we did discussing the nest locations and traits between the spotted and Green-tailed Towhees in the Black Canyon area. At Black Canyon, we saw all of the cool geographical formations in the rocks. One night, we even communicated with a saw-whet owl by using a bird song CD. The first night in Black Canyon, we spent the evening with the local Astronomy Club and stayed up until almost eleven looking at stellar constellations and stars. While we were there, we visited Grand Junction, Colorado where two of the campers lived. One of their parents were kind enough to share their pool on one really hot day. Man, it felt so good after our hard work to have a few hours of fun and relaxation. While in Grand Junction we gave our presentations about what we had learned from our research about the two Towhee species. But sadly, our time in Grand Junction came to an end.

The eight hour trip home was long but fun. We tried playing some car games, but a lot of us were tired from getting up every morning at 6.00 a.m. Some slept, some made jokes, and others rolled their eyes at the jokes. Once we got back to the RMBO in Brighton, we all fell asleep. There were sad goodbyes the next morning as we went our separate ways, but hopefully we'll meet again this summer.

This camp was great for me because there were so many things in it that I found interesting. We got up every morning to go bird watching, and most of the time we found some cool birds. And the social and group skills I developed will last a lifetime. It was so great, I plan to go again this summer as well. This camp has given a better reason to continue my life with birds. I would like to thank the American Birding Association and the RMBO for making this experience possible.

September 2003

These young birders attended the camps/events they report on with the help of ABA scholarships.