HMANA 40th Anniversary Conference 2014 - Booking now!

Conference Logo - Tiffany DeRidder

We are pleased to announce that booking has now gone live for the HMANA 40^th Anniversary Conference, which takes place between April 25-27^th in Rochester, NY. You can read more details about the event on our newly launched conference website (link here), book your conference places online (here) or print off a booking form if you wish to send in a booking form with check (PDF here). 

The conference page has lots of excellent information about scheduling, speakers, field trips, lodging and more. Part of the appeal of the event has to be the incredible birding and raptor watching in the area and there is both a page with a map of places to visit (here) and details on the best local hawkwatching sites regionally (details here). These should really help you if you want to make even more of your visit to Western New York than just being there for the conference weekend.  

Attendees and speakers at the 2012 Conference - Julie Brown

As noted in a previous blog post, April 27^th is a special day in Braddock Bay hawkwatching history as it is the day that our two record flights occurred in 1987 (hawkcount stats here) and 2011 (hawkcount stats here). Coincidentally the two official counters on that day are the two leaders combining to lead the HMANA Raptor Identification Workshop that will be taking place at Braddock Bay earlier in the month (details here). You can read my recollection of the 2011 flight on my blog (here); I think it nicely captures the excitement of the day.

The event will include tours of BBBO's (songbird) and BBRR’s (raptor) banding stations for those what to get to grips up close and personal with some raptors. Talks by experts in their fields, field trips, panel discussions on tricky raptor ID's, talks on advances in raptor migration tracking, practical advice on how your organization can create excellent educational programming as well as keynote talks from Richard Crossley (of Raptor ID Guide fame) and  Keith Bildstein (Sarkis Acopian Director of Conservation Science at Hawk Mountain Sanctuary).

Braddock Bay Hawkwatch - Luke Tiller

We are adding to the line up regularly on a regular basis and will be posting more exciting details for the event as they become available. To get an idea of what is in the pipeline keep watching this blog and keep an eye on the conference page. To take make sure that you take advantage of our Early Bird Booking you will need to make sure your booking is with us by April 1^st.

It's a great opportunity to get together with hawkwatching aficionados and professionals from across the country and beyond. We look forward to seeing you in Rochester in April!