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Wholehearted thank you to our volunteers and sponsors. The Tawas Point Bird Fest is 100 percent powered by volunteer energy and sponsor support. This year, in addition to volunteers and bird food donations, we had silent auction items donated. All of these things help our cause of protecting birds and their habitat.
BIRD FOOD:
Many people enjoyed the feeders during the event and during the weeks before. It is expected that visitors will continue to enjoy the feeding station. Special thanks to Gingerich Feed & Implements for the annual bird food donations. Your donations made many people smile.
VOLUNTEERS:
We had about fifty volunteers from all over the state donating their time, travel and energy. We had so much positive feedback, specifically about the helpfulness and friendliness of the volunteers. This is because of you.
To those that will consider putting in a few hours next year, please reach out to us Mid-April. We can always use help with activities such as:
* Tracking movements of our Piping Plovers so people can get a glimpse.
* Giving food or bathroom breaks to the volunteers stationed at the shorebird or warbler stations.
* A shift at the tracking map by the Welcome tent, where we tracked locations of special birds. If we can keep it updated, then more visitors get “on the bird.”
* Filling feeders and oranges, anytime, but especially leading up to, and during the fest.
If you don’t consider yourself a birder, then please reconsider because we suspect that you are…
“We are all birders, just at different places in our journey”. — Amy Kohlhepp, Tawas Point Birding Fest 2026
Special thanks to Jackson and Manistee Audubon Chapters for volunteer support, as well as MSU’s Birding Club for showing up and helping get people “on the birds”.
FIELD BASED EDUCATION STATIONS:
KIRTLAND’S WARBLER
Special thanks for the education and viewing experiences from participation of the Kirtland's Warbler Alliance. We helped a few dozen participants get fantastic views and photos of our fire warbler, while also demonstrating the importance of viewing from a two track, never walking in habitat. We also proved that calling the birds is not necessary for a great viewing experience (calling is not allowed in the forest because it is detrimental). All you must do is be in the right habitat, be a bit patient, and the birds will naturally show themselves (location, location, location).
PIPING PLOVER
Huron Pines once again partnered to help people get views while protecting the Piping Plovers. In addition to the volunteer monitoring coordination, they also joined in advocacy with AVA and Michigan Audubon to leverage support from regulatory agencies to keep dogs out of the protected area beyond the lighthouse. Michigan Department of Natural Resources has been very responsive this year enforcing the “no dog” rule in the protective areas. We noticed and are very appreciative on behalf of our endangered birds.
TICK EDUCATION
Last in this note but definitely not least, we noticed that the tick education station was once again essential to helping people safely enjoy the Point. Thankful shout out to Michigan State University Professor Jean Tsao for your continued support and participation. Your educational efforts continue to give peace of mind to so many, allowing them to more fully enjoy their outdoor experiences.
Wholehearted and very sincere thanks to our volunteers and sponsors.
Bill Roth, AVA President & Amy Kohlhepp
AVA Tawas Point Bird Fest Coordinator
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Good morning everyone. If you attended the Migration Days at Tawas Point State Park. Thank you. It was a great weekend. The team rested yesterday and so stats will be upcoming, but I do know on Saturday 101 species were identified. I also know that the Silent Auction raised $1905.00 for outreach, education and conservation work. So thank you to everyone that made that possible.
Please add your favorite bird picture below. We dont care if its good or not.
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PhotosMeet the Red-eyed Vireo — the bird that out-talks everyone.
In one study, a single male Red-eyed Vireo was recorded singing 22,197 times in a single day. That's a song roughly every four seconds, from sunrise to after sunset, without meaningful breaks.
For context: a human singer performing eight-hour concerts would need to do that for 225 straight days to match one Vireo's summer output.
The song is a series of short, robin-like phrases delivered in a relentless question-and-answer pattern — up, down, up, down — from the forest canopy. It's the sound of summer in eastern North America. You've almost certainly heard it.
The red eye? Barely visible unless you have binoculars and patience. The voice, though — once you lock it in, you'll hear it everywhere from now until August.
This is the bird doing the talking. You just didn't know its name yet. 🔴
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It was a fantastic weekend!!!
Got great looks at tawas this weekend!
