Adams County Bird Symposium

The next Adams County Bird Symposium will take place the first Saturday on March 7, 2026. Registration for the symposium will open in late Fall and will remain open until the event is full. This year, the event will be hosted by the Adams County Nature Society, Inc. Please note: Once open, registration is first-come, first-served – be sure to sign up early, as the symposium typically sells out within a few weeks every year. Subscribe to join our email list for first updates!

The registration fee includes:

• Access to all vendors and speaker presentations throughout the one day event
• An optional guided birding hike to Adams Lake
• Morning coffee and donuts for breakfast
• A delicious lunch provided by the local Amish community
• Live birds of prey presented by Raptor, Inc.
• Children under 18 are free with an adult

Here is the lineup of the symposium's fabulous speakers:

• Dave Helm, Nature Journaling through Time: from Louis Agassi Fuertes to the Present
  A look at drawing, sketching, and painting of birds from of those who have connected to the natural world. 
  
  Dave Helm had a career as a physician, specializing in psychiatry. A lifelong love of the natural world lead to a pursuit of birds and watching them, keeping track of them and drawing them. He sees these pursuits as a way to connect to the natural world whether it’s birds or through most any outdoor hobby like fishing, sky gazing, bike riding or studying insects.  Dave was also the long-time chair of the Adams County Bird Symposium.
  
  
• Brian Bailey, Extreme Birds: The Avian Survivors of the Arctic and Antarctic
  In recent years, he has been an expedition guide and lecturer on ships sailing to the Antarctic and Arctic. Today, he hopes to share his experience and knowledge on the polar regions, its inhabitants, and the challenges they face today.
  
  Brian Bailey was born and raised in Adams County and graduate of Peebles High School and of Northern Kentucky University. After a career in musical theatre and entertainment in New York City, Brian returned to his first loves; wildlife, fossils, and birds.
  
  
• Greg Torres, Planting for Birds: Creating a Habitat Where Birds Thrive 
  Birds are everywhere, a testament to their adaptability and variety! While there are many ways to be helpful towards birds, one of the easiest ways is through planting diverse landscapes that mimic native habitats that birds enjoy. Creating varying layers of cover, a rotating crop of fruits, seeds and insects, as well as considerations for different nesting preferences can all be achieved through conscientious plant selection. Planting for Birds will delve into these matters and offer many helpful tips to help property owners create a habitat where birds thrive. 
  
  Greg Torres is a certified Naturalist and Interpretive Guide. Greg managed Cincinnati's Hauck Botanical Garden and was then recruited in 2021 to help launch the flagship Conservation and Land Management Division within Cincinnati Parks.  In 2023, Greg was chosen to receive the Johnny Appleseed Award at the Taking Root Initiative's annual Tree Summit. Known as “the Plant Guru", he is a co-host on the Nature Guys podcast. 
  
  
• Dave Russell, Monitoring Bird Movements in the 21st Century
  The appearance and disappearance of birds has fascinated people for centuries; we have come a long way in the study of bird movements since Magnus’s assertions swallows hibernated in the mud at the bottom of lakes and rivers, or Morton’s determination that swallows lived on the moon. Technology today has allowed us to track birds as never before, and the resulting information has transformed much about what we thought we knew about bird movement. Our presentation will explore bird migration through the lens of tracking devices, such as geolocators, GPS transmitters, or ground-based networks such as MOTUS that are revolutionizing how we approach bird conservation initiatives. 
  
  
• Joseph Raber,  Symposium Chair, Updates from the Adams County Wheat Ridge Birders Community