The Gull Guide: North America
Amar Ayyash (Keynote Speaker)
Amar Ayyash is a leading expert on North American gulls, promoting “gull recreation” through global travel and speaking. He has published a number of papers on gull identification, distribution and molt, and he is the author of the authoritative book to North American Gulls, The Gull Guide. Amar is a recipient of the ABA Robert Ridgway Award for Outstanding Ornithological Publication
Gull identification can be challenging for even the most seasoned birder. While these birds are common to coasts, lakes, and rivers, they exhibit remarkable plumage changes related to age, which is sometimes complicated by similarities between species and a readiness to hybridize.
This book provides an invaluable identification guide to all regularly occurring gull species and subspecies throughout North America. It is packed with the very latest research on field identification, updated taxonomy, current distribution trends, color maps, and helpful notes on natural history, aging, and molt.
The Gull Guide North America integrates the essential elements that are critical to understanding gulls, setting an entirely new standard for identifying and enjoying these marvelous birds.
Amar will have copies of his book on hand, but is also willing to sign a copy you bring to the event. Check out your local birding store or book store to get your copy. It’s also available from Princeton University Press and all major book stores.
Ornitherapy: The Power of Birding
Holly Merker
Holly Merker is a professional birding guide, award-winning author, podcaster, and lecturer who provides nature-based wellness programs for people of all ages. Combining backgrounds in art therapy, nature and forest therapy, wellness counseling, mindfulness mentoring, and bird identification, she is a global advocate for the practice of Mindful Birding.
Holly has co-authored two books which guide readers into optimizing the wellness benefits birds provides us, including the award-winning Ornitherapy: For Your Mind, Body, and Soul (Crossley Books, 2021), and The Power of Birdwatching (Die Kraft Der Vogel Beobachtung, Freya verlag, 2023 – available in Europe only). She is also co-host and co-producer of the Mindful Birding Podcast and is the founder of the Mindful Birding Network.
In 2022, Holly was honored to be the recipient of the ABA Conservation and Education Award given by the American Birding Association for her work in both those areas involving birds. In her free time, Holly spends every possible moment practicing Ornitherapy, which she credits in helping defeat breast cancer, restoring her health mentally and physically.
In today’s fast-paced world, slowing down by noticing birds offers many rewards, especially by supporting our mental and physical well-being. Research shows that time spent in bird-rich biodiverse ecosystems actively reduces stress, depression, and anxiety, while supporting heart health and a stronger immune system.
Within the program we’ll delve into our personal connections to birds, learn how to maximize the wellness benefits while birding, and cover the latest research surrounding the positive impact of wild birds on human wellbeing.
Check out your local birding store or book store to get your copy. It’s also available from Holly’s website and all major book stores.
Self-found Connecticut Big Year
Nick Bonomo
A birder since the age of 13, Nick is born and raised in Connecticut, USA and has spent a large part of his free time traveling the globe in search of birds. His youthful enthusiasm for birds and nature as a whole is contagious on the tours he leads. An accomplished photographer, Nick is always willing to share tips and tricks in the field. He currently sits on the Avian Records Committee of Connecticut and maintains a long-running blog about his birding adventures. Nick holds an undergraduate degree from Stonehill College and a graduate degree from Yale University; he practices in Orthopedic Surgery as a Physician Associate in the United States.
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