Download MOS Speakers List
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Please note: This list is current as of September 2020. Updates appreciated – contact the webmaster or president.
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ABDY, MARK
Contact Information:
301-432-7696
mjabdy@yahoo.com
Distance: Statewide on a case-by-case basis
Fees: Mileage
Equipment Needed: Can supply own AV and computer
Virtual: Yes
Programs:
- Birds of Southern Africa – He leads safaris to southern Africa each year and is compiling a slide presentation on the various bird species he has photographed.
- Southern Africa Wildlife Highlights– Slide show and stories about various mammals and birds seen in the wildlife hotspots of Southern Africa. Mark grew up in Southern Africa and has been traveling to Africa on an annual basis since 2000. These photos will give a nice representation of what you can see.
BAICICH, PAUL
Contact Information:
410-922-9736
paul.baicich@verizon.net
Distance: 100 miles
Fees: gas and honorarium
Equipment Needed: PowerPoint projector
Virtual: Yes
Programs:
- The Dozen Most Important Things You can do for Birds and Bird Conservation
- Access Matters: Why Birders Should Care About This Growing Concern
- Appreciating and Expanding the Federal “Duck Stamp”
- The Amazing Breeding Biology of North American Birds
- Bird Feeding in America: A Story of Wild Birds, Innovation, and Conservation
- A Shade-grown and Bird-compatible Coffee Future
- The Travel-and-Birding Network in North America: How it Evolved and How it Works
- Rice is Nice – Lessons for Bird Conservation
- Birders, Conservation, and Refuges: Making Better Connections
- Birding and Beyond in Cuba
BELL, WAYNE – Past President MOS
Contact Information:
410-820-6002
wbell2@washcoll.edu
Distance: 100 miles one-way
Fees: none, except overnight lodging for distant engagements
Equipment Needed: Self-contained; use PowerPoint so show slides. Require a screen &
Table for laptop computer and projector.
Virtual: Yes
Programs:
- 30% fewer birds in North America: lost from Maryland’s Eastern Shore? The Chesapeake working landscape: what our history and our birds tell us
BREWER, GWEN
( See also JETT, GEORGE )
Contact Information:
301-843-3524
gbrewer@dnr.state.md.us
Distance: 1 hour of Annapolis or Waldorf, further negotiable.
Fees: None
Equipment Needed: LCD Projector if possible. She will bring her own if necessary.
Virtual: Yes
Programs:
- Birds, Landscapes and Cultures of Ecuador
- Birds and Bats of the Brazilian Amazon – A joint program with George Jett.
CHESAPEAKE BAY FOUNDATION – Anna Mudd
Contact Information:
301-848-5173
a.mudd@cbf.org
Distance: Anywhere within the Chesapeake Bay Watershed area
Fees: None
Equipment Needed: Projector & Screen for a PowerPoint Presentation
Virtual: Yes
Programs:
- State of the Bay and How the Bay is Doing
- Bay-friendly Landscaping
- Oyster Gardening/Restoration
- Maryland environmental legislative priorities at the state level
- Science and biology of the Chesapeake Bay
COSKREN, DENNIS
Contact Information:
410-381-7344
coskrenj@gmail.com
Distance: 100 miles
Fees: $100
Equipment Needed: Computer
Virtual: No
Programs:
- Maryland’s Himalayas – how habitats are influenced by the geology of an area
- Birds and Natural History of Northwestern Mexico
- Birds and Natural History of Ecuador
- Birds and Natural History of Northwestern Peru
- Birds and Natural History of Costa Rica
- Birds and Natural History of Panama- Birds and Natural History of Kenya
CURSON, DAVID, PHD – Director of Bird Conservation, Audubon MD-DC
Contact Information:
410-558-2473 (office), 410-675-4963 (home)
david.curson@audubon.org
Distance: Anywhere in the state
Fees: Donation to IBA Program welcomed.
Equipment Needed: Has own computer and projector. Only needs a screen.
Virtual: Yes
Programs:
- Audubon’s Salt Marsh Bird Conservation Initiative
- The Important Bird Area Program in Maryland and DC
- The Brown-headed Cowbird – a conservation challenge
DERRICKSON, MR. KIM
– Professor Department of Biology, Loyola University Maryland
Contact Information:
410-617-2197
kderrickson@loyola.edu
Distance: 120 Miles one way
Fees: Negotiable
Equipment Needed: PowerPoint & Projection Systems; can bring his own if
necessary.
Virtual: Yes
Programs:
- Playing Dr. Doolittle: Understanding Bird Song and Social Behavior
ELLISON, WALTER
Contact Information:
410-778-9568 home, 410-778-6576 office, 410-708-8089 cell
rossgull61@gmail.com
Distance: 200 miles round trip
Fees: $50
Equipment Needed: PowerPoint projector, screen
Virtual: Unknown
Programs:
- Twenty Years of changing Birdlife: Results of the 2002-2006 MD-DC Atlas Project
- The History of Ornithology and Birding – Form, Function and Bird Identification
GEMMILL, DAPHNE
Contact Information:
202-546-3624 up until 10PM dgemmill@mac.com
Distance: One hour from DC
Fees: Mileage
Equipment Needed: Can bring own projector if necessary.
Virtual: No
Programs:
- Birdlife of Vieques, Puerto Rico as Told by Old Field Nots
- Southeast Asia, Birds, Culture, and Food
- Zanzibar to Lake Victoria: An Unforgettable Tanzanian Wildlife Safari
- The Challenges of Birding the G’s in West Africa (Gabon, Gambia, & Ghana)
- Follow “Our” Birds to the Greater Antilles (Jamaica, Hispaniola, Cuba & Puerto Rico)
- Midway Island, One of the Newest Birding Destinations
- Birding the Four Corners of South Africa/New Frontiers in Birding S. Africa
- The Birds of Midway Island in the Hawaii Island Chain
- Wildlife Viewing Opportunities Beyond the (fill in the local area): The Flora and Fauna of our National Forests
- Madagascar: A Conservation Challenge
- The Shearwaters of Rhum, Scotland
- Sound Recording Darwin Finches, the Galapagos Islands
- Banding Snow Geese on the Tundra in Manitoba–What did We Learn?
- The Birds of the Falkland Islands, S. Georgia and Antarctica
- Birds of the New Zealand Subantarctic
- The Shy Albatross: Two Weeks on a Very Small Albatross Island off Australia
- Birding at the End of the Earth, Attu, Alaska
- Banding Warblers in the Bahamas
- Earthwatch Ornithological Expeditions
- Birds of High Altitudes and Latitudes
- Birds of Remote Tropical Islands
HARRIS, CLIVE
Contact Information:
301-320- 9769
clivegharris@yahoo.com
Distance: check w/Clive
Fees: none
Equipment Needed: He will bring a PPT file and need a computer & projector.
Virtual: No
Programs:
- Gull ID
HARVEY, DAVE
Contact Information:
410-795-3117
tangara@comcast.net
Distance:
Fees: Negotiable – up to the host club
Equipment Needed: Computer and Projector
Virtual: No
Programs:
- Big Bend, Texas
- Bosque del Apache, New Mexico
- Peru- Southern England
- Southern Spain
- Mallorca
- Birding in Turkey
- Chile 2015
- Thailand 2016
- India 2018
- Scandinavia 2016
- Colorado 2017
- Borneo
HERSHBERGER, WILBUR
Contact Information:
wilhershberger@mac.com
Distance: – any distance
Fees: $75
Equipment Needed: Large Screen
Virtual: Yes
Programs:
- Songs of Insects
- A Celebration of Bird Song
- Nature Sound Recording – Why and How (includes a discussion of Cornell Lab developments)
- Vesper Sparrow Song Project
JACKS, LINDSAY
Contact Information:
256-493-7393
lightsoutbaltimore@gmail.com, lightsoutbaltimore.org
Distance: No restriction
Fees: Donation to Lights Out Baltimore
Equipment Needed: Projector and Screen
Virtual: Yes
Programs:
- Saving Birds One Building at a Time
- Saving Birds One Building at a Time (for younger audiences)
- Creating a Community Based Monitoring Program
- Impacts of Light Pollution
- Pollination 3 B’s: Birds, Bats and Bees
JETT, GEORGE
( See also BREWER, GWEN )
Contact Information:
gmjett@verizon.net
Distance: Any MOS Chapter
Fees: Compensation for travel and, if possible, dinner, or a good bottle of Scotch.
Equipment Needed: LCD Projector
Virtual: Yes
Programs:
- The Big Picture – My big photo year in 2008 – A fund raiser for the American Bird Conservancy. See article in May/June 2009 issue of Yellowthroat for details.
- Ethiopian Adventure
- A Snapshot of the Lower Rio Grande Valley, TX – Going Digital
- Out of Season, Out of Range Hummingbirds – recaps the historical information of generally winter hummingbirds with images. How to attract and feed them, etc.
- I’m Number One – Maryland’s first records with pictures and a story about the bird. How to document the first records and get the message out
- An Abridged Natural History of Southern Maryland
JETT, GEORGE & GWEN BREWER
( See also JETT, GEORGE and BREWER, GWEN )
Contact Information:
gmjett@verizon.net, 3wigeons@verizon.net
Distance: Any MOS Chapter
Fees: Compensation for travel and, if possible, dinner, or a good bottle of Scotch.
Equipment Needed: LCD Projector
Virtual: Yes
Programs:
- Conservation and Birding in Columbia
- Winter Birding in Arizona
- Bats, Birds, and Things of Trinidad
- Birds and Bats in the Brazilian Amazon
- Cuba 2011 – Culture and Natural History
- Gambia & Senegal – Culture and Natural History
- Grand Argentina and Chile
- Ghana, west Africa
KEARNS, GREG – Park Naturalist Patuxent River Park
Contact Information:
301-627-6074
greg.kearns@pgparks.com
Distance: Will discuss
Fees: Honorarium for gas preferred
Equipment Needed: None
Virtual: No
Programs: Too many to list all. Contact Greg for details.
- Of Rice and Rails: A Report on Rail Populations at Jug Bay and the Importance of
- Wild Rice
- Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks.
- South Africa
- The Pantanal and Brazil
- Galapagos
- Ospreys on the Patuxent – 35 years of research, population trends, and study
- Banding and Telemetry Studies Using Motus on Fall Migrant Soras on the Patuxent River, Jug Bay, Md 2017 – 2020
MACKIERNAN, GAIL
Contact Information:
301-989-1828
katahdinss@comcast.net
Distance: 1 1⁄2 hours
Fees: Travel expenses reimbursed
Equipment Needed: Digital projector/laptop computer (can supply if necessary). For
some programs, Slide projector: Screen.
Virtual: Yes
Programs:
- Bhutan
- Uganda
- Philippines
- Ethiopia
- Madagascar
- Panama
MCCANN, JIM – DNR, Natural Heritage Program, Frostburg, MD
Contact Information:
301-689-7105
james.mccann@maryland.gov
Distance: Statewide, depending on audience and time of year
Fees: Not required. Honorarium can be donated to Natural Heritage Program
Equipment Needed: none
Virtual: No
Programs:
- Ecology and Conservation of Freshwater Mussels
- Dragonflies and Damselflies
- Forest Interior Bird Conservation
- Rare, Threatened and Endangered Animals
MESSERSMITH, DR. DONALD
Contact Information:
301-890-1952
dmesser28@icloud.com
Distance: Unlimited
Fees: Variable
Equipment Needed: Will bring his own projector.
Virtual: No
Programs (call for additional programs):
- Changes in Birding in China over 25 Years
- Birding and/or Natural History in Australia
- Birding and/or Natural History in China
- Birding and/or Natural History in Europe
- Cruising for Birds in Antarctica Waters
- Birding in the Falkland Islands
- Birding in the Cook Islands
- Birding in Southeast Brazil
- Insects of the World
- Natural History of Belize
- Natural History of the Galapagos Islands
- 70 Years Finding & Studying Birds: My Life as a Naturalist
- Venezuela is For the Birds
- Wildlife of East (or South Africa) Africa
- The Big Trip – A 22,000 mile Cross-country Birding Trip
- Cuba
- Pribilof Islands, Alaska
MILLENSON, JANET
Contact Information:
(301) 983-9337
janet@twocrows.com
Distance: Not specified
Fees: Not specified
Equipment Needed: Laptop plus digital projector for the PowerPoint program.
Virtual: Yes
Programs:
- Three Centuries of Birds – Artists and writers before Audubon
OMLAND, KEVIN – (PhD) Associate Professor, Dept. of Biological Sciences, UMBC
Contact Information:
301-332-7749 (Cell, preferred) 410-455-2243 (phone) 410-455-3875 (fax)
omland@umbc.edu
Distance: Anywhere in the state
Fees: None
Equipment Needed: Can provide his own computer & PowerPoint Projector
Virtual: Yes
Programs:
- Conservation Biology of the Bahama Oriole
- Comparison of Tropical and Temperate Orioles
- Evolution of Female Song Across Songbirds
SCARPULLA, GENE
Contact Information:
301-464-3861
ejscarp@comcast.net
Distance: statewide
Fees: none
Equipment Needed: laptop and projector; tables for displays
Virtual: No
Programs:
- Native Bees of Maryland
SCALLION, MARK
Contact Information:
410-770-4585
mark.scallion@audubon.org
Distance: Check with Mark.
Fees: Payment for mileage if location is off the Eastern Shore.
Equipment Needed:
Virtual: Yes
Programs:
- Pickering Creek
SCHWARZ, KURT
Contact Information:
410-461-1643 – home, 443-538-2370 cell
krschwa1@verizon.net
Distance: Happily within 1-2 hour drive. Will consider farther.
Fees: none
Equipment Needed: Projector for PowerPoint
Virtual: Yes
Programs:
- Trogons and Mot-Mots: A February 2008 Trip to the West Coast of Mexico around San Blas. Mangroves, Mountains and Beaches.
- Aimophila Adventures: Most birders travel to southeast Arizona to seek such showy birds as Elegant Trogon and Flame-colored Tanager. Howard Bird Club Member and MOS Conservation Chair Kurt Schwarz spent the summer of 2009 in the region, and did look for such birds, but he also took time to study those little brown jobs that make Maryland sparrows appear downright gaudy. Kurt will show uncharacteristically in-focus pictures of many of Arizona’s specialties such as Scott’s Oriole and the ultimate LBJ, Botteri’s Sparrow.
- Cape May Capers: Kurt will show just why Cape May is a wonderful and rich birding destination, and also discuss the many birding locales in Cape May and nearby counties.
- California Dreaming’: From Mono Lake to Big Sur via Yosemite. Up close and personal with California Condor.
- The DMV’s Kaliedescope of Bird Life: Birds of Maryland, Delaware and the District of Columbia. Intended for beginners.
VAN VELSIR, GARY
Contact Information:
410 544-7971 858-356-9160 – for the winter, 433-381-8770 cell
gvanvelsir@msn.com
Distance: 150 miles
Fees: If possible, dinner, or $50 to defray expenses
Equipment Needed: Can provide his own projector & screen if necessary.
Virtual: Yes
Programs:
- Travel: Birding Trip to Australia
- Birding Trip to Costa Rica
- Birding Trip to China
- Birding the Low Countries (Europe: Belgium, France and the Netherlands)
- Birding Magee Marsh and Point Pelee (Ohio and Ontario)
- Birds and Orchids: New Hampshire and The Gaspe Peninsula
- Organ Pipe National Monument (Includes Cabeza Prieta NWR, Arizona)
- California:
- Birds of Anza-Borrego Desert State Park and Sonny Bono NWR (near the Salton Sea)
- Birds of Solana Beach and San Elijo Lagoon
- Alpine Wildflowers of the Sierras (I, II and III)
- Alpine Wildflowers of Northern California
- Desert Wildflowers of California (I and II)
- Carrizo Plain National Monument (Wildflowers and Birds)
- Maryland:
- Maryland Breeding Birds
- Warblers and other Neotropical Migrants
- Maryland Wildflowers
- Native Orchids of Maryland
- Birding:
- Hummingbirds (Eastern US, Western US, Costa Rica and Ecuador)
- Western Warblers and other Neotropical Migrants
- Orchids:
- Native Orchids of North America
- Native Orchids of Maryland
WATSON, MARCIA
Contact Information:
301-464-3170
marshwren50@comcast.net
Distance: Statewide
Fees: mileage
Equipment needed: Possesses own laptop; need digital projector, screen, small table or
podium for the laptop.
Virtual: Yes
Program:
- Mountains to Saltmarsh: The MOS Sanctuaries
WINEGRAD, GERALD (Former State Senator and Policy Director for American Bird Conservancy)
Contact Information:
410 280-8956
gwwabc@comcast.net
Distance: Will discuss; depends on schedule at time of request.
Fees: $150-$250 depending on distance
Equipment Needed: laptop, digital projector and screen
Virtual: Yes
Programs:
- 50 Years of Fighting for Birds and Other Wildlife: My Life in Politics and with American Bird Conservancy
- Horseshoe Crabs, Red Knots and other Shorebirds: One of Nature’s Great Phenomena and Efforts to Conserve the Horseshoe Crab
- The Amazing Wildlife of Madagascar and the Urgent Need for Conservation (From a Trip)
- Expedition to the Artic: The Amazing Birds, Walrus, Polar Bears and Whales of Svalbard
- Eco-expedition to Costa Rica—400 Birds Species including Resplendent Quetzal and Three-wattled Bell Birds
- Communication Towers as Deadly Threats to Birds: How to prevent Avian Mortality at Towers
- Eco-expedition to South Africa, Zambia, and Botswana: Amazing Birds and Wildlife Adventure
- The Decline of the Chesapeake Bay and What Needs to be done to Restore the Bay.
- Wind Energy and Birds: Threat or benefit to Avian Species?
- Back from the Precipice of Extinction: The Fascinating Story of Efforts to Save the San Clemente Loggerhead Shrike
- Pesticides and Birds: The Remarkable Story of International Cooperation to Prevent the Poisoning of Thousands of Swainson’s Hawks in Argentina from Pesticide Poisoning and the Death Toll for Birds of Commonly Used Pesticides.