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BSBO News and Events

As a Black Swamp Bird Observatory donor, you are a champion for bird conservation, a steward of biodiversity, and a beacon of hope for future generations. Your continued involvement allows us to expand our reach, deepen our impact, and amplify our voice in advocating for the protection of birds and their habitats.

And thanks to the generous challenge match from Julene Market, Mark & Cheryl Klimek, and an anonymous donor, your donation will be DOUBLED up to a total of $80,000!

Donate $25 or more and you'll be entered to win a $4,400 optics prize package!

INTRODUCING:
FREQUENT FLYER BIRDING WITH BSBO!
MONTHLY MEMBERS-ONLY GUIDED FIELD TRIPS

Your membership supports our mission to help people fall in love with birds and build support for bird conservation. In addition to many other benefits, we want to express our gratitude by offering members-only guided monthly field trip for 2025. Join us the first Saturday of every month for a guided trip with BSBO staff at some of the best birding spots Ohio has to offer. Let’s go birding together!

Upcoming Events

Next Birds at Home:

Leveraging Social Media Analytics to Monitor Avian Collisions

DATE: Tuesday, January 14, 2025
TIME: 7 p.m. Eastern Time

Presented by Diya Balagopal

If you want to be inspired by a motivated, young conservationist, we have a Birds at Home Virtual Learning Series program for you!
Sixteen-year-old Diya Balagopal is a passionate environmental advocate and tech innovator, currently a junior at Reedy High School in Frisco, TX. Driven by a love for birds and the environment, she has a strong interest in data and computer science and aspires to merge technology with conservation in her future career. Diya’s latest project, in collaboration with FLAP and BirdCast, leverages the power of social media to address the global issue of bird collisions with buildings and windows. By developing a data harvesting program and an AI-driven Twitter bot, she enables real-time monitoring of bird collisions, providing invaluable data to conservationists and research organizations.

Learn more and sign up today by clicking the button below!

2025 BSBO Membership and Donation Optics Drive

Thanks to our friends at Land Sea & Sky, we are excited to offer another year of our annual membership drive! Help Black Swamp Bird Observatory help the birds by joining as a member, renewing your membership, or donating at least $25. This enters you for a chance to win an optics package valued at $4,400! The package includes a Leica Noctivid 8x42 binocular and a Swarovski CL Companion 8x30 binocular!

EXCITING FACILITY IMPROVEMENTS AT BSBO!

Learn more and donate HERE

Birds at Home
Virtual Learning Series

Join BSBO and our lineup of speakers for fun, informative, interesting, and uplifting virtual presentations and workshops - delivered to you in the comfort of your own home!

Check out upcoming presentations and past recordings here >>

Stay Connected

Support BSBO While YOU Shop

If you shop at Kroger in the Columbus area and/or northern Ohio (excluding Springfield), we ask that you (and your family and friends) link your Kroger Plus cards to BSBO’s Kroger Community Rewards account, number BG821. All of the dollars you spend with Kroger throughout the year will help us be eligible for a quarterly contribution through this program. Click HERE to register your Kroger Card for BSBO!

If you're looking for a new way to help BSBO, please consider looking through our Amazon Wishlist. This will help us with supplies needed to carry on the work that BSBO does for birds every day!

We just added some equipment we need to power our songbird banding research!

Click HERE to check out our list!

If purchasing items, please have them shipped to:
Black Swamp Bird Observatory
142 W. Water Street
Oak Harbor, OH 43449

Latest From Our Blogs

FROM THE FIELD: BABY PIED-BILLED GREBES by Tracy Marr

The pied-billed grebe. A small diver with big feet. Cute, not beautiful. Subtle coloration, not gaudy. The ability to do a submarine sink beneath the water and a distinctive call you can hear across the marsh. For some reason, I love them. Several years ago, I realized it’s very peaceful to watch them float on the water, dive and re-appear, dive and re-appear.

Read More >

BSBO Blogs

Outreach and Education Blog

Bird Bander's Blog

Conservation News

Conservation is at the heart of BSBO's mission. All of our projects and programs are designed to raise awareness and appreciation for birds and the importance of habitat conservation. We believe that connecting people to the joys of birding is the first step in building support for conservation; people care more about the things they love.

Special Announcements

BSBO Nature Store Closed Until Further Notice

We are undergoing an exciting renovation! Our Nature Store is closed for in-person visits until further notice. Please follow our Facebook page and subscribe to our monthly eNews for announcements about reopening our center and the Nature Store.

Additionally, our online Swamp Shop will be closed until at least January 24, 2025, so that we can do some site maintenance.