2026 FESTIVAL VIPS
Scott Weidensaul (copyright Amy Weidensaul)
KEYNOTE SATURDAY EVENING
A World on the Wing: The Global Odyssey of Migratory Birds
Even as scientists make astounding discoveries about the navigational and physiological feats that enable migratory birds to cross immense oceans or fly above the highest mountains, go weeks without sleep or remain in unbroken flight for months at a stretch, humans have brought many migrants to the brink. Based on his bestselling book "A World on the Wing," author and researcher Scott Weidensaul takes you around the globe -- with researchers in the lab probing the limits of what migrating birds can do, to the shores of the Yellow Sea in China, the remote mountains of northeastern India where tribal villages saved the greatest gathering of falcons on the planet, and the Mediterranean, where activists and police are battling bird poachers -- to learn how people are fighting to understand and save the world's great bird migrations.
Scott Weidensaul is the author of nearly 30 books on natural history, including the Pulitzer Prize finalist "Living on the Wind" and his latest, the New York Times bestseller "A World on the Wing." Weidensaul is a contributing editor for Audubon and writes for a variety of other publications, including Bird Watcher's Digest and Living Bird. He is a Fellow of the American Ornithological Society and an active field researcher, studying saw-whet owl migration for nearly 30 years, as well as winter hummingbirds in the East, bird migration in Alaska, and the winter movements of snowy owls through Project SNOWstorm, which he co-founded.
Dorian Anderson
KEYNOTE SUNDAY EVENING
Birding Under the Influence: Cycling Across America in Search of Birds and Recovery
Dorian started birding in his Philadelphia backyard at age seven. His interest spread to the Jersey Shore during his preteen years, and he attended several of Victor Emanuel’s youth birding camps as a teenager. He envisioned himself as an ornithologist until his educational rise and coincident alcoholism extinguished his birding desire. With his focus split between molecular biology and drinking through his twenties, his childhood passion laid comatose, rediscovered only when he got sober at age thirty.
Despite constant blackout drinking and much coincident drug abuse, Dorian received his B.S. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from Stanford, did predoctoral biomedical research at Harvard, and earned his Ph.D. in Developmental Genetics and Molecular Cell Biology from NYU. After getting sober, he spent three years as a Postdoctoral Fellow in Molecular Neuroscience at Massachusetts General Hospital before resigning academia and undertaking his Biking for Birds project. That odyssey, the first nationwide bicycle Big Year, carried him 18,000 miles through 28 states in 2014.
Momentum from that life-changing pivot opened doors in public speaking and travel writing. He consulted for the National Audubon Society in Colombia, and he currently guides domestic and international tours for Tropical Birding. He is an avid bird photographer and has just published his memoir, Birding Under the Influence: Cycling across America in Search of Birds and Recovery. It is a thrill-packed account of his adventure and an honest view of the alcoholism and drug abuse which preceded his departure.
Greg Miller
Known as “The Real Life Birder from the Movie THE BIG YEAR,” Greg has been birding since… umm… well since before he can remember, as he was so young. He does not remember getting his first pair of binoculars or his first birding trip with his dad. Contrary to the movie “The Big Year” it was Greg’s father that got him into birding at that early age.
Birding for over 50 years Greg has birded in all 50 states and much of Canada. He has always been smitten by the birding bug and loves to get outside. Every trip out is an adventure!
In 1998 Greg zigzagged across the continent–traveling 130,000 miles—while trying to hold down a full time job at a nuclear power plant—to try to see as many species of birds in one calendar year as possible. It was an incredible experience passing the 700-species mark—an achievement many birders aspire to in a lifetime. But there was competition.
Two other birders, Sandy Komito and Al Levantin also did “Big Years” the same year as Greg and also broke the 700 mark. Their competitive quests are documented in the 2004 non-fiction book, The Big Year, by Pulitzer Prize winning author Mark Obmascik. And unbelievably, Twentieth Century Fox made a full feature motion picture inspired by the book!
The movie has A-list actors Jack Black, Steve Martin, and Owen Wilson plus a strong support cast. It was produced by Ben Stiller and directed by David Frankel (who also directed Marley & Me and The Devil Wears Prada). Worldwide release date was October 14, 2011. (NOTE: The Big Year is available on both DVD & Blu-ray well as Netflix & Redbox.)
Greg had the fortunate opportunity to be the Bird Consultant for the movie, The Big year, which was filmed in spring & summer of 2010. He was on the set for 3 weeks with many of the actors and crew and got to meet the stars!
Greg is currently on many bird-related boards and committees and has been instrumental in decisions on listing and conservation. His blog at GregMillerBirding.com has lots of great information on bird identification, migration and distribution in the USA.
Jon Dunn
Jon's interest in birds developed from the age of eight when he became absorbed with the Hooded Orioles in his yard in the L.A. area in 1962. He has written extensively about birds since the 1970's, often with his colleague, Kimball Garrett. Together they wrote Birds of Southern California, Status and Distribution (1981) and Warblers (1997). Jon also worked extensively with Jonathan Alderfer and together co-authored the Birds of North America by the National Geographic Society up through the 7th edition (2017) and Birding Essentials (2007) and co-edited the three editions of the Complete Birds of North America by National Geographic. Jon has served on various committees, notably the California Bird Records Committee (30 years), the ABA Checklist Committee and the Committee on Taxonomy and Nomenclature of the AOS (2000 to present). Beyond birds Jon has an interest in history and the music and poetry of Leonard Cohen.