We are pleased to announce this year's Festival Keynote Speaker: Steve Hoffman
Steve Hoffman has devoted his entire 45-year career to wildlife conservation. Steve grew up in suburban Philadelphia and received his Master’s Degree in Wildlife Ecology from Utah State University (1979). In 1986 he founded HawkWatch International; he has authored more than 50 publications and reports on raptor migration, ecology and conservation.
In 2017, after 10 years as Executive Director of Montana Audubon, Steve started his own birding tour company, Merlin Birding & Nature Tours LLC. He has led or co-led many Merlin Birding, National Audubon & Montana Audubon birding tours to Ecuador, Costa Rica, Newfoundland/Nova Scotia, Panama, Mexico’s Copper Canyon, Veracruz, Oaxaca & Baja California regions, and throughout Montana. He resides in Bozeman, where he also coordinates the local Bridger Raptor Migration Project.
About his presentation:
45 Years of Counting Migrating Raptors in the West: What Have We Learned?
Founder of HawkWatch International (1986), Steve Hoffman will chronicle efforts to develop an expansive raptor migration monitoring network in the western U.S. (over the past 49 years). These studies have yielded important scientific information about the health and population trends of more than a dozen raptor species that migrate through western North America. Enroute from northern breeding grounds (many originate in Alaska and northern Canada) to spend the non-breeding period in more southern climes (as far as south as Argentina!), these apex aerial predators serve as valuable indicators of large-scale ecosystem health and change. Steve will summarize key findings from these raptor migration monitoring efforts, emphasizing the value of these long-term data sets for evaluating future climate change impacts on not only our majestic raptors, but also on overall ecosystem health and biodiversity.
Swainson’s Hawks migrating in Veracruz, Mexico. Photo courtesy Merlin Birding Tours.
