This year, WFO partnered with the Washington Ornithological Society (WOS) to host our 49th Annual Conference, which was held in Yakima, Washington, June 5–8. The conference attracted 269 attendees, including 36 students and scholarship recipients. This year, WFO & WOS awarded 10 student scholarships and WFO awarded 5 scholarships for scholars from Mexico.

A group of students, Mexican scholars, and board members after the opening student reception at the 2025 Annual Conference.

The WOS conference team organized an exceptional array of half- and full-day field trips to 34 different locations, totaling over 75 trips as most were offered each day. We extend a special thank you to Laurie Ness for all her work organizing these trips! Attendees explored and birded across the diverse habitats in central Washington, covering a wide variety of habitat types ranging from alpine tundra to open pine forests to wetlands. There were also evening trips to four different locations for owls and nightjars. This year, two trips were designated for students and young professionals: one to the Yakama Nation Eagle Aviary & Bison Ranch, the other to visit a special colony of Burrowing Owls in an area not usually open to the public. Collectively, attendees detected 198 species.

Friday’s Naneum field trip in old growth larches near the Naneum Ridge. Photo: Diane Yorgason-Quinn.

WFO conferences are known for their engaging scientific presentations and workshops, and this year was no exception. On Friday, Nathan Pieplow led a 3-hour workshop on Red Crossbill vocalizations and those of other finch species, including Evening Grosbeaks and redpolls. This year’s plenary speaker, Michael Murphy, opened the Friday afternoon science session with some ‘Meanderings Down the Kingbird Highway’, describing his 32 years of research on Eastern Kingbirds. “Instead of following a single topic for a long time, I followed a single species for a long time,” he said. In total there were 14 scientific presentations, including the keynote. Click here to read the full schedule, presentation abstracts, and presenter bios.

Keynote speaker Jeff Kozma, Timber, Fish and Wildlife (TFW) Wildlife Biologist with Yakama Nation Fisheries, gave a presentation discussing his research on White-headed Woodpeckers, their nesting habitat requirements, and how managing forests for a species such as the White-headed Woodpecker can also provide fire-resilient forests. He discussed the ecological consequences of past forest management and historical fire suppression, which replaced low- and mixed-severity fires with more frequent, high-intensity burns, altering forest structure. Though the availability of snags is the most limiting factor for White-headed Woodpecker nesting, the species also relies on living trees, switching from foraging in dead wood after nestlings fledge to foraging in the foliage and on the bark of living trees. Current forest management doesn’t provide enough large live trees, he said, which impacts food availability. He recommends less aggressive thinning, retention of large live trees, snag creation, and promoting canopy cover to reduce shrub density to help decrease nest predation.

Jeff Kozma during his keynote presentation. Photo: Michael Wilde.

Evening conference activities included two attendee favorites: Dennis Paulson and Shep Thorp did indeed Stump the Experts with their photo quiz of awkward angles and partially-viewed birds. Unsurprisingly, Phil Unitt, curator of the San Diego Natural History Museum’s Department of Birds and Mammals, was able to easily identify a photo of the underside of a wing specimen as California Quail.

Phil Unitt, standing on the far left, correctly identifies a wing specimen as belonging to a California Quail. Photo: Michael Wilde.

This year’s Sound ID Challenge was hosted by Nathan Pieplow and Ben Guo of Earbirder.com. Six teams formed to accept the challenge: the Uncommon Loons, We’re Calling Bushtit, AeroKnotys [possibly the AeroNoddies?- let us know if this was your team in the comments!], Western Mockingbirds, Mixed Flock, and the Kiki-Doos. Like last year’s conference, the audience was able to play along on their phones with separate challenges while the teams finalized their answers. The event consisted of three rounds: the first on a theme (which teams also had to guess); the second simulating a point count, and the third a ‘sooner the better’ situation, with more points awarded for turning in an answer after hearing the fewest number of audio clips. The Uncommon Loons were the only team to correctly identify the species in the third round and were also the winners overall.

A team deliberates their answers during the Sound ID Challenge. Photo: Michael Wilde.

At the banquet, WFO honored Dave Shuford with the Harry S. Swarth Award. In his acceptance speech, Dave reflected on his long relationship with WFO, recalling that his first Western Birds submission came back “more red than black.” He joked that longtime editor Phil Unitt was probably surprised he resubmitted it, but he simply kept working on it. Dave also offered words of encouragement to the next generation of ornithologists and researchers, and urged the audience to celebrate not just major career milestones but also the smaller moments, such as telling a colleague you liked their scientific paper.

Dave Shuford speaks at the 2025 Annual Conference after being awarded the Harry S. Swarth Award. Photo: Michael Wilde.

Many thanks to everyone at WFO and WOS who worked together to organize the conference. Thank you also to our conference sponsors Holbrook Travel and Vortex.

Thank you to everyone who attended the conference this year. We hope to see you in Ashland, Oregon, for WFO’s 50th Annual Conference, September 17–20, 2026! Our room block is open at Ashland Hills Hotel & Suites. Reserve your hotel room today!

August 2025 | Lauren Smith, Newsletter Editor