The first Washington Island Bird Festival came about when Dick Purinton, owner of the Washington Island Ferryline, told biologist/naturalist Sandy (Ursula) Petersen he would like to attract more birders to Washington Island and Sandy offered to hold a bird festival. That was in late 2006.

We held our first bird festival in June 2007. The two-fold purpose was to attract birders to Washington Island and to assist the Door County Land Trust with bird habitat conservation on the Island by donating left-over income from the festival.

Seventy-five people were registered at the first festival and another 10 to 15 assisted as coordinators, guides, hosts, deckhands, etc. We spent most of our time birding and ended up with 107 species plus a dozen more only seen by one person. This first festival was co-sponsored by many organizations and businesses and prizes were drawn at the Saturday evening dinner followed by a presentation about the Rough-legged Hawk in northern Sweden by Sandy Petersen. Our participants were overwhelmingly satisfied with the festival so here we are once again.

• Board Member ~ Wisconsin Society for Ornithology
• Bird Monitor ~ DNR, WBCI, FWS, Menominee Nation
• Bird Researcher ~ Royal Swedish Academy of Science, Abisko Field Station
• Ornithology instructor ~ UW-Madison and National Audubon in Maine
• Naturalist/guide ~ Wyalusing State Park, Washington Island, Madison Schools, UW-Extension