Where the Birds Are

This man is Craig Thompson. Thompson works as a Regional Land Manager for the Wisconsin DNR. That's his everyday job. In his free time, Thompson organizes birding trips to Central and South America. They are birding trips with a difference however, Thompson has pioneered a model called "conservation birding trips". Every participant on the trip makes a significant donation toward conservation of bird habitat in the countries they visit. His trips have garnered thousands of dollars towards the purchase of lands for birds.

We joined up Thompson on his latest bird watching trip in the Osa Peninsula in Costa Rica. It was an amazing, arduous, fascinating trip and it will be part of our upcoming hour-long documentary on the plight of migratory songbirds titled "Our Birds". Right now, the plan is for a first broadcast of this special in 2011. I'll be detailing more of this shoot in the upcoming months, look for more stories that are part of this special in the next month on IN WISCONSIN. And next week, more photos, more info on this project.