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The American Birding Association has returned to the nest in Minot this week.

A total of 117 avid bird watchers are attending an ABA regional birding conference headquartered at Minot's Holiday Inn-Riverside.

"North Dakota had the first American Birding Association gathering here and then the 25th anniversary event and now, 15 years later, this regional symposium," said Sherry Leslie, an avid Minot birder and conference volunteer. "Minot is located in a very unique birding area and this is wonderful eco-tourism. We have people from New York and Texas and all over the country. There are target birds they want to see and it is great."

Conference attendees began their registration process this past Sunday. At 4 a.m. Monday morning, as they have done all week, the group members gathered for breakfast prior to departing on a series of area tours in the hopes of adding a new bird to their lifetime lists.

"They've been at it since four o'clock in the morning and they've been hard at it in the fields all day today. This afternoon they'll take part in a workshop," said Tamie Bulow, ABA tour manager from Colorado Springs, Colo., early Tuesday afternoon. "Last night when I asked the people how many had gotten life birds, 99 percent raised their hands. I would say people are pretty darned excited. The field trip leaders are getting them on the birds. That is awesome."

Birds that are common sights to North Dakota residents, such as sharptailed grouse and a variety of sparrows, are not at all common elsewhere in the United States. If a birder wants to add to his or her list, they'll have to go where the birds live. That's what brought Shirley Kelly and her husband to Minot from their home in San Francisco.

"It sure was. We had four birds in mind and I saw two of them Monday, the Sprague's pipit and the sharptailed grouse," said Shirley Kelly. "We are having a wonderful time."

Ron Martin of Minot, a professor at Minot State University and a nationally recognized authority on several species of birds, has been a very visible presence at the conference. If not giving an informative talk on bird species of North Dakota, Martin might be found updating the master bird checklist for the conference.

"We have a group of birds in the Minot area referred to as Northern Plains Endemics," said Martin. "Those are birds that just occur in the Northern Plains and this is one of the places that you can see them, so they come in for those. That's the draw. Most birders at some time or another make a pilgrimage to North Dakota to see those species."

Following the 4 a.m. breakfast, the birders divide into separate groups and board buses bound for popular birding destinations in the area. By 4:45 a.m. buses depart daily for Garrison Dam, Lostwood and Des Lacs National Wildlife Refuges, the Turtle Mountains and J. Clark Salyer NWR. The birders rotate their tour choices each morning. In addition to adding new birds to lifetime lists, the birders are treated to another extra in North Dakota.

"There is a lot of breeding birds here that people see on their wintering grounds in their home areas in their 'not so attractive' plumage," said Bulow. "But they are in their breeding plumage here. It's an extra thrill to see them in their full glory. North Dakota has the most fabulous birds."

Headlining Tuesday's workshop was Jon Dunn, an internationally renowned expert on North American sparrows. The accomplishments on Dunn's resume include a technical reviewer for Birding, co-author of two bird books and chief consultant for the National Geographic Society's Birds of North America. Rarities such as the Sprague's pipit and LeConte's sparrow can be found in the Minot region, adding to the timeliness of Dunn's appearance.

The conference concludes on Friday.