On March 2, PIBO held its first Birds Without Borders Sunset Cocktail Party, an event designed to raise funds for our 2024 Guest Birder and International Intern programs. The party was hosted in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, by Camino Sylvestre at the home of Jim McKeever and Alfredo García-Lucio, who also provided food through their catering service, AguaMiel.

Margaret Atwood graced the event with a reading from her forthcoming Woodbridge Farms chapbook, Birding with Graeme Gibson. Also in attendance was Shauna Hemingway, Deputy Minister of Mission at the Canadian Embassy in Mexico City. Martha Ramirez Cruz, PIBO’s 2023 International Intern, informed the gathering that of the 115 bird species she banded on Pelee Island last fall, 105 spend their winters in Mexico. Rodrigo López, esteemed birder and partner in PIBO’s Prismatico Project, gave a talk about an iconic bird from Mexico’s southern state of Oaxaca, the Rose-bellied bunting; Rodrigo will be coming to Pelee Island in May as our Guest Birder.

“We are deeply moved by the tremendous support from the ex-pat community here in San Miguel,” says PIBO Chair Merilyn Simonds, who organized the event. “It’s through events like this that we are able to fund our international outreach programs and to forge partnerships with bird conservation groups such as Audubon de México along the hemispheric flyway.”