Mike Rader – KOS 2025 Ivan Boyd Award Recipient

Mike Rader grew up in Kensington, Kansas. Attending Kansas State University, he met his wife, Ellen, graduating with a degree in Park Resources Management. His professional career started with the Army Corp of Engineers, but in 1989 Mike landed a job with the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks working at Wilson State Park as a Conservation Worker, aiding in the development of the Cedar Trail (Otoe), Dakota Trail (Hell Creek), and creating the Wilson State Park Bird List brochure.

In 2007 Mike was named Wildlife Education Coordinator for KDWP, a position that included an office at state headquarters in Pratt and a seat on a variety of advisory committees. Mike has long administered the statewide EcoMeet competition for high-schoolers. He also supervises five key state employees who interact with large numbers of Kansas school children at places like the Pratt Education Center, Milford Nature Center, the Kansas Wetlands Education Center at Cheyenne Bottoms, and Southeast Kansas Nature Center at Galena. Mike’s many duties with the KDWP were cited as a main reason he was named KOS Avian Conservationist of the Year in 2014. A similar honor was bestowed in 2018 when the Kansas Association for Conservation and Environmental Education gave him the Strickler Award for Excellence in Environmental Education.

Mike Rader was a Regional Coordinator for the Kansas Breeding Bird Atlas in the 1990s. He assigned blocks to eager volunteers but completed more than ten blocks himself. Mike has conducted Breeding Bird Surveys for US Fish & Wildlife for many years. Mike is also a Christmas Bird Count Compiler. He has long compiled the Wilson Lake count but has also done Webster, Blackwolf, Quivira, and others. In fact, if you have been on enough CBCs in Kansas you have probably run into Mike. In recent years Mike became an eBird reviewer, a job that few have the knowledge or the courage to manage. Mike has authored papers for the KOS Bulletin and elsewhere, though he is best known for writing his “Bird Brain” column in the Kansas Wildlife & Parks Magazine.

Mike Rader has been a member of the Kansas Ornithological Society for almost 40 years and has seldom missed either a Spring or Fall meeting. He served two two-year terms as a director, serving as both Vice-President and President of KOS and has helped organize past club events. Mike has also served two seven-year terms on the Kansas Bird Records Committee.

In addition to all his other accomplishments, Mike is first and foremost a great birder who has a sharp eye and a keen ear. His life list has long been near the top among all Kansas birders and he was part of the Kansas team that still holds the Big Day record for our state. Mike has also added birds to the state checklist, most notably the Long-billed Murrelet at Wilson Lake.

This long list of good works should prove to all that Mike Rader is worthy of the Ivan L. Boyd Award.

Nominated by Kurtis Meier – KOS President 2023-2025