Trempealeau Refuge to Celebrate Annual Birding Festival
The Trempealeau National Wildlife Refuge invites everyone to participate in this year’s celebration of World Migratory Bird Day (WMBD). The theme for this year’s installment of the annual celebration is “sing, fly, soar!” On May 8th, there will be six total group hikes guided by experienced birding volunteers. There won’t be any other event offerings on that day in order to follow COVID-19 guidelines, but there will be self-led birding stations for 2 weeks beginning May 3rd!
Kick off this year’s annual birding festival by attending Stan Tekiela’s Zoom presentation titled, “Bird Migration: The Incredible Journeys of North American Birds”, sponsored by the Friends of Trempealeau Refuge. This Zoom presentation, based on Tekiela’s new book, will be held on May 7th and will begin at 7:00pm. Migration is still a mystery in many ways, In this presentation, Stan Tekiela will share magnificent photographs of migrating birds along with interesting facts that will help shed some light on some of the secrets of bird migration. This presentation is filled with the information and stories of these fascinating migratory birds along with. How did they find their way? How do they know when they arrived? How do they find their way back? These questions and many more will be answered during this presentation! Visit the Trempealeau National Wildlife Refuge FB event page for Zoom information.
This year, the celebration will be adapted to meet COVID-19 guidelines in order to ensure the safety and enjoyment of all volunteers and participants. Face coverings will be required for all attending individuals, and we also ask that social distancing is still maintained throughout this event. To aid with social distancing, each hiking group will be limited to ten participants and pre-registration is required. There will be three hikes starting at 7:00 am followed by three hikes which will begin at 9:00 am on Saturday May 8th. Please call (608) 539-2311, ext. 1 to register your spot in the festivities of this year’s WMBD!
In addition, from May 3rd – 14th there will be signs set up at five of the best birding sites found on the Refuge. These locations are hotspots where birdwatchers can see some of the most unique birds found at the Refuge. Look for informational brochures found at the kiosks, which will provide site descriptions for the five best birding spots. We hope that you enjoy these recommended birding locations and share them with your friends and family so that more people get to see these amazing birds!
For more information regarding the refuge, visit our website at www.fws.gov/refuge/trempealeau/ or call (608)539-2311, ext. 6.