Calendar

Events in October 2026

Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday
September 27, 2026
September 28, 2026
September 29, 2026
September 30, 2026
October 1, 2026
October 2, 2026
October 3, 2026
October 4, 2026
October 5, 2026
October 6, 2026
October 7, 2026
October 8, 2026
October 9, 2026
October 10, 2026
October 11, 2026
October 12, 2026
October 13, 2026 (1 event)

–
October 13, 2026

Swan Presentation - Tuesday, October 13th from 6:30 pm to 7:30 pm at Sobieski Park Lodge (965 7th Street, Winona, MN 55987). Doors open at 6:15 pm for the pubic. Friends members who have previously sent an RSVP will have dinner and give aways at 5:30 pm.

The Upper Mississippi River is one of the most important migration staging areas in North America for the eastern population of tundra swans, a species that breeds in the arctic of Alaska and Canada, and winters in the mid-Atlantic coastal region of the United States. This presentation will provide insight into tundra swan natural history, how to differentiate tundra swans from trumpeter swans (a year-round resident of Minnesota and Wisconsin), and it will highlight how and why the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge is so important to this species during its spring and fall migrations. Join the Friends of the Refuge Headwaters for this informative presentation with Wildlife Biologist, Stephen Winter. Steve is a Wildlife Biologist for the Refuge, as well as other areas up and down the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers. He and his USFWS colleagues collaborate with several federal and state partners to plan large-scale habitat restoration and enhancement projects, and Steve serves on several regional partnership coordination, strategic planning, and science advisory teams and working groups. He acquired a love of waterfowl, other waterbirds, and wetlands as a young child and he particularly enjoys working at a refuge that annually hosts hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of migrating waterfowl each spring and fall.

Click for PDF of poster: Swan presentation Friends of Refuge Headwaters

October 14, 2026 (1 event)

–
October 14, 2026

Prairie Island Dike Clean-up - Wednesday, October 14th from 10 am -12 pm. Help us care for the refuge by joining our clean-up along the Prairie Island Dike. We'll meet at McNally Boat Landing  (next to the Prairie Island Campground in Winona) to hand out gloves, picker-upper sticks, and trash bags. Please wear sturdy shoes/boots and dress for the weather. We will cancel if it is raining.

October 15, 2026
October 16, 2026
October 17, 2026
October 18, 2026
October 19, 2026
October 20, 2026
October 21, 2026
October 22, 2026
October 23, 2026
October 24, 2026
October 25, 2026
October 26, 2026
October 27, 2026
October 28, 2026
October 29, 2026
October 30, 2026
October 31, 2026