The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Hackmatack National Wildlife Refuge will celebrate International Migratory Bird Day with bird banding and family activities at three northern Illinois locations on Saturday and Sunday, April 26 and 27, 2014.
On Saturday, April 26 and Sunday, April 27 from 8:00 am to 9:30 am, Service staff will set up mist nets to capture songbirds to band at the McHenry County Conservation District’s Lost Valley Visitor Center in Glacial Park, Ringwood. In the afternoons, from noon until 3:30 pm, they will join the Illinois Department of Natural Resources International Migratory Bird Day festivities at McHenry Dam (Saturday) in McHenry and Volo Bog (Sunday) in Ingleside.
During the morning activities at the Lost Valley Visitor Center, you can watch a wildlife biologist capture, band, and release birds that are passing through the area on their way north. Look for warblers, swallows, bluebirds, as well as winter residents like chickadees and nuthatches. Kids can explore a simulated mist net (the birds aren’t real) or discover the birds and creatures of the Mystery Marsh. Take a selfie with the National Wildlife Refuge System mascot, Webster, the Blue Goose.
On Saturday and Sunday afternoons, Service staff will join Illinois Department of Natural Resource’s International Migratory Bird Day festivities at McHenry Dam (Saturday) and Volo Bog (Sunday). Join us for the Bird Behavior Scavenger Hunt. Webster, the Blue Goose will join us there as well. There will be a lot of other bird-based fun, including The Great Migration Challenge, Bird Bingo and JeopBirdy!
Hackmatack National Wildlife Refuge was established in 2012 from the grassroots effort of the Friends of Hackmatack, McHenry County Conservation District, and a variety of conservation partners in northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin. The refuge aims to restore and connect a landscape that includes large blocks of grasslands, wet prairies, and natural stream watercourses.
For more information about Hackmatack National Wildlife Refuge go to: http://www.fws.gov/refuge/hackmatack/ or hackmatacknwr.org/.
For information and directions to Lost Valley Visitor Center, go to: mccdistrict.org/web/si-Lost-Valley.htm.
For details about International Migratory Bird Day events sponsored by the Illinois DNR, go to: http://www.dnr.illinois.gov/calendar/pages/internationalmigratorybirddaysatvolobogsna.aspx
