Greensleeves

A couple of years ago I received a news release about an observance for “Migratory Bird Day.”

And I thought, really? What is that? Why do we celebrate that?

I’ve learned a few things since then.

I’ve come to realize that migrating birds are a wondrous sight – jewels in the treetops — and an important piece of the Earth’s biodiversity that needs to be celebrated and drawn attention to, lest we think it’s not important.

The observance was created in the early 1990s by the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center (SMBC) to encourage programs to teach people about birds.

One such program in the Quad-City region will be tomorrow (Saturday, May 16) at the Ingersoll Wetlands Learning Center, Thomson, Ill.

The free event begins at 7:30 a.m. with a guided bird walk, followed by beginning bird identifica-tion at 9 a.m. There will be a trumpeter swan restoration at 10:45 a.m. and a presentation “What in the World is Geocaching?” at noon.

For more information, call (815) 273-2732.

We in the Quad-City region are really lucky when it comes to migratory birds because the Mis-sissippi River is a major transcontinental flyway. We get to see more neat birds – colorful birds! — here than most other places in the country, if we just know to look.

Bird experts tell us that neotropical migrant birds (those that fly to the Caribbean islands, and Central and South America and back) have sustained significant population declines in recent decades.

The overwhelming issue is habitat loss, fragmentation and reduced quality of breeding habitat.

Even if the birds don’t nest here, our woodlands provide critical resting and refueling sites along the way. This is includes the Mississippi River bluffs, which also are prized home sites by well-heeled humans and subject to encroachment.

 The Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation is a nonprofit group that is working to preserve the bluffs, as well as other wild areas in the state. For more information on this and how you can help, go to this web site.

P.S. If you want to go to the event at Ingersoll: Take Illinois 84 to three or four miles north of Thomson. Look for the corner with New Miller potato farm, a McDonald’s sign and a brown sign for Ingersoll. Turn left (toward the river) and follow the road.

This entry was posted on Friday, May 15th, 2009 at 8:10 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.