Dodge tall buildings and escape from a cat. Compete in JeopBirdy and Bird Bingo. Look through a spotting scope, learn how to use binoculars and go on a 10-minute bird walk. Make a model bird and join the Flock. These are just some of the more than 20 activities in celebration of birds at World Migratory Bird Days to be held in northeast Illinois and southeast Wisconsin today and tomorrow.
This year’s theme is “Be the Solution to Plastic Pollution” and the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, McHenry County Conservation District, Friends of Hackmatack National Wildlife Refuge, Lakeland Audubon, and the U.S. Fish are Wildlife Service are once again bringing a world-wide celebration of birds to the Illinois-Wisconsin stateline region.
Participants are invited to complete activities and win prizes: the more activities completed, the more prizes won.
On Saturday, April 27, from 8 a.m. to noon, activities, including the bird walk, will take place at Glacial Park’s Lost Valley Visitor Center at Route 31 and Harts Road, Ringwood, Illinois. Bird banding by USFWS biologists from 8 to 10:30 a.m.
On Sunday, April 28, activities will take place:
- 8 to 10:30 a.m. – USFWS bird banding demonstrations at Turner Tract Hackmatack NWR site, N545-N561 Highway H, Genoa City; plus plenty of bird activities;
- Noon to 4 p.m. at Volo Bog State Natural Area at 28478 W Brandenburg Road, Ingleside, Illinois, activities will take place all afternoon long.
World Migratory Bird Days is a cooperative between the Illinois DNR, McHenry County Conservation District, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Friends of Hackmatack National Wildlife Refuge, Friends of Volo Bog, Lakeland Audubon, and McHenry County Audubon, along with about 40 volunteers, and nearly a dozen additional partners and sponsors.
On both mornings, USFWS wildlife biologists will be capturing and leg banding birds before releasing them back into the wild. As they weigh and check the health of each bird, participants will get to see these unique creatures up close.
About World Migratory Bird Days
World Migratory Bird Day was initiated in 2006 by the Secretariat of the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds in collaboration with the Secretariat of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals.
Originally, the idea of designating a day for migratory birds arose in the United States in 1993, when the US Fish and Wildlife Service, the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center and the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology initiated celebrations of the International Migratory Bird Day, which encourages bird festivals and education programs across the Americas. Although this day was and continues to be successfully celebrated in the western hemisphere, something similar was missing for the rest of the world.
On the occasion of its 10th anniversary in 2005, the AEWA Secretariat initiated the Migratory Waterbird Days, which were held in Africa, Europe and parts of Asia. As this event was well received in the African-Eurasian region, it was decided to broaden the scope into a commemorative day that celebrates all migrating birds on a global scale.
The very first World Migratory Bird Day was launched by AEWA and CMS on the weekend of April 8 and 9, 2006, on Kuki Gallmann’s famous wildlife reserve Ole Ari Nyiro in Laikipia, Kenya. The central event at the launch – called WINGS – was inspired by the phenomenon of bird migration and was attended by a number of international personalities from the worlds of art, business and conservation.
Since then, WMBD has been celebrated annually and has been growing in popularity each year. The global campaign continues to be organized centrally from Bonn, Germany by the CMS and AEWA Secretariats. Every year more countries, organizations and people are joining the campaign.
