Friday, May 5
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10:00 a.m.
Springfield's Urban Bird Treaty City
Designation Celebration ​
Springfield Museum Quadrangle Green
21 Edwards St., Springfield, MA
For questions, please contact Daniel Agustino, Museum Aquarist, Springfield Museums, 413/263-6800, ext. 404
This unique partnership between the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the City of Springfield and ReGreen Springfield will help birds and people by creating bird friendly and healthy habitats throughout Springfield.
Featured Presentation
Raptor Rehabilitator Tom Ricardi’s Live Birds of Prey
Sponsored by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's
Division of Migratory Birds
Sponsored by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Division of Migratory Birds. For children, adults, and families. Under the big tent on the Quadrangle Green. In the event of rain, the program moves into the Science Museum’s Tolman Auditorium.
Free.
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Saturday, May 6
9:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.
Bird Festival
Mass Audubon Arcadia Wildlife Sanctuary
127 Coombs Road, Easthampton, MA
http://www.massaudubon.org/arcadia 413/584-3009 Arcadia@MassAudubon.org
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​All May 6 Bird Days programs at Arcadia are free and suitable for all ages.
Bring a picnic or a snack. Make a day of it!
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Featured Presentations
11:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m.
Live Birds of Prey Presentation with
Tom Ricardi, Raptor Rehabilitator
For adults and families. Under the big top on the lawn. In the event of rain, the program will move into the accessible Visitor Center.
On-Going Activities
9:00 a.m., 10:00 a.m., 12:00 noon Guided Bird Walks
For adults and families. On various trails.
9:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.Bird Banding Demonstrations with Neighborhood Nest Watch
​ This is citizen science in action. Band and count migrating birds with Neighborhood Nest Watch volunteers.
For adults and families. On the entrance road next to the solar panels.
9:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. Activities, Games and Art
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Flute's Journey Storywalk - ​The story unfolds as you walk along the trail. Will you hear Flute sing?
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“Become” birds with the Great Migration Challenge, Bird Olympics and Fill the Bill.
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Explore the Touch Table.
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Face painting transforms you into a beautiful bird.
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Bird Art in Arcadia's new Art House.
For families and fun-loving adults. On the lawn, in Arcadia's new Art House, and in the accessible Visitor Center.
9:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. Bird Camera Viewing
See who is at home on the nest. Are the chicks ready to hatch?
For families and adults. In the accessible Visitor Center lobby.
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Sunday, May 7
7:00 a.m. -9:30 a.m.
Bird Walk at the Fort River Wildlife Refuge
Sponsored by Hitchcock Center for the Environment
413/256-6006, www.HitchcockCenter.org
At Fort River Division of Silvio O. Conte National Fish and Wildlife Refuge, 69 Moody Bridge Road, Hadley, MA
With Ted Watt, Hitchcock Center Naturalist
Join us for a spring morning bird walk. We’ll make our way along the new accessible trail, looking and listening for songbirds returning from the tropics for their spring nesting season. The colors and sounds of nature will heighten our sense of beauty and help us appreciate anew the amazing variety of life that shares the planet with us! Think warblers!
Bring binoculars and dress for the weather. It can still be quite cold early on a May morning.
If it’s only misty or drizzly we’ll go; heavy rain cancels.
On the one-mile accessible Birding and Nature Trail.
Free.
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Monday, May 8 – Friday, May 12
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6:30 a.m. – 8:30 a.m.
Birding at Arcadia -
Daily Early Morning Guided Bird Walks
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Mass Audubon Arcadia Wildlife Sanctuary
127 Coombs Road, Easthampton, MA
http://www.massaudubon.org/arcadia 413/584-3009 Arcadia@MassAudubon.org
Sharpen your bird identification skills during the spring migration season. This is a great opportunity to see and learn about the many birds that pass through our area at this time. Open to birders of all levels. Bring binoculars and a field guide if you have them. Dress for the weather and be prepared for insects.
For age 16 and up. On various trails at Arcadia. Heavy rain cancels.
Please pre-register. Free for members; $5 per day for non-members
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Tuesday, May 9
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6:30 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.
Saving American Kestrels and
Other Avian Migrants to the Valley
Co-Sponsored by Kestrel Land Trust and Hitchcock Center for the Environment
at the Hitchcock Center, 845 West Street, Amherst, MA
256-6006, www.HitchcockCenter.org
With Dave King, Research Wildlife Biologist for the US Forest Service and Adjunct Associate Professor of Environmental Conservation, University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
Dave specializes in the lives of migratory birds as well as the conservation of their global populations. As a member of the Kestrel Land Trust Advisory Council, he helped to spearhead the land trust's efforts to save its namesake, the American Kestrel.
This beautiful bird is the smallest falcon in North America, and its population is in decline. Dave will share the story of the trust's Kestrel Nest Box program, and talk about the life history of these beautiful falcons, as well as efforts to conserve critical habitats for migratory birds of all kinds.
You'll be able to view the kestrel box in the field below the new Hitchcock Center and find out how you can get involved in this important effort to aid a species at risk!
Suggested donation $5. Pre-registration appreciated.
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Friday, May 12
5:00 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.
Montague Plains Birding and
Ecology Walk
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Sponsored by Arcadia Wildlife Sanctuary http://www.massaudubon.org/arcadia 413/584-3009 Arcadia@MassAudubon.org
Montague Plains Wildlife Management Area was created by glaciers and is home to natural pitch pine and scrub oak communities, not typically found this far inland. The management area is also home to several rare plant, reptile, and bird species, including whippoorwills.
Join MassWildlife staff to learn about this unique area, and how fire is used as a management tool. We'll look for birds such as prairie warbler, eastern towhee, and field sparrow. As the sun sets, we'll listen for the dusk chorus of whippoorwills and woodcocks.
For age 16 and up. On woods roads and trails.
Please pre-register $8 for members; $10 for non-members.
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Saturday, May 13
8:00 a.m. - 10:00 a.m.
Welcome to the Warblers
Walk and Talk
Sponsored by Kestrel Land Trust
www.KestrelTrust.org 413/549-1097 Office@KestrelTrust.org
At Fort River Division of Silvio O. Conte National Wildlife Refuge
It’s time to welcome back our lovely feathered crooners, the warblers!
Join us to celebrate the warblers and the other visiting birds on International Migratory Bird Day! Ornithologist Geoff LeBaron, Director of the National Audubon Society’s Christmas Bird Count, will take you on a journey into a world of birds you may never have seen or heard before.
Preregistration required. http://www.kestreltrust.org/calendar/warblers-walk/ You will receive directions and details before the walk.
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Saturday, May 13
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10:00 a.m. - 12:00 noon
Bluebirds and Bluebird House Building
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Hitchcock Center for the Environment
845 West Street, Amherst, MA
413/256-6006, www.HitchcockCenter.org
With Ted Watt, Hitchcock Center Naturalist
and David Dunn, woodworker.
Come on over to the new building and learn more about these beautiful birds. We’ll start with a slide show about the birds, their natural history, nesting cycle, and habitat requirements. If you have a big lawn, open, treeless land or pastures (but not wooded acreage) you might be able to attract them to nest boxes.
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After the slide show you will work with the bluebird house kits to assemble a house ready to take home and put up in the right place.
Bring your own Phillips-head screwdriver and come prepared to take notes!
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Recommended for adults and families including young people 4th grade and up
Pre-registration required; limited to 20 families. Members $20 per family/per house/Non-members $30. $5 additional fee for walk-ins; all materials included.
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