Posted: 11/7/06
Birding festival in Lansing November 10-12
The 5th Annual Rivers & Bluffs Fall Birding Festival will take place this weekend at Kee High School in Lansing, IA.
People will be able to watch the behaviors of enormous numbers of wild birds on guided field trips.
There are up to 20,000 tundra swans and 350,000 ducks and geese in the area.
Activities begin at the high school on Friday, November 10 at 5 p.m. and continue through Sunday, November 12 at around 2:45 p.m. Visitors may come to any or all segments of the festival.
Events include:
ï Half-day field trips Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning to each of three states ñ Iowa, Wisconsin and Minnesota, led by bird guides/naturalists;
ï Four boat tours Saturday and Sunday aboard Captain Jackís Mississippi Explorer Cruises boat;
ï Naturalist with a live owl program Friday evening and a live hawk program Sunday afternoon;
ï Professional bird guide presentation Saturday morning and Sunday afternoon;
ï Bald eagle expert describes roost site on Mississippi River that is biggest in the world except for Alaska;
ï A special hike for families and young people led by an expert naturalist and educator.
The new Friends of Pool 9 are the primary sponsors of the birding festival, along with many other local and more distant organizations and entities of various types. Proceeds beyond expenses will go toward funding various Friends projects and activities to benefit the 93-square mile portion of the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge which is Pool 9, and all persons who enjoy and use this marvelous unit of land and water.
In 2005 this 3-day festival brought 281 people from eleven states to Lansing and the Tri-State area. In four years visitors have come to participate from 21 states, including states on all three coasts, Washington D.C. and Canada. Attendance has increased for four consecutive years, and now averages well over 250 individuals.
For more information, call (563) 538-4991.
Caledonia Argus
314 West Lincoln St.
P.O. Box 227
Caledonia, MN 55921-0227
507/724-3475
E-Mail: editor.argus@ecm-inc.com