Winter birders gather to enjoy the view at Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge. Photo by Nancy Felicito, Great Swamp NWR Management Area, January 11, 2009.

An intrepid group of birders enjoys a beautiful winter day at Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge. Photo by Nancy Felicito, Great Swamp NWR Management Area, January 11, 2009.

Expert birder, Friends member, and refuge volunteer Steve Byland presented a very successful "Second Sunday" program at the Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge.  On January 11^th, Steve presented a very informative and entertaining program on winter birding to about 30 visitors.  He treated the group to wonderful bird photos from his collection, with everything from winter rarities such as snowy owls, clay-colored sparrows, and red crossbills, to more common species such as chickadees, cardinals, and nuthatches.  He showed "half-hearty" birds that remain on the refuge during the winter only if there is sufficient food, such as Carolina wrens (love peanuts and peanut butter), towhees, brown thrashers, and surprisingly, bitterns and sora rails if there is open water.  He showed great photos of ducks, owls, and hawks, and even gave a mini-seminar on how to distinguish between a juvenile, sub-adult, and adult bald eagle with accompanying photos.

Steve made back-yard habitat suggestions for attracting birds, such as having berry-producing bushes for food, brush piles and evergreens for providing shelter, and most importantly…a heated water source because birds require drinking water, even in the coldest weather.

Steve's humor was present throughout the program, with stories of "stump collecting", attempts to obtain old Christmas trees, and the building of a body-less snowman, all for the purpose of getting that great bird shot.

The indoor program was followed by a guided walk into the refuge's normally closed management area.  It was a cold, but beautiful day, which made for a great walk.  However, 20 people crunching through fresh, crusty snow, quickly alerted the birds well before they were seen.  The group did however, sight a red-tailed hawk, northern shrike, sharp-shinned hawk, red-bellied woodpecker, cardinals, tree sparrows, juncos, white-throated sparrows, and mallards. The rich variety of birds in the Great Swamp is a pleasure for all visitors!