Date: May 4, 2009
Contact: Stacy Vallie, 307-344-2015
National Park Service
U.S. Department of the Interior
Yellowstone National Park
P.O. Box 168
Yellowstone National Park, WY 82190
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 4, 2009 09-026
Al Nash or Stacy Vallie (307) 344-2015
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YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK NEWS RELEASE
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Yellowstone National Park Celebrates
International Migratory Bird Day
International Migratory Bird Day (IMBD) is an annual event to celebrate and support migratory bird conservation. Like clockwork, each spring many migratory birds return to or fly over environments like Yellowstone National Park en route to their breeding areas. Yellowstone and the Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Center staff will celebrate IMBD on Sunday, May 10, with programs and a field trip that are open to the public.
The day will begin at 8:00 a.m. inside Yellowstone National Park at the picnic area at Madison Junction. Participants will meet for a ranger-led, bird-watching car caravan along the Madison River, featuring birds of lodgepole pine forests and grassy riparian meadows, sandhill cranes, shorebirds, waterfowl, raptors, songbirds and a bald eagle nest. The field trip will conclude at noon. Suggested items for the field trip include warm clothes, water, binoculars and a snack, if desired.
IMBD programs, games and crafts will take place from 1:00 p.m. through 5:00 p.m. at the Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Center in West Yellowstone, Montana. Children of all ages can play the migration game "It’s a Risky Journey," create bird masks and origami or participate in other activities. At 1:00 p.m., a Discovery Center naturalist will give a live raptor program using a rough-legged hawk and western screech owl, followed by a presentation titled "Not-so-bird Brained: The Mysterious Raven" at 2:00 p.m. Join National Park Service Ranger Katy Duffy at 3:00 p.m. for a presentation on the birds of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. The day will conclude with another captive raptor program at 4:00 p.m.
The activities are free of charge, but those wishing to explore the rest of the Discovery Center will be required to pay a fee and field trip participants are required to pay the park entrance fee of $25 per vehicle.
For further information on IMBD programs or field trips call Katy Duffy at (307) 344-2754.
- www.nps.gov/yell -
