Registration is now open for the Wings of Winter Birding Festival (WOW), an exceptional opportunity for serious birdwatchers, new birders, and outdoor enthusiasts to enjoy multiple birding trips with top-notch guides. Weather permitting, WOW is scheduled for January 18-20, 2019.
Hosted by the Friends of the Tennessee National Wildlife Refuge (TNWR), the event will be headquartered in Paris, and features multiple excursions, exhilarating speakers, a memorable cruise, and more. Due to limited capacities, early registration is a must.
Now in its second year, WOW focuses on the 150+ migratory bird species that winter in Kentucky and Barkley Lakes in West Tennessee and Western Kentucky. The 15 full and half-day tours feature experienced guides who know their birds and are passionate about helping other birders on their quests.
“The ‘behind the refuge gates’ tours offer a phenomenal, up close look at thousands of wintering waterfowl during the closed-sanctuary period,” said TNWR Ranger Joan Howe.
Several popular excursions from last year are scheduled for 2019. Also new this year is the Kentucky Lake Tour on an excursion yacht that will cruise beneath eagles, waterfowl, gulls and more. Large windows, a heated cabin, and a roomie deck will make this a great event.
The Wings of Winter’s guided trips feature some of the most storied birding locations in the Southeast, as well as stellar guides Howe noted. Destinations include Cross Creeks National Wildlife Refuge, TNWR’s Units at Duck River Bottoms and Big Sandy, Kentucky Dam and Harmon Creek Wildlife Management Area, Paris Landing State Park, LBL and the Nature Station, and Ft. Donelson National Battlefield. For those who need an extra incentive, authors Richard Crossley (The Crossley ID Guide: Waterfowl) and Joel Greenberg (A Feathered River Across the Sky) will be leading tours.
“We are thrilled to have speakers who are the caliber of Crossley and Greenberg,” said Howe. “Crossley is revolutionizing birding with his guide series, which is larger, more user friendly, and more educational than other guides. Greenburg is a fascinating conservationist and historian whose book has rekindled an interest in the rise and fall of the now extinct passenger pigeon and the lessons that this story teaches.”
The event is sponsored in part by federal and state agencies, including TVA, National Park Service, U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife, and state parks. It is also is supported by birding organizations, local chambers, and others.
For more information or to make reservations for the WOW Birding Festival, visit www.friendstnwr.org. Contact the refuge with questions at 731-642-2091 or [email protected].
