Serious bird watchers as well as people who just like to watch and identify birds, will welcome the chance at the 8th annual Woodpecker Festival Saturday, April 28 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. in downtown Middleville.
The activities are at the Middleville Village Hall, 100 East Main Street and along the Paul Henry-Thornapple Trail.
Organizers have made it easy for bird lovers with golf cart shuttle rides for a donation. Everything else is free: a craft show to take in, exhibits and seminars and the 1922 train depot will be open.
The paved Paul Henry-Thornapple Trail follows the Thornapple River. The area has an established population of the rare Red-headed Woodpecker as well as all the other five Eastern US woodpeckers. In previous festivals, more than 60 species of birds have been seen.
Speaker schedules:
*9 a.m. to 9:45 a.m. Beginning birding with apps and software information presented by Cal and Jean Lamoreaux, founders of the Thornapple Woodpecker Festival and members of the Grand Rapids Audubon, Kalamazoo Audubon and Lifetime Members of the Michigan Audubon.
*10 a.m. to 10:45 a.m. Wildlife photography tips presented by Michael DeBoer. The images he photographs are of non-captive wildlife in their natural habitat in the greater Michigan area
*11a.m. to 11:45 a.m. Michigan Bluebird Society presents how to improve nesting success of the Eastern Bluebirds and other cavity-nesting birds by Kurt Hagemeister and Jonathon Morgan.
*12 noon to 1 p.m. Lunch time or visit craft area.
*1 p.m. to 1:45 p.m. Woodpeckers: pecking out a living presented by Curtis Dykstra, a Park Naturalist with Ottawa County Parks since 2013. Dykstra has a degree in Environmental Studies from Dordt College in Iowa.
*2 p.m. Curtis Dykstra will lead a bird walk.
*2 p.m. to 2:45 p.m. Do birds fly into your windows? Learn tricks to stop them given by Gail Walter, a former board member and president of the Audubon Society of Kalamazoo, who was the driving force behind the Peregrine Falcon cam in downtown Kalamazoo.
All lectures will be in the village hall.
For more information, go to www.woodpeckerfest.webs.com
Find us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/pages/Thornapple-
Woodpecker-Festival/189561891069751, or call Jean at 616-293-8666.
