Photo: Jane Bell
Celebrate National Wildlife Refuge Week at Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge. Join us for guided Sunset Walks, a unique birding event, and a special Second Sunday program.
Sunset Walks every night.
Sunday, October 14 – Saturday, October 20, 5:30 pm – dark. Meet at Bluebird Parking Lot, 197 Pleasant Plains Road.
Easy guided walk on service roads to watch flock after flock of migrating ducks descend into the Refuge pools to spend the night. It’s awesome. Easy walk on service roads, about a mile round-trip.
Special Photographer Sunset Walk
Thursday, October 18, 4:30 pm – dark. Meet at Bluebird Parking Lot, 197 Pleasant Plains Road.
Get out to the impoundments and set up your cameras early.
The Big Sit.
Sunday, October 14, during Refuge hours. Meet at the Overlook on Pleasant Plains Road.
Volunteers will be counting all the bird species seen or heard from the Overlook Parking Lot. Stop by any time to learn more about birds and bird identification, or to help with the count. For beginning or experienced birders. It’s a great way to learn and to participate in citizen science.
Guided Bird Walk to Join The Big Sit.
Sunday, October 14, 9:00 am
Join walk leaders Carolyn and Corinne on a guided bird walk. We’ll meet at the Helen C. Fenske Visitor Center and bird our way down Pleasant Plains Road to join The Big Sit! It’s Fall Migration, so there should be lots to see (and hear)!
Second Sunday – Great Swamp Wilderness Area Turns 50.
Sunday, October 14, 1:30 – 3:00
Helen C. Fenske Visitor Center
In 1968, President Lyndon Johnson signed the Great Swamp Wilderness Act, protecting 3,660 acres of the Refuge as part of the National Wilderness Preservatoin System. Join Deputy Manager Lia McLaughlin to learn why this was significant, what’s so special about Wilderness, and the unique restrictions imposed by the Law. And, of course, to celebrate – there will be cake!
The days are getting shorter – and cooler – signals that fall migration is getting into full swing. Each year, during the second full week of October, wildlife refuges around the country celebrate National Wildlife Refuge Week, a time to visit and learn about a wildlife refuge near your home. Fall is a great time to visit Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge. Spend some time at the Wildlife Observation Center or at the Overlook to enjoy the fall season and the many migrating birds. Stop by the Helen C. Fenske Visitor Center to find out what birds have been reported – or to report your sightings. Take advantage of our free public events. In signing the original National Wildlife Refuge Week proclamation in 1995, former U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Mollie Beattie remarked: “It’s a time for all Americans to learn about and celebrate this magnificent collection of lands we as a people have set aside for wildlife.” Come celebrate National Wildlife Refuge Week at your national wildlife refuge.