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Join Ventures Birding Tours International bird guide, Aaron Steed, for a winter bird walk at FENCE on Thursday, February 13th at 8:30 a.m. Birders of all skill levels are welcome for this free event. Please dress for the weather and wear comfortable walking shoes. Bring binoculars and birding guides if you have them. 

Aaron has just returned from leading a tour to the rainforests of Eastern Panama, so he has had a jump-start on some spring birding. Some of our summer and transient birds spend the winter in Central America and later in the spring many will be winging their way north. Until then, we have to be happy with the wintering and resident species. On this winter walk we hope to see several wintering sparrows, such as Field, Chipping and White-throated, Birds of prey are often obvious during the winter months with the larger Red-tailed and Red-shouldered being the most obvious. We sometimes see an American Kestrel feeding over the open fields as it hunts for small rodents in the grass. In the more wooded areas, we may see wintering Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers, as well as the resident Red-bellied, Downy and Pileated Woodpeckers – all of them more obvious when the trees have lost their leaves.

This event is made possible by the Kirby Endowment at the Polk County Community Foundation. FENCE is located at 3381 Hunting Country Road in Tryon. For information about this or upcoming events visit www.fence.org, call 828-859-9021 or email info@fence.org. 

Submitted by Amy Schmitte / Photos by Ventures Birding Tours