Bird Migration Topic for Second Saturday

According to All About Birds, birds migrate primarily to find the best places for nesting and for food, although genetic patterns are also at play in birds which migrate long distances.   The mission of Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge is in fact, to provide food and protected nesting habitat for migratory waterfowl during winter and migration seasons.

Winter migrants at HNWR, Bald Eagles, by Bill Powell

This month at Second Saturday at  Hagerman NWR,  you can learn  more about Bird Migration with  Dr. Wayne Meyer, speaker.  Meyer says, “Birds have some of the most spectacular travel patterns of all animals, some of them travelling literally half-way around the world twice each year to move between breeding and wintering areas.”  Meyer will discuss how and why birds manage these feats and how humans have learned to study migration.   The program will begin on August 10, 2013,  at 10 am in the Visitor Center Meeting Room.

Harris' Sparrow, winter migrant at HNWR, by Charlie Hernandez

Meyer is Associate Professor of Biology at Austin College, where  he has been a member of the Austin College biology department for twenty years.   He began birding at the age of 13 in Connecticut and has been at it ever since.  He has birded extensively on both coasts of North America and in Texas and Oklahoma.  Meyer’s  research interests include song learning in the Painted Bunting and grassland breeding birds, and projects investigating both have been conducted at Hagerman NWR and nearby areas.

Little Blue Heron, summer migrant at HNWR, by Rick Cantu

Hagerman NWR is located at 6465 Refuge Road, Sherman, TX, 75092, on the Big Mineral Arm of Lake Texoma.  Second Saturday nature programs are free and open to the public.    For more information, see friendsofhagerman.com or call the Refuge, 903 786 2826.

Summer migrant at HNWR, Interior Least Tern, by Laurie Sheppard