St. Croix Valley bird lovers mark return migration

Nine summer-school students ages 9 to 12 designed this bench, titled "Rock & River," with local artist James Shoop, Franconia Sculpture Park staff, teacher Amy Klein, and National Park Service Ranger Dale Cox. It's at Gaylord Nelson Riverwalk in St. Croix Falls, Wis.

Judy Freund will be doing her part this weekend to save scores of songbirds that migrate to the St. Croix River Valley each spring.

Freund will spend Saturday morning making decals to put on windows and patio doors to prevent bird collisions. The volunteer with Tropical Wings, a group dedicated to raising awareness about birds that migrate between Central America and the Upper Midwest, will be stationed at the art bench outside the Croixdale senior housing complex in Bayport.

"At this time of year, a lot of us have the experience of having a bird fly into a patio door or window," said Freund, who lives in Hudson, Wis. "This is just one small way that you might be able to do something to help the birds when they are on this long migratory journey of theirs."

The "Be Kind to the Birds" decal-making station is part of this weekend's Tropical Wings Bird Migration Celebration, a new event in the St. Croix Valley. Seven stations dedicated to helping and raising awareness of migratory songbirds will be set up along the Art Bench Trail -- a series of art benches in Bayport, Marine on St. Croix, Denmark Township, Prescott, Hudson, Somerset and St. Croix Falls.

Volunteers will be teaching children and their parents about the waves of songbirds -- warblers, Baltimore orioles, tanagers, hummingbirds and others -- that pass through the St. Croix valley each spring and what can be done locally to support them. Some of the activities include bird banding, art activities and habitat planting.

Songbirds spend most of their lives in Central America, storing up energy eating in rain forests so they can make their epic migrations, which usually include 500 miles of nonstop flight to cross the Gulf of Mexico. Preserving their habitat on both ends of that route is essential for the birds' survival, said Christopher Stein, superintendent of the St. Croix National Scenic Riverway.

Superintendents from 13 national parks in the Upper Midwest -- including Isle Royale, Voyageurs, St. Croix National Scenic Riverway and Mississippi National River and Recreation Area -- last year established a "sister park" plan with their counterparts in Costa Rica. The program is designed to foster collaborative relationships across international borders where parks share common interests.

This weekend's festival was planned as a counterpart to an event marking the birds' departure from Costa Rica's Osa Peninsula in March, Stein said.

An amazing number of bird species -- 105 -- have been spotted on the St. Croix riverway, Stein said.

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St. Croix Valley bird lovers mark return migration