Weekly bird walks return to Wakonda State Park

CANTON, Mo. (WGEM) - Local bird watchers have a chance to explore the local ecosystem this spring with the return of weekly bird walks.

The walks are ran by Zita Robertson, who was named the 2022 Young Birder of the Year by the American Birding Association.

The walks take place every Sunday morning at Wakonda State Park. The walks begin at 6 a.m. at the Agate Lake parking lot.

Robertson said the spring walks offer a whole new variety of birds to the region compared to the winter walks as waterfowl begin to exit for the season.

“A bunch of Warblers, little song birds and Vireo and Sparrows and summer birds that will also spend the summer here instead of flying further North like Orioles and Buntings,” said Robertson.

Upcoming dates for walks include:

• March 26
• April 2
• April 9
• April 16
• April 23

Robertson said the migratory birds in the spring tend to hide more in the trees and skies as opposed to the winter waterfowl, so binoculars would come in handy.

In addition to the upcoming bird walks, Robertson will also lead a local birding lecture at the Canton Public Library.

She will talk about her internet resources for birding, information about birding organizations and stories about a few rare sightings.

This will be the second lecture she has led at the library. She said she is excited because the first had such a great turnout.

“We had a bunch of people,” Robertson said. “We had to look for more chairs. It was great because everybody wanted to hear more about birds and I hope that I inspired some people to go birding.”

The lecture will be held at 6 p.m., on Tuesday, March 28.

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