Friday, October 5:

9:00am - 12:00; (Meet in the Super 8 motel parking lot - car pool) Pre-workshop field trip for those who come in on Thursday night and want to jumpstart their I.D. skills. This trip starts and ends less than a mile from the motel. We will be birding the Flynn Prairie Nature Trail, a recently reconstructed prairie / wetland / woodlot with a 1 1/2 mile paved walking path. The combination of habitats makes this a very sparrow rich area.

1:00pm - 2:00pm; (Super 8 motel; downstairs meeting room) Registration / Orientation / General information for the weekend.

2:00pm - 3:00pm; Our first classroom session will deal with the basic techniques that are unique to finding sparrows and getting ourselves into the right location with the right equipment to make accurate identification possible. In addition, we will take a preliminary look at all the sparrow species we hope to encounter during the course of the workshop

3:00pm - 6:00pm; Field trip - car pool. All of our field trips will focus on getting us very close to as many species of sparrows as possible. We will be on the private Coteau des Prairie Edge ranch and Labolt Lake. This area is also one of our best chances for finding Longspurs. Much of the area is a mix of thick woods and short grass prairie.

Saturday, October 6:

8:00am - 12:00; (Meet in the Super 8 motel parking lot - car pool) This field trip takes us to one of the most beautiful spots for miles around. High rolling native prairie that has never been disturbed by man with views that stretch 50 miles on clear days. This private property, the Waddell ranch will be open for the first time for our group and we hope and expect that the sparrows will be there waiting for our arrival.

12:30pm - 2:30pm; Our noon lunch (included in the workshop fee) will be very special. We have reserved a very small country restaurant outside of  Milbank that only serves homemade meals made from locally grown and produced ingredients. Nothing is wasted on surroundings or décor. All the effort is focused on the food, it's preparation, and presentation. Our chef is also the owner and is absolutely meticulous about freshness and quality. It isn't just eating lunch; it's an experience.


2:30pm - 5:00pm; Field trip - car pool from our restaurant. There are several areas very close that are good habitat for sparrows, including the small town where the restaurant is located.

7:00pm - 8:30pm: (Meet at the Pizza Ranch on Main St. - back room) We will study the identification field marks of the full range of species that occur in this area. It will also be a session for separating the hard to identify pairs of sparrow species.

Sunday, October 7:

8:00am - 9:00am; (Meet at the Super 8 motel meeting room) This session is a chance to evaluate our progress and consider the reasons we follow this strange path called "birding". We will also recap the work we have done during the entire workshop. It will also be a time to address any individual problems that still exist.

9:00am - 12:00; The final field trip is a great chance to use the skills that we have acquired during the sparrow workshop weekend. This field trip is to a part of Big Stone NWR that has a good mix of habitats. There are extensive grasslands and heavy woods that can be a huge migrant trap for sparrows as well as home for the resident species.