Education took flight at the Wareham Boys & Girls Club on Thursday. Wayne Petersen, Director of the Important Bird Areas Program for the Massachusetts Audubon Society, presented, “Birds and Bird Facts that Every Birder Should Know” to  members.

Petersen introduced tips and tricks to getting started with a bird watching hobby. Binoculars, field guides, and a notebook are all you need to get going he told the group. "Birds are everywhere, so go visit lots of places," he advised.  Noting the bird's size, color, and beak shape are also important to identifying sightings, Petersen explained.

His birds of Wareham segment really got the crowd chirping. There are four types of bird groups in Wareham. Permanent birds such as swans, winter birds like ducks, breeding birds, who only visit Wareham to nest, such as the great blue heron, and migrant birds like the kinglet.

Another interesting fact, birds that reside in Wareham, but migrate to South America or Mexico for the winter have to travel between 2,000 and 3,000 miles. That's without stopping!

Petersen's talk was presented as part of the Club’s ongoing Kukoo for the Boys & Girls Club Birdhouse Project.

The birdhouse project is an educational opportunity that invites members of the club, environmentalists, artisans, and the community at-large to create and decorate birdhouses and bird-related pieces of art, such as drawings and paintings to donate to the the group. The donations will be auctioned off at a gala scheduled for June 18 with all proceeds directly benefiting the Wareham Boys & Girls Club.

Petersen also spoke about changes in Massachusetts bird populations later that night at the Wareham Middle School auditorium. Both talks were sponsored by the Wareham Land Trust.