Saturday morning beginning at 9:00 a.m., we will offer a birding and nature tour at the private Four Winds Refuge, a private duck camp where former catfish ponds are now being managed by the owners for diverse wildlife, including shorebirds and wading birds. We expect to have excellent shorebird habitat, and we will take advantage to focus on shorebird identification skills. We will also see numerous herons & egrets, with a good chance to spot Roseate Spoonbills and Wood Storks. This part of the tour will be by vehicle, with periodic stops to observe birds. If you have a truck with an open bed and are willing to drive, we’ll gladly have other participants hop in the truck bed for safari-style birding. If not, you will have the opportunity to do the same.
Directions: Please note that the entrance to Four Winds Refuge is located along a gravel road to the west of Sky Lake in rural Humphreys County, and you are advised to leave extra time to reach the location. Please use the following map with a pin on the entrance (rather than relying solely on written directions): LINK. Written directions to the 9:00am starting point (Four Winds Refuge) from the south: From Belzoni, drive north on Hwy 7 about 3.5 miles from Belzoni until you reach Fishco Rd (immediately before the Jaketown Mound Site on the left), and turn left (west) on Fishco Rd. Note that Fishco Rd does not usually have a road sign. Continue 1.3 miles, turn right on Old US Hwy 49W (also often unmarked), drive 0.9 miles, and turn right (north) onto Sky Lake Rd (should be marked). Drive north on Sky Lake Rd approximately 2.7 miles and turn left. Drive 1.5 miles (no further!) and turn in at the blue gate on the right, which is the entrance to Four Winds Refuge (no sign), where you will see a large metal building surrounded by a gravel parking lot. There are restrooms here.
Around noon, we’ll break for lunch in the comfort of the Four Winds Refuge hunting lodge. You can bring your own lunch, or you can sign up for a hot, family-style catered lunch from Jerri’s Bakery & Southern Kitchen (price of $20/person includes tax and tip; menu is baked chicken, mashed potatoes, vegetable soup, and cornbread). Please bring your own beverage (tap water will be available). We will have some disposable plates & forks etc. available, but please consider bringing your own re-usables to reduce waste. Also, *please consider bringing some tupperware and a cooler to take home some leftovers, which are typically abundant*. Please sign up for the lunch in advance below. Restrooms are available at this site.
After lunch (likely ~1:00 or 1:30pm), we will caravan over to the DWB Sky Lake Nature Reserve, which is located on the west shore of Sky Lake, just 1.5 miles from Four Winds Refuge. At the DWB Reserve, we will enjoy views of Sky Lake itself, which, if we continue to have a dry summer and fall, could include some natural shorebird habitat. Regardless, we will conduct a walking tour of the Reserve, focusing on unique birds, plants, and mushrooms of the forested wetland (likely to include numerous species of wildflowers), as well as birds of the forest and adjacent Sky Lake. We will park along Sky Lake Rd, at the north end of the DWB Reserve. No restrooms are available at this stop.
Finally, we’ll caravan around to the Sky Lake WMA Boardwalk, where we’ll enjoy a late-afternoon walk along the boardwalk among the ancient trees, many of which are more than 1000 years old. Along the way, we’ll enjoy all the flora and fauna we can find, hopefully to include both resident and migratory birds, reptiles & amphibians, and plants. The Boardwalk is located at 1090 Simmons Rd., Belzoni, MS 39038, and can be easily found on mapping apps (Google Maps link). The Sky Lake Boardwalk has spacious parking, restrooms, and a covered picnic area.
Bathrooms, and other stuff: There will be restrooms available at the Sky Lake Boardwalk and at the Four Winds Refuge, but not at the DWB Sky Lake Nature Reserve. Don't forget sunscreen, especially for DWB Sky Lake Nature Reserve and Four Winds Refuge. Bug spray is recommended if you tend to be a bug magnet. Rubber boots or other extra footwear are recommended, especially for the DWB Sky Lake Nature Reserve, where there may be an opportunity to tromp in the mud to get close to migratory shorebirds.
We will have 1-gallon, 4-foot-tall Bald Cypress (Taxodium distichum) saplings available for $10 each. These were grown by Andy Bell from seed collected at Sky Lake, so they likely represent the offspring of the ancient, 1000+-year-old trees growing there. These are only available for pick-up in-person at our upcoming Sky Lake field trip on Saturday, September 30. We will also have DWB t-shirts available. Both the Bald Cypress saplings and the t-shirts can be pre-ordered on our website, using the buttons below. You can also pay for these items using cash on the day of the field trip, but quantities are limited.
The trip is free (except for the optional catered lunch), but space is limited and advance registration is requested—please click the “Register” button below. An optional donation to support our conservation and outreach programs is certainly welcome—to do so, please click here. If you have difficulty with the registration process, please just send us an e-mail (dwindbirds@gmail.com).
1-gallon pot, 4+ feet tall, grown by Andy Bell from seed collected at Sky Lake.
Charcoal/heathered black only. Comfortable, stretchy, tri-blend, short-sleeved t-shirt, with DWB logo on back and Wind Birds design by J.R. Rigby on the front. Unisex. Printed by Oxford T-shirt Company.
Ancient bald cypress tree at Sky Lake WMA Boardwalk