The folks at Stoecklin’s Orchard are gearing up for their upcoming Hummingbird Festival to be held Saturday, June 14 from 2:00 to 5:00 p.m. Kay Stoecklin told us Master Bird Bander Vern Kleen of the Illinois Audubon Society will be coming down from Springfield for the event.
“Vern will get started right at 2 o’clock,” Stoecklin told us, “and immediately, what he does, is he gives quite an informative back-and-forth speech with the crowd and explains hummingbirds and why they band, all the information as far as where they go when they’re not here, breeding — whole lot of information. So he does that right at 2 o’clock.
“After that, we’ll get started right away with capturing the birds and it gets so exciting. Vern is so good with the little kids, he lets them just flood right around the table so everybody really gets a pretty good look at what’s going on.”
Stoecklin said she is already seeing lots of hummingbirds at the orchard now and hopes to see many new faces at the festival. The event is free and open to the public. Visitors may also “adopt” a bird by making a $5 donation to the Lincoln Land Association of Bird Banders.
Stoecklin’s Orchard is located approximately 3 miles southeast of Donnellson, IL. Stoecklin said parking will be available nearby and she recommends bringing your own lawn chairs. For more information about the festival, call the orchard at 217-537-3801.
