Guided Bird Walk in Hanna Park

Join us for an accessible and inclusive low-barrier birding walk in Hanna Park to celebrate Birdability Week 2025! 

This FREE event is part of our Roots of Resilience Lifelong Learning Series and will be led by Dan Guenther, co-owner of Wild Birds Unlimited Belleville, along with Quinte Museum of Natural History staff and volunteers who are excited to share their naturalist knowledge with you.

This walk is open to birders of all experience levels including total beginners, and is intended to be low-impact and low-barrier for people with disabilities. We will meet in the parking lot of Hanna Park in Quinte West, located at the intersection of Creswell Drive and Film Street (just North of the museum), next to the Kinsmen Dog Park (169 Creswell Dr, Quinte West, ON K8V 3H4). The walk will last for around 2 hours, depending on the group, weather, and bird activity. Participants are invited to visit the museum afterwards with a reduced admission price of $6.00.

Accessibility Details

The walk will be on low-incline unpaved trails that are well-compacted, with the distance along the trail determined by the group on the day. There are a number of bench seating areas available for rest on the trails, often in great spots to rest and watch/listen for some birds! There are no permanent washrooms on-site. No binoculars or specialized equipment are required to participate, but a few may be available to use and try, along with field guides and some recommended free phone apps that can be downloaded, particularly the Merlin Bird ID app and Seek by iNaturalist. Group size is capped at 25 people.

About Birding and Birdability Week

Birdwatching or birding is a fantastic way to connect with nature, improve mental health, and enjoy time with other enthusiastic birders in local parks and green spaces. Unfortunately, many great places to watch birds are not accessible to people with disabilities, or who face other barriers to participation.

Birdability Week takes place from October 20-26 this year, and is a program developed by US-based nonprofit Birdability who advocate for accessible birding around the world, and whose motto is “Birding is for everybody and for every body”. Some info about the week from their website is as follows:

Birdability Week is a celebration of birders with disabilities and other health concerns, as well as an opportunity to share resources and ideas to help the birding community become accessible, inclusive, and welcoming to everybody! It is an annual collection of events the third week of each October, drawing inspiration from other inclusive celebrations such as #BlackBirdersWeek, Latino Conservation Week and Let’s Go Birding Together.

The programs in this series are generously supported by the Province of Ontario’s Seniors Community Grant

 

Pileated woodpecker photo by by Patrice Bouchard via Unsplash