birdingwithkarenandteresa

Teresa and I went birding together for the first time April 7, 2012 at Jacobson Park in Lexington, Ky. It was a cool but sunny morning at the Park when we first observed Tree Swallows flying overhead, mating and entering holes in tree trunks where they had built their nest.  We had no idea there were so many species of birds in the United States. We knew the most common birds, Blue Jays, Robins, Grackles, Bluebirds, Cardinals and House Sparrows but we had to open our Sibley to check the ID of the Blue Wing Teals that were sliding along in the mud at the park that day. We were both hooked and knew that we wanted to see and know more. During the next 7 months we made several birding trips together including Shiawassee NWR in April, Wapanocca NWR in May and Muscatatuck NWR in November.  Right after our visit to Muscatatuck NWR we decided our goal would be to bird in every  National Wildlife Refuge in the United States. There are 566 NWRs but only 460 are open to the public. 

We created this website to document our journey and share with others our love of nature, photography, birds and National Wildlife Refuges.  We hope that we will inspire you to set a goal and pursue your dreams. 

As of October 2018 Teresa and I have visited over 143 National Wildlife Refuges. Check out the article written about us by Susan Morse from the National Wildlife Refuge System, article published in The Birding Wire and the May/June 2014 issue of the Refuge Update. We also have a Flickr account where we post photos we have taken at each National Wildlife Refuge.