The Discovery Center is a featured site along the newly established Great Wisconsin Birding & Nature Trail -- and with good reason! The trail is a highway-based system, set out to focus on peoples’ love of birds. The statewide trail, established by the Wisconsin DNR, is designed to promote the best of Wisconsin’s rich and diverse wildlife and landscapes. The Discovery Center, nestled within Wisconsin’s Northwoods, is home to diverse populations of nesting and migrating songbirds, raptors, and waterfowl. The Center’s diverse habitat and 25 km trail system finds nature and birding enthusiasts winding their way along the shores of the historic Manitowish River and the wilderness lakeshore of Statehouse Lake, as well as trekking through hardwood, red- and white- pine, and mixed-forest stands.

Visitors are welcome to enjoy the stunning scenery and dynamic birdlife year-round. In addition to self-guided birding opportunities, visitors are welcome to participate in any number of bird-related programs offered by the Discovery Center. Naturalist Zach Wilson leads many of the Center’s programs, including offerings such as Bird Watching for Beginners, Bird Banding, and Eyes on the Skies: Raptor Migration & Identification. The bird banding program at the Center gathers data about Wisconsin birds in an effort to assist ornithology labs and researchers nationwide. Data is compiled and analyzed, with efforts aimed at better understanding the lives of birds and the conservation strategies needed to help declining bird populations. 

Trail maps, bird lists, and Great Wisconsin Birding & Nature Trail brochures are available during normal office hours. For information on bird-related programs, and for bird feeder and trail sightings at the Center and throughout the Northwoods region, please explore our up-to-date “Words on the Wing.” Here are some links to useful and informative birding websites:

• Birder's World Magazine
   
• Cornell Lab of Ornithology
   
• eBird (An observation recording site used by the NLDC Bird Club)
   
• Great Wisconsin Birding and Nature Trail
   
• Laura Erickson's Birder Blog
   
• Mike's Birding & Digiscoping Blog
   
• Northwoods Wildlife Center
   
• Wisconsin Society for Ornithology
   
• Wisconsin Breeding Bird Atlas
   
• Wisconsin Northern Woods Birding Trail
   
• National Audubon Society

North Lakeland Discovery Center P.O. Box 237 ~ Manitowish Waters, WI 54545 Toll Free: (877) 543-2085 birds@discoverycenter.net