Opportunities to see and hear springtime will take place in April at Bremer Sanctuary in Hillsboro. The 203 acre site is operated by volunteers of the Illinois Audubon Society. The first event will be the annual spring bird walk on Saturday. Expert birders will be on hand to identify birds seen during the walk. Participants are encouraged to bring their own binoculars if they have them. Another event in April will be a wildflower walk on April 16th. Bremer Sanctuary member Carl Savage says they've planted numerous flowers this year.

Even if you don't see some of them now, we have some planted (and) we'll have a big variety of them in the spring, the summer and the fall, so if people pay attention to where they're at, they're always welcome to come back and take those tours by themselves or (with their) families. So we're pretty excited about some of the flowers we have... We've been busy out there and we've got some nice things to look at out there.

Savage says the walks provide an opportunity to get outside and see what Bremer Sanctuary has to offer. The bird walk begins at 7am on Saturday and the wildflower walk begins at 1pm on Saturday, April 16th. Both guided walking tours will last approximately an hour and refreshments will be provided. For more information about Bremer Sanctuary, events or volunteering call (217) 532-2339. Volunteer work days at Bremer take place every Tuesday and Thursday morning.Thomack 3/30/16