Covering a wide spectrum of topics from birding to protecting the environment, six expert speakers will give special lectures beginning next month through March 2024 at the J.N. “Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge, on Sanibel Island. Co-hosted by the “Ding” Darling Wildlife Society (DDWS)-Friends of the Refuge, each speaker will give two presentations at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m.

The schedule is Dr. Sabie Grunwald, Unplug to Re-Connect: How Less Time on Screens Makes You a Happier Person, January 18; author/artist Richard Crossely, The Power of Birding, January 25; James Currie, author of When Eagles Roar: The Amazing Journal of an Africa Wildlife Adventurer, February 1; author/environmentalist Diane Wilson, One Woman’s Fight to Save Our Waters from Microplastic Pollution, March 7; author/Sanibel resident Charles Sobczak, Surviving the Storms—Hurricanes, Humans and Wildlife, March 14; and recycling expert Stephanie Kissinger, Talking Trash: Post-Hurricane Clean-Up and Recycling, March 21.

“We are so ecstatic to welcome home this long-loved refuge tradition,” says DDWS Executive Director Ann-Marie Wildman.

Free admission. Location: 1 Wildlife Dr. For more information, call 239-472-1100, ext. 236, or visit DingDarlingSociety.org.