Visitors will soon come from around the world to enjoy the extraordinary bird population found at the Great Dismal Swamp Wildlife Refuge.

The refuge will hold its 11th annual Birding Festival April 20-22. The festival is free and open to the public, with family-friendly activities and guided tours through the habitat during peak neotropical songbird migration and bird-diversity season.

Visitor services manager Deloras Freeman said nearly 1,000 bird watchers have come in recent years to see the birds that migrate through Tidewater in late April and early May.

“We attract a lot of birders that want to come here and see the birds when they arrive,” she said. “They want to check species off their life list that they’ve never seen before.”

Visitors can observe hundreds of different bird species. Freeman said one of the most popular birds for visitors is the Swainson’s Warbler, an uncommon migratory species named after William Swainson, an English ornithologist.

She said people from near and far are intrigued by the bird.

“He’s the one that attracts people from across the country and even from Europe,” she said.

Another celebrity is the Prothonotary Warbler, a bright gold bird with bluish-gray wings and a yellowish-olive back. The bird is often referred to as a “swamp warbler” in the southeastern United States.

“It’s a pretty common bird in the South, but a lot of our visitors from come north of here, and they’re not used to seeing the bird, especially in the numbers we have here,” Freeman said.

Travelers and locals are asked to register in advance for guided bird walks, morning and afternoon nature walks, birding basics workshops and motorized boat tours on Lake Drummond.

Saturday, in particular, will feature numerous attractions, according to Freeman. Children will build bird houses, listen to live music and enjoy a new children’s walk that Saturday.

“A biologist is going to lead the young folks through the pine forest here and teach the basic birding skills and how to recognize different trees,” Freeman said. “It’s sort of an introduction into biology observations.”

She recommends a good pair of walking shoes and bug spray, and to call in advance for tour and activity registrations.

“By the time the event gets here, most activities are full,” she said.

The excitement of all these bird and nature lovers reminds Freeman why the refuge is so valuable.

“When you come to work in the same place all the time you take the beauty for granted sometimes,” she said. “But when you have visitors get excited about all the wildlife they see, it reminds you how special of a place it is.”

Visit www.fws.gov/refuge/great_dismal_swamp or call 986-3705 for more information.