11:40 a.m. - North Dakota's state bird and the state's many shorebirds will be celebrated May 13 when Audubon National Wildlife Refuge again marks International Migratory Bird Day.

The refuge is offering an art class and a woodcarving class to increase awareness of North Dakota birds, whether they nest here or merely pass through during their semi-annual migrations.

Garrison artist Cyndy Robinson will teach the art class from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. The class will focus on western meadowlarks, a common North Dakota visitor. It's open to young artists, ages 10 to 18.

Mike McEnroe, a longtime carver and retired from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, will lead the shorebird carving class. It's open to anyone 14 or older, and the project involves carving and painting a shorebird, whether a piping plover, godwit, avocet, killdeer or something else.

The classes are in their third year and are aimed at a different audience than the refuge usually attracts, said Jackie Jacobson, outdoor recreation planner at Audubon.

"Our other classes promote hunting, fishing, bird-watching and kids' activities. This is a little different route. We focus more on conservation art and the talented people we know."

McEnroe, the former Audubon refuge manager, has been carving duck decoys, shorebirds and songbirds since the late 1970s.

"I do it as a hobby," he said. "Some are decorative, some are working decoys for waterfowl hunting," he said.

Shorebirds are the class subject at Audubon because those birds can be done in about four hours, which is how long the class runs.

"If we were doing full-body ducks, it could take from 15 to 40 or 100 hours, depending on the level of detail," McEnroe explained.

As it is, the four hours can be a bit hurried.

"We don't wait for the glue to dry or the paint to dry," he said. "We wouldn't do it that way, but we don't have an overnight drying period," he said.

Students may choose the species they want to carve, Jacobson explained.

"Mike provides precut patterns and students can do a small bird like a piping plover or a large bird like an American avocet," she said.

Wood - an easy carving variety, such as pine, fir or spruce - eyes, paint, dowels and carving knives will be provided.

The carving tool is made by X-Acto. "They are relatively sharp, and for this low level of detail, they work fine," McEnroe said.

Carving experience isn't necessary, and the students "do remarkably well," said McEnroe, who also conducts a carving workshop at the summer Becoming an Outdoors-Woman program at Lake Metigoshe State Park. Students at Audubon range in age from 14 to 60 or 70 and are about 50-50 women and men , he added.

The art class offers two lessons in one.

"Jackie (Jacobson) talks with the children first," said Robinson. "She shows them a picture and talks about the habitat of the animal we are drawing that day. It's kind of like a science lesson first before we start drawing."

Robinson, who has taught after-school art classes in Garrison for 10 years, then works on showing the students the basics of how to draw the subject animal.

"How to look at different shapes, and I talk about highlights and shadows and different textures," she said. "I help them see what they need to draw and how to put all their parts together and build their drawing."

The students do well, she added.

"My husband, Jim, also is an artist, and he helps me a lot. He's helping (students) at the same time I am," she explained.

Coyotes were the drawing class subject last year, and bald eagles were the focus in its first year.

International Migratory Bird Day, which began in 1993, celebrates the journeys of migratory birds between their breeding grounds and their wintering grounds, which often are in in Mexico, Central America or South America.

"There are a lot of folks in the area who enjoy bird-watching and feeding birds," Jacobson said,. "(The classes) are another way to appreciated them and learn more about the species. We always focus on species that are relatively common in North Dakota that people can relate to without being an expert birder."

(Reach outdoor writer Richard Hinton at 701-250-8256 or richard.hinton@bismarcktribune.com.)