If you ever have an opportunity to go birdwatching with Maggie Jones, do it! It is a special treat.

Four of us, for example, recently toured the Copp Family Park in Groton, a 240-acre birding paradise with Jones, who is a veritable institution in New London County, sought after for her expertise in ornithology, botany, biology, and ecology.

Our experience with her was not only fun, but eye opening. Here’s a sampling of what we learned:

“It’s incredible that we have forest interior birds, right here in Groton,” Jones said.

“Some, like the worm-eating warbler and oven bird (two sparrow-sized birds who winter in Central America), cannot be found in preserves under 200 acres.”

While we hiked through meadows polka dotted with wildflowers in bloom and green forests resounding in birdsong, Jones explained that the birds we are hearing are males, not females. Why? It is mid-May, she said, the height of the migratory season for many songbirds, and the males are singing their hearts out, trying to attract a mate.

“These migrants that are coming up from Central and South America have one chance to find a mate, build a nest, lay eggs, and raise a family,” Jones said.

“Most of them don’t have two broods. So, it’s a quick season, and if something happens, that’s it. These migratory birds have to wait until next season,” she said.

How do birds successfully locate places like the Copp Family Park, sometimes returning to the exact same nesting site, year after year?

“Migratory birds use all their senses in ways we don’t fully understand,” Jones said.

“They use celestial navigation, magnetic fields, polarized light, ultra-violet light and low frequency sounds. That’s a big one.”

For example, Jones said scientists now believe migratory birds, who fly at high altitudes, can hear things like coastal waves crashing against shorelines, and use these reverberating sounds to guide them. And arctic terns, who fly at exceptionally high levels, migrating from pole to pole, may hear sounds coming from both sides of the continent.

Also gleaned from Jones were these pointers:

Generally, birds who nest close to the ground have loud voices. Why? Because they must project their voices around tree trunks.

Great crested flycatchers, a pretty robin-sized songbird, related to the Eastern kingbird, phoebe, and wood pewee, build their nests with pieces of snakeskin.

“The idea is that the skin would scare away predators,” Jones said.

And this: During the breeding season, birds use their colors to attract females and show off their health and vigor. The colors, in part, come from the foods and minerals they eat, Jones said.

A native of Old Mystic, Jones said she was deeply influenced by both parents, who loved the outdoors.

Her father, who was an orthopedic doctor, “spent a lot of time taking us out into the woods, and he would always want me to identify trees,” and her mother, a nurse, liked to feed birds and identify them, she remembered.

Jones later graduated from Connecticut College, with a degree in botany, and went on to become a distinguished executive director of the Pequotsepos Nature Center in Mystic, working there for 27 years.

She is now a consultant and tree warden for the town of Stonington, and often joins Steve Fagin, a popular outdoor columnist for The Day, on small group outings, teaching people about flora and fauna and the environment.

“We are always learning new things,” Jones said. “I think that’s the fun of it.”

Bill Hobbs is an avid backyard birder and lives in Stonington. He can be reached for comments at whobbs246@gmail.com