January 2021
February 2021
March 2021
April 2021
May 2021
June 2021
July 2021
August 2021
September 2021
October 2021
November 2021
December 2021

JANUARY 2021

Virtual Festival Of Birds
January 1 – January 31, 2021
Online
Join Rookery Bay and partners in January for a month of online activities, expert speakers and virtual adventures for nature and bird lovers everywhere!

Tracking Whimbrel: Journey With These Shorebirds On Their Non-Stop Flight From Cape Cod To South America
January 14, 2021 @ 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm Free
Online
From July through late September, Whimbrels migrate southward from their sub-Arctic tundra breeding grounds to Cape Cod, Massachusetts. While on the Cape, this large shorebird spends up to several weeks in the saltmarshes feeding on fiddler crabs—an important staple of their diet. After replenishing their energy reserves, building fat reserves and flight muscles, these Whimbrels will make a non-stop, trans-oceanic flight to their wintering grounds in the Caribbean Islands or all the way to the north coast of South America. Join us for a webinar on Thursday, January 14, with Manomet’s Alan Kneidel and Brad Winn, Mark Faherty, staff Biologist with Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet Sanctuary, and Dr. Sandra Giner, professor at the Central University of Venezuela, to learn what our innovative satellite-tracking research has uncovered about Whimbrel and other shorebirds.

Morro Bay Winter Bird Festival
January 14 – January 17, 2021
Morro Bay, CA
Morro Bay is a Globally Important Bird Area, located halfway between Los Angeles and San Francisco on the Pacific Flyway. Over 200 bird species have been seen during the festival weekend! The festival includes keynotes, field trips, workshops, bazaar, and family day. Saturday and Sunday keynotes to be announced.

Everglades Birding Festival – Cancelled
January 14 – January 18, 2021
Davie, FL

COVID-Safe Wings Over Willcox Birding & Nature Festival
January 15 – January 16, 2021
Online, Cochise Lake and Whitewater Draw Wildlife Area, AZ
From the rugged peaks of the Dos Cabezas and Chiricahua Mountains to the Dragoon Mountains, stretches the Sulphur Springs Valley, home to a great variety of plant and animal life. This bio-diverse area from grasslands to sky islands is home to a unique mix of flora and fauna and nearly 500 avian species. The Magic Circle of Cochise, which begins and ends in Willcox, offers the outdoor nature enthusiast the opportunity to experience some of the best birding and wildlife attractions in Southeastern Arizona.

26th Rains County Eagle Fest
January 16, 2021
Emory, TX
Rains County was recognized as the “Eagle Capital of Texas,” by the Texas Legislature in 1995 as part of an effort to protect and preserve the American Bald Eagle. Lake Fork, Lake Tawakoni, and the surrounding areas are nesting and feeding grounds for Bald Eagles and over 260 other bird species. The bus and barge tours to the lakes to see majestic Bald Eagles in their natural habitat are one of the main highlights of the festival. There will also be bird and animal exhibits and programs, animal encounters (including snakes), live entertainment and music, Aztec Dancers, vendors, food, educational speakers, and much more. Enjoy presentations from Last Chance Forever, the Blackland Prairie Raptor Center, Teaming With Wildlife, and others. Visit our website for more information.

Virtual Annual Tennessee Sandhill Crane Festival
January 16 – January 17, 2021
Online
As many as 12,000 cranes have overwintered at the confluence of the Tennessee and Hiwassee Rivers. Whether you’re an avid birder or you’ve never seen a Sandhill Crane before, the Tennessee Sandhill Crane Festival represents an extraordinary opportunity to witness a natural phenomenon that is truly unforgettable. Experience the migration of the Sandhill Cranes and many other waterfowl, eagles, White Pelicans, and Whooping Cranes.

Virtual For The Love Of Birds Festival
January 27 – January 29, 2021
Online
Learn from 14 of the coolest and most unconventional speakers, all from diverse backgrounds and experts in their fields, ready to help you expand what you thought was possible, learn practical skills, and fall even more deeply in love with the world of birds.

Teatown Hudson River EagleFest
January 30 – February 7, 2021
Ossining, NY
Teatown’s Hudson River EagleFest, the annual festival celebrating the bald eagle’s winter migration to the Hudson Valley, will kick off its 17th season on January 30, 2021, with a week of exciting virtual programs and limited in-person programs for children, families, and birding enthusiasts.  Please visit our website for the most up-to-date information.

Eagle Watch Weekend
January 30 – 31, 2021
Oglesby, IL
The Eagle Watch Weekend features Birds of Prey Shows (Starved Rock Room) and family activities at Starved Rock Lodge (Great Hall), the Starved Rock State Park Visitor Center, and the Illinois Waterway Visitor Center.  Take a short hike to the top of Starved Rock or Eagle Cliff and look for eagles in flight or join the park naturalist for a guided eagle viewing tour.  Events run from 9 am to 4 pm each day.

FEBRUARY 2021

Virtual Spring Bird Camp
February 1 – March 18, 2021
Online
For this Spring Bird Camp,  Environment for the Americas’ focus will be on how to separate male and female birds, understand the difference between bird calls and songs, and much more! With the spring migration of birds approaching, the curriculum will also include activities covering the importance of migratory birds.

19th Annual High Plains Snow Goose
February 4 – February 7, 2021
Lamar, Colorado
This one-of-a-kind festival is celebrating 19 years and is sponsored by the Lamar Chamber of Commerce, Colorado Parks and Wildlife, Kiowa County Economic Development, and Canyons and Plains. Join avid birders and historians for this three-day festival that offers amazing field trips, engaging speakers, and informative programs.

Galt Winter Bird Festival
February 6, 2021
Galt, CA
The 14th Annual Galt Winter Bird Festival advances public awareness of the conservation of the region’s wildlife. This area is a critical stop for many important species of birds commuting on a diverse chain of habitats called the Pacific Flyway. In addition to these magnificent migrating birds, hundreds of bird species call Galt and its surrounding cities home. The festival brings tours, vendors, programs, and presentations for guests to enjoy. There will be wildlife entertainment for all ages, art, food and more! Over 1,200 attendees enjoyed our last festival.

Cumberland County Winter Eagle Festival
February 6, 2021
Mauricetown, NJ
Cumberland County, New Jersey, has the largest number of nesting Bald Eagles in the state.  The Winter Eagle Festival will feature speakers, viewing stations along the Delaware Bay and Maurice River, and guided trail hikes. The Eagle Festival is a partner effort between the County of Cumberland and numerous environmental organizations including the Cape May Bird Observatory, Audubon Society, Natural Lands, Association of New Jersey Environmental Commissions, American Littoral Society, Citizens United to Protect the Maurice River and it’s Tributaries, and many others.

Annual Winter Wings Festival – Cancelled
February 11 – February 14
Klamath Falls, OR

Sax-Zim Bog Winter Birding Festival
February 12 – February 14, 2021
Meadowlands, MN
The 14th Annual Sax-Zim Bog Winter Birding Festival will take place on February 12, 13, 14, 2021, in Meadowlands, Minnesota. Buses with guides will tour the Bog daily, beginning on Friday and ending on Sunday. Friday and Saturday Evening Program Speakers to be announced.

Virtual 3rd Annual Birds On The Niagara International Bird Festival: A Winter Virtual Celebration
February 12 – February 14, 2021
North Java, NY
Join us on Valentine’s Day weekend when many of Niagara’s bird species are in breeding plumage and are exhibiting courtship behavior. Birding on the Niagara River in Winter is as good as it gets. Up to 19 species of gulls, waterfowl, and winter irruptive birds use this area as winter habitat. 100,000 birds can be found along the Niagara River Corridor Globally Significant Bird Area on any given winter day.

Virtual Laredo Birding Festival
February 13, 2021
Online from Laredo, TX
The Laredo virtual Birding Festival includes high-quality birding videos of our most popular Laredo Birding Festival destinations. View stunning birds and landscapes of our South Texas region as we take you on an exclusive birding journey by boat, on historic ranches and local birding hot-spots!

Brunch With The Birds
February 13, 2021
Arlington, TX
Enjoy an introduction to birding for the whole family at Brunch with the Birds on February 13 at River Legacy Living Science Center! Register for guided hikes at 11 AM, 1 PM, and 3 PM where you will learn the basics of bird counting. Then enjoy free coffee and hot chocolate, breakfast snacks, informational demonstrations, and access to our new traveling exhibit! Masks required inside and on hikes. Must pre-register to attend.

Virtual/Hybrid San Diego Bird Festival
February 17 – February 21, 2021
Online and San Diego, CA
The San Diego Bird Festival is a celebration of the birds and habitats of San Diego County. Our 2021 festival will feature over 20 field trips reaching every corner in the county, plus workshops about destinations, identification tips, photography, and guest speakers.

Annual Whooping Crane Festival
February 25 – February 28, 2021
Port Aransas, TX
The Coastal Bend is the only spot in the United States where the endangered Whooping Crane can be viewed at close range, and the Port Aransas Chamber of Commerce celebrates this astonishing natural wonder with an annual festival honoring these grand birds. In addition to the Whooping Crane, an awesome array of wintering migratory birds flock into the wetlands and onto the Texas shorelines of Mustang Island in and around Port Aransas. Birding tours by land and sea are highlights during the festival. 

16th Annual Eagle Expo
February 26 – February 27, 2021
Morgan City, LA
Eagle Expo includes boat tours into various waterways to view eagles, Birds of Prey program, presentations, speakers, fellowship, photography workshop, and Water & Nature Expo. Exhibits and vendors will have products that highlight outdoor recreation and our waterways.

MARCH 2021

Vallarta Bird And Nature Festival
March 5 – March 7, 2021
Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
Hosted by the Vallarta Botanical Gardens, the festival honors the amazing diversity of birds and nature that exist in Mexico and more specifically in the Puerto Vallarta area, Banderas Bay and Cabo Corrientes. This year we are fundraising in support of The Macaw Sanctuary with hopes to fund Military Macaw nestbox construction and installation. Guest speakers to be announced. Tours to bird-rich areas within an hour’s drive of the Vallarta Botanical Gardens will be offered each day along with tours of the beautiful and internationally recognized botanical gardens. Fun and educational children’s activities will be offered along with a family birding walk within the botanical gardens.

Crane Season
March 6 – April 11, 2021
Gibbon, NE
Every March, over a million Sandhill Cranes converge on the Platte River Valley in central Nebraska to fuel up before continuing north to their nesting grounds. Audubon’s Rowe Sanctuary is at the heart of this magnificent crane staging area. Rowe Sanctuary offers daily guided tours at sunrise and sunset to view the spectacular concentrations of Sandhill Cranes on their river roosts from new “discovery stations” strategically placed along the Platte River close to Sandhill Crane roosts.

Cape Ann Winter Birding Boat Trip
March 6, 2021
Gloucester, MA 
Birdwatchers from New England and beyond flock to Cape Ann to participate in the Cape Ann Winter Birding Weekend each year. Weather permitting, we are hosting the Winter Birding Boat Trip, aboard the PRIVATEER IV, with 7 Seas Whale Watch. Saturday, March 6, 2020, from 8 am to 1 pm.

Annual NatureFest
March 6, 2021
Humble, TX
Nature lovers of all ages are invited to our Annual NatureFest introducing visitors to local environmental organizations, outdoor activities, and native plants and wildlife. This free family event includes pontoon boat tours, guided walks, live animals, a catch-and-release fish tank, and a variety of presentations throughout the day.

Virtual Migratory Bird Fest And Birdathon
March 12 – March 31, 2021
Online
Migratory Bird Fest is a community festival usually held at Mitchell Lake Audubon Center in May to celebrate spring migration. Mitchell Lake Audubon Center cancelled the festival in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Virtual Migratory Bird Fest is our way of holding the festival for the community in a socially distant and safe way.

Virtual Monte Vista Crane Festival
March 12, 2021
Online
The bus tours and large gathering have been canceled for the 2021 Crane Festival. Instead, from the comfort of your own home join us for beautiful videos, images, and interviews featuring twenty thousand Sandhill Cranes and the landscape of the San Luis Valley, Colorado. Our feature presentations are “Cranes of the World” by crane naturalist Sandra Noll and a spectacular slide show by professional photographer Ed MacKerrow. Included are short video productions about cranes, San Luis Valley water issues, and short interviews with refuge staff and local community members.

Virtual Wings Over Water Northwest Birding Festival
March 19 – March 21, 2021
Online
Wings Over Water 2021 Northwest Birding Festival Has Gone Virtual And Will Take Place On March 19, 20, 21 With Live Webinars, Video Bird Walks, Kids’ Activities And More To Enhance Your Outdoor Experience And Love Of Birding. Join us in-person in 2022 for a birding adventure along the coastal areas of Blaine, Birch Bay, and Semiahmoo in the northwest corner of Washington State. 

Tundra Swan Festival
March 20, 2021
Cusick, WA
The festival is an annual, one-day event all about the Tundra Swan migration! The swans historically favor the Pend Oreille River Valley as they journey to ancestral breeding grounds on the Arctic tundra. A medium distance migrant, the Cygnus columbianus may travel from as far away as New Mexico, the California coast, and Colorado River, or as near as southern Idaho. Whatever the distance, they are a welcome sight and sound; a herald of spring. The event is co-hosted by the Natural Resources Department of the Kalispel Tribe of Indians and the Pend Oreille Region Tourism Alliance (PORTA).

Virtual Wings And Wetlands Birding Festival
March 24 – March 26, 2021
Online
Join Us For the 2021 Virtual Wings & Wetlands Festival. Explore birds, wetlands, and conservation messages through presentations by renowned experts, interactive socials, and on-demand web resources. The 2021 Wings and Wetlands Festival features renowned experts. These experts will walk you through topics of bird watching, identification techniques, Kansas wetlands, and conservation.

Space Coast Virtual Photography Experience
March 26 – March 28, 2021
Online
Learn from the pros: presentations, panel discussions, tools, and techniques over 3 days with 20 speakers in 7 categories. The Space Coast Virtual Photography Experience is offered at several levels so you can choose the categories or talks to inspire your photography and take you to higher levels of skill. PLUS . . . presentations will be recorded and the replays available until April 30, 2021.

APRIL 2021

Annual Great Louisiana BirdFest
April 1 – April 5, 2021
Mandeville, LA
Birders travel from all corners of the U.S. and from around the world to participate in the Great Louisiana BirdFest. Our area is a prime bird-watching location, and the Great Louisiana BirdFest is considered one of the premier birding events in the country. Join us and enjoy what people travel long distances to see and experience “the ideal spring weather, natural resources, and wildlife of Southeast Louisiana” in our own backyard. Birding trips by foot and pontoon boat for expert and beginning birdwatchers in varied habitat, including swamps, wetlands, pine savanna, and hardwoods. Photography and other workshops, Southern food and hospitality.

A Celebration Of Swans
April 1 – April 30, 2021
Marsh Lake, Yukon Canada
Yukon’s premier birding festival brings residents and visitors alike out to great swan viewing areas to welcome spring to the North. The mass migration of tens of thousands of swans, ducks, and geese is not to be missed. The Swan Haven Interpretive Centre, open daily in April, is the hub of the festival. Events include photography and art workshops, presentations, campfire storytelling, children’s activities, and more.

Spring Fling
April 3 – May 2, 2021
Quintana, TX
Twice each year millions of birds swarm across the Americas, traveling thousands of miles as they migrate between breeding and wintering grounds, stopping in route to refuel at coastal stopover sites. Spring Fling is an amazing opportunity to see migratory songbirds as they arrive at stopover habitat along the coast. This is great time to enjoy the wide variety of species that migrate through Texas, such as orioles, grosbeaks, tanagers, and numerous warbler species, to name just a few. We will have knowledgeable volunteers and staff on hand at Quintana to answer your questions, keep a daily list, and sell water, snacks, and field guides. Even if you don’t know a cardinal from a blue jay, you will enjoy a trip to Quintana to witness the diversity and abundance of migrating species.

Attwater’s Prairie Chicken Festival
April 10 – 11, 2021
Eagle Lake, TX
Come see the endangered Attwater’s prairie-chickens dance in their native habitat! Early morning van tours will take participants up to one of the booming grounds to watch the male prairie chicken’s famous courtship dance. Other events this weekend include native plant guided tours, bird walks with experienced birders, Native American dance presentations, refuge van tours, and a merchandise booth sponsored by the Friends of Attwater Prairie Chicken Refuge.

Virtual Wisconsin Prairie Chicken Festival
April 12 – April 17, 2021
Online
Every April, the Greater Prairie-Chicken dances at dawn, and typically people can assist researchers by sitting in a blind to watch, and log, the mating of this unique Wisconsin species. Due to COVID, the 2021 Wisconsin Prairie Chicken Festival (WPCF) is going to be a virtual, online experience. The event is free, but spots may be limited, so registration is required.

Annual Migration Celebration
April 13 – May 8, 2021
Brazoria, TX 
Due to COVID-19 restrictions, the traditional Migration Celebration (MC) held at San Bernard NWR will not be offered this year. In its place we are sponsoring a series of Saturday activities at five different venues: ​ Family-friendly outdoor activities are being planned for each venue. Each event will be held from 10AM to 4PM. We will post activity updates on our website and on the Migration Celebration Facebook page.

AWE Virtual Talk With Scott Weidensaul
April 13, 2021 @ 5:30 pm EDT
Online
An epic reflection on what we’re learning about the greatest natural phenomenon on the planet—and what we must do to preserve it.

Olympic Birdfest
April 15 – April 18, 2021
Sequim, WA
This festival provides participants the opportunity to view a wide variety of birds normally seen on the Olympic Peninsula. Field trips are planned for Sequim Bay, Port Angeles Harbor, Ediz Hook, Dungeness Spit, the Elwha River and at Neah Bay, as well as trips through wooded areas to view songbirds and locate owls in the evening. Boat trips to Protection Island are also planned. The North Olympic Peninsula is widely known as a great place for bird watching. The day of the Olympic BirdFest is timed to overlap wintering birds and the beginning of spring migration.
In addition to the field trips, birders may participate in presentations, workshops and a banquet. A tour explaining the Jamestown S’Klallam tribal totem poles at the Tribal Center and the Seven Cedars Casino will also be offered.

19th Annual Galveston FeatherFest Birding & Nature Photography Festival
April 15 – April 18, 2021
Galveston Island, TX
FeatherFest is the Island’s annual birding and nature photography festival held during the height of spring migration. Galveston is one of the top locations in the country for birding because it hosts a wide variety of habitats in a small geographical area where some 300 species make their permanent or temporary home.

Grand Isle Migratory Bird Festival
April 16 – April 18, 2021
Grand Isle, LA
The best spring migration birding across the southeastern United States, the Grand Isle Migratory Bird Festival offers guided birding tours from Elmer’s Island, The Nature Conservancy’s Maritime Forest and Birding Trail to the Grand Isle State Park.  Grand Isle is an essential stop for migrating songbirds after their long flight across the Gulf of Mexico during spring migration. The island has become one of the best places in the world to see the variety of species during spring and fall migration. The Migratory Bird Festival not only celebrates their spring arrival but also provides easy viewing access to visitors.

Virtual Godwit Days Spring Migration Bird Festival
April 16 – April 18, 2021
Online
The Godwit Days Spring Migration Birding Festival will be offering a free, virtual, three-day program April 16 through 18. It will highlight some favorite species and the spots where they occur. Most sessions will be 60 to 90 minutes in length, with breaks in between. Some will be live-streamed (and also recorded for future viewing), and others will be pre-recorded and posted online. Participants will be asked to make donations to keep the festival going, both this year and beyond.

11th Pannonian BirdExperience
April 17 – April 25, 2021
Illmitz, Austria
Since 2010 Austria’s birdiest Nationalpark Neusiedler See – Seewinkel hosts the Pannonian BirdExperience annually in April. This event includes a three-day trade show for bird watching—everything you need and all you want to know can be found here at numerous stands: optics and cameras, including accessories, functional clothing, nature tours, books, Nature Reserves, and National Parks, as well as bird- and nature-conservation organizations. The 9-day program with field trips, workshops, and lectures starts the weekend before and makes the visit to the Pannonian BirdExperience an incomparable experience!

Georgia Bird Fest
April 17 – May 16, 2021
Atlanta, GA
Birds, y’all! Georgia Bird Fest celebrates spring migration in the southeastern U.S. with 40+ field trips, weekend trips, workshops, and keynote speakers, both virtually and in-person across the state. Keynote speakers for 2021 include Scott Weidensaul (April 18) and Carolyn Finney, Ph.D. (May 16).

Birdiest Festival In America
April 21 – April 25, 2021
Corpus Christi, TX
Corpus Christi’s BIRDIEST FESTIVAL IN AMERICA has earned its wings, bringing birders of all levels to the Texas Gulf Coast to experience amazing spring migration in perhaps the busiest flyway in the country! Based at South Texas Botanical Gardens & Nature Center, the 2020 festival (before cancellation) had doubled its 2019 registration! Now larger and longer, 2021 features 14 different field trips to famous South Texas ranch and coastal hot spots!  Eight different presentations and workshops; three bird walks; and nine Jonathan Wood “Raptor Project” shows also are offered.

Florida’s Birding & Photo Fest
April 21 – April 25, 2021
St. Augustine Beach, FL
Florida’s Historic Coast will present another great year of birding and outdoor photography.  There will be more than 130 exciting photography and birding events, including field workshops, classroom sessions, as well as night and action photography. Festival participants will benefit from insights and instruction from a collection of upper echelon international nature and wildlife photographers — a group that continues to solidify Florida’s Birding & Photo Fest as one of the premier events in North America.

Point Reyes Birding And Nature Festival
April 22 – April 25, 2021
Point Reyes Station, CA
Save the date for the Point Reyes Birding and Nature Festival! This three-day event is a program of the Environmental Action Committee of West Marin (EAC) and allows attendees to experience one of the most ecologically significant areas along the Pacific Coast with experienced naturalists and biologists. Just outside the magnificent Point Reyes National Seashore, participants will enjoy the biological diversity of plants and animals of this area and the surrounding regional habitats of the rural landscapes of West Marin County. The Festival takes place at the height of spring migration with opportunities for over 184 bird species! Over 50 field events and indoor workshops focused on a variety birds, habitat, plants, and mammals.

Virtual Verde Valley Birding And Nature Festival
April 22 – April 25, 2021
Online from the Verde Valley, AZ
Friends of the Verde River will host the annual Verde Valley Birding and Nature Festival in a unique new way, bringing the natural treasures and incredible birding of the Verde Valley directly to your home. Join us for the Virtual Package, which includes all festival webinars and opportunities to connect with professional presenters. Engage with other bird lovers and learn about the amazing beauty and biodiversity of the Verde River, one of the last free-flowing rivers in the Southwest. There will be a limited number of small, in-person birding tours offered within the state of Arizona. This accessible and beloved festival is perfect for nature lovers, lifelong learners, and all levels of birders.

Spring Chirp
April 22 – April 25, 2021
Weslaco, TX
Perfect for those seeking a superior introduction to birding South Texas, our small-group field trips with expert guides to hotspots and super-premium destinations make this the best way to see a wide variety of specialty birds and migrants at prime time for hawk migration.

Virtual Harney County Migratory Bird Festival
April 22 – April 25, 2021
Online
Each April thousands of migratory birds rest and feed in the open spaces of Oregon’s Harney Basin of Southeast Oregon. Although we cannot meet in person this year for his spectacular experience, we are working diligently and creatively to put together a VIRTUAL EVENT that will be FANTASTIC.

Red Cliffs Bird Fest At Greater Zion
April 22 – April 24, 2021
St. George, UT
The 2021 Red Cliffs Bird Fest will showcase the birding habitat of Greater Zion during spring migration where the beauty of the birds is truly matched by the beauty of the scenery. Field trips will combine birding with other outdoor activities for maximum enjoyment. Join us as we spend 3 days exploring the varied birding habitats throughout incredible Southwest Utah! Within one day, you can experience the birds of micro-wetlands, low deserts, riparian habitats, and the aspen-fir belt. This year’s field trips will offer access to all these ranges including guided trips in Zion National Park and the famous Lytle Ranch Preserve!

Owens Lake Bird Festival
April 23 – April 25, 2021
Lone Pine, CA
Details Of The 2021 Owens Lake Bird Festival Are Still Pending As Organizers Monitor The Situation And Follow Guidelines Set By Local And State Health Officials To Ensure The Safety Of Our Community. The Owens Lake Bird Festival showcases the migration of birds through the Mojave desert, along the historic Owens Lake. This festival merges magic of historic western movie scenes and ancient tribal histories at the Alabama Hills with the stark natural beauty of Death Valley’s doorstep. 30+ outings highlighting the birds, photography, botany, geology, and history of this important location. LADWP’s unique dust management engineering restored the lakes important bird habitats where saltwater and freshwater interact to host a huge number of traveling bird species.

Hatchie BirdFest
April 23 – April 25, 2021
Brownsville, TN
Unique outdoor adventures and over 200 species of birds await you on the Hatchie National Wildlife Refuge. Events will include speakers and demonstrations, hikes, canoeing, and exhibitors. Entertainment by The Dirt Pilgrims folk band. Perfect for seasoned birders or beginners.

Willis Point Bluebird Festival
April 25, 2021
Willis Point, TX
The W. P. Bluebird Festival Association, Inc. (501(c)3 nonprofit) has hosted the annual Bluebird Festival in the spring of each year since 1994. In 1995, Willis Point was named Bluebird Capitol of Texas by Governor George W. Bush. The festival is held in downtown Willis Point, Texas, on 5th Street, from 8 am until 5 pm. Events include Bluebird Tours and Train Depot, Car Show, Lil Miss Bluebird Pageant, Chili Cook-off, and Kidz Zone.

New River Birding & Nature Festival
April 26 – May 1, 2021
Opossum Creek Retreat, WV
The annual New River Birding & Nature Festival takes place in and around the New River Gorge National River in the heart of the upland, hardwood forests that Cornell Lab of Ornithology identified as a crucial stopover habitat for the continued survival of species, such as Golden-winged, Blue-winged, and Swainson’s Warblers, as well as the Scarlet Tanager. Our bird and nature watching festival highlights more than 100 bird species on a variety of daily birding tours.

Stikine River Birding Festival
April 29 – May 2, 2021
Wrangell, AK
Stikine River Delta has the largest springtime concentration in North America of thousands of Bald Eagles. The festival is the perfect opportunity for adventurous birdwatchers to also observe millions of shorebirds, which migrate to the delta each spring. The Stikine River and its tributaries are located within the Stikine-LeConte Wilderness Area of the Tongass National Forest. Wrangell Stikine River Birding Festival celebrates the spring migration of Bald Eagles, Snow Geese, Sandhill Cranes, and thousands of shorebirds. Events for all ages, including art and photo contests, build a feeder, guest speakers, and of course—an opportunity to explore the surrounding islands and Stikine River flats for birds!

Birding The Border
April 29 – May 2, 2021
Del Rio, TX
Birding the Border takes place each spring in Val Verde and Kinney counties, Texas! This puts us in the middle of the Central Flyway and at the intersection of 3 different eco-regions, providing our participants with the opportunity to see a wide variety of birds in the borderlands of southwest Texas. Participants have access to private ranches, some of which have never been birded, and other restricted-access sites. This is a unique Texas birding experience that includes tours led by professional guides, educational programs, a trade show, and so much more.

Tofino Shorebird Festival
April 30 – May 2, 2021
Tofino, BC, Canada
The Tofino Shorebird Festival celebrates the spring migration of shorebirds with a series of educational birding activities throughout the Tofino region. We draw on local and visiting experts to participate in the festival, offering guest lectures, birding workshops, boat trips, and much more! This is a great opportunity to experience the largest wildlife migration in the region, learn about these impressive birds, and understand why Tofino is one of the very best places in western Canada for bird watching.

Little St. Simons Island Spring Birding Days
April 30 – May 7, 2021
St Simons Island, GA
Celebrate spring migration on Little St. Simons Island! Guest ornithologists join our staff naturalists on excursions highlighting the abundance of species that flock here during this special time. Three-, four-, and seven-night packages, priced per couple, double-occupancy. Package rates include lodging, three meals daily prepared by our chefs, soft drinks, all island activities including guided naturalist excursions and use of recreation gear as well as boat transfers to and from the island.

MAY 2021

Red Slough Birding Convention
May 1 – May 4, 2021
Idabel, OK
The Annual Red Slough Birding Convention in Southeast Oklahoma will take you to several birding hotspots (Red Slough, Little River NWR, and McCurtain County Wilderness Area) to see species, such as Purple Gallinule, White Ibis, Black-bellied Whistling-Duck, Least Bittern, Painted Bunting, Swainson’s Warbler, Scarlet Tanager, Brown-headed Nuthatch, Baltimore Oriole, Red-cockaded Woodpecker, and many other neotropical migrants, shorebirds, and wading birds. Tours will also showcase the diverse dragonflies, wildflowers, and champion trees (Prairie Wildflowers, Red Slough Dragonfly Tour, and Champion Tree Tour).

JUNE 2021

JULY 2021

AUGUST 2021

SEPTEMBER 2021

OCTOBER 2021

NOVEMBER 2021

DECEMBER 2021

The post Birding and Birdwatching Festivals and Events in 2021 appeared first on BirdsEye Nature Apps.

By Isabelle Groc
Read the original article on Ensia.

When she was about 8 years old, Judy Elson received a 500-piece jigsaw puzzle from her great-aunt that featured North American birds. Her relative had a passion for feeding backyard birds, and Elson has carried on the tradition for the past 30 years, in turn passing on her enjoyment and dedication to her own children. “They put together the same jigsaw puzzle I did as a child and started recognizing birds even before they knew they were interested in them,” she says. With 12 feeders in her garden in Cary, outside Raleigh, North Carolina, she observes about 50 birds per day from up to 22 different species. “I feed the birds to benefit them, but it also brings them in closer to where they are easier to see,” Elson says. “Most of my feeders are outside a bay window in my dining room where I can sit and watch the birds. That is so enjoyable and relaxing.”

“I feed the birds to benefit them, but it also brings them in closer to where they are easier to see,” Elson says.

Backyard bird feeding is one of the most common ways people engage with wildlife in many parts of the world. Estimates show that about half of households in the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia feed birds. In Great Britain, homeowners provide enough food to support approximately 196 million birds.

While people have always fed birds with kitchen scraps and homemade feeders, the practice has substantially changed since the 1950s with the increased commercial availability of diverse bird foods and feeders, making it easier to attract a greater number of bird species to backyard gardens year-round. 

Common Wood-Pigeon, by Steve Percival

Researchers are just beginning to understand the ecological impacts, positive and negative, of this massive human intervention. From helping birds survive the winter to boosting bird populations and reproduction, feeding is reshaping bird communities and behaviors and even altering migratory patterns.

A 2019 study led by researchers from the British Trust of Ornithology found an increase in the diversity of birds visiting garden feeders in the past 40 years in Britain. The study, based on data recorded by citizen scientists for the Garden Bird Feeding Survey, shows that “approximately half of all birds using feeders belonged to just two species in the 1970s, but by the 2010s, the number of species making up the same proportion of the community had more than tripled.” For example, according to Kate Plummer, a research ecologist with the British Trust of Ornithology and a lead author of the study, just 10% of volunteers saw wood pigeons and goldfinches at feeders in the 1970s, but now these two species are common visitors in close to 90% of gardens. After significant declines between the mid 1970s to the mid 1980s, the goldfinch population has more than doubled between 1990 and 2015.

“We think it is the use of feeders that is in part driving these levels of increase,” says Plummer. “In the 1990s, bird food companies targeted goldfinches and started producing finer seeds, which made it easier for the birds to get what they needed in gardens.”

Eurasian Blackcap, by Steven Mlodinow

Bird food provided in British gardens has also affected the Eurasian blackcap, which has evolved a new migration strategy. For the past 60 years, blackcaps are more often choosing to spend the winters in Britain’s urban areas rather than migrating to the Mediterranean as they used to. A study concluded that milder winters combined with increased bird feeding have contributed to the change. “Feeding is causing species to adapt and evolve,” says Plummer, who also led this research.

It’s not just in Europe that birds are taking advantage of people’s feeding activities in their gardens. In 2017, Vancouver, Canada, residents elected the Anna’s hummingbird as their official city bird. Described by the city as “classy, urbane and stylish with the heart of a tiger,” the tiny bird now helps the city build awareness of birds in the urban environment.

Anna’s Hummingbird, by Steven Mlodinow

Yet, Vancouver’s favorite bird is a relative newcomer to the city. In the past 20 years, Anna’s hummingbirds have expanded their winter range northward by more than 700 kilometers (435 miles). A study based on long-term data from Project FeederWatch, a citizen science program in the United States and Canada led by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and Bird Studies Canada, found that the hummingbirds are now able to survive farther north in colder locations in part because more people are providing nectar feeders and planting exotic flowers in their gardens that bloom in different seasons, including the winter.

“It was quite rare to find an Anna’s hummingbird in the winter north of the California border 20 years ago,” says David Bonter, avian ecologist at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and one of the study authors. “Most of those birds can handle cold temperatures as long as they have something to eat, and more individuals are surviving winter in places where they could not have previously,” he adds. “What surprised everybody involved in the study is how quickly it happened.” 

“What surprised everybody involved in the study is how quickly it happened,” says Bonter. 

The impacts of human feeding extend beyond birds. For example, in Australia, flying foxes are increasingly living in urban areas because they can easily access food all year. People choose to plant native and exotic plants that flower in all seasons, which entices the bats to spend more time in those locations.

While feeding animals can in some cases lead to increased survival and breeding success, there can be negative consequences as well. For example, a 2019 study of the impacts of human feeding on a group of bottlenose dolphins in Western Australia found that, while other factors may have also played a role, both calf survival and female reproductive success were negatively affected by feeding.

Up for Debate

Backyard bird feeding is the subject of extensive debate. For example, what are the long-term ecological consequences of changing the migratory behavior of birds? “The amount of human food supplied every single day is gigantic, and that genuinely has had a massive effect on the overall environment and the population of birds,” says Darryl Jones, author of The Birds at My Table: Why We Feed Wild Birds and Why It Matters.

European Goldfinch, by Steve Percival

For example, in a 2018 article, scientists raised concerns about the risks associated with increased disease transmission. Garden feeders can indeed spread disease by bringing birds into contact with species they would not otherwise interact with. Risks can be higher if feeding stations are not cleaned on a regular basis, allowing food waste and droppings to accumulate. The number of greenfinches in the UK declined from a peak of about 4.3 million in 2006 to about 1.5 million individuals in 2016 after a disease outbreak that researchers hypothesized could be due to feeders. In the eastern U.S., bird feeders facilitated the transmission of an eye infection that decimated the house finch populations in the 1990s.

A paper exploring the impacts of wildlife feeding on migration and disease suggests that one of the benefits of migration is that it allows animals to leave habitats where parasites have accumulated and eliminates infected individuals that cannot survive the journey, and so can reduce parasite infection in populations. “Staying in one place increases exposure to infection,” says Richard Hall, an assistant professor at the Odum School of Ecology at the University of Georgia and co-author of the paper.

Feed Responsibly

According to Hall, the implications of bird feeding are also complex, and while feeders can facilitate the spread of diseases, they can in certain cases help improve bird condition.

“When you feed birds you aggregate them and that increases the transmission of parasites, but if you are feeding the right kinds of food it also means they can have a better immune function so even if they come in contact with another sick bird or parasite in the environment they may be better equipped to fight off an infection,” he says, “so there is a balance there.”

If done responsibly, many researchers say, feeding can help populations in need, especially in winter, and increase biodiversity conservation. “What we do as humans tends to have a negative impact on wildlife, and many of the species using garden feeders like goldfinches were negatively impacted by the intensification of agriculture. That’s why they were in decline, but now we are putting feeders and they are increasing,” says Plummer. “If we can compensate in some way for other negative effects we are having on some of these species, it feels like we are doing something beneficial.”

Backyard bird feeding also plays an important role in establishing personal connections with nature, with benefits to human health and well-being. “As we are more and more in big cities where nature is becoming rare and more difficult to encounter, bird feeding is a desperate search for some connection with nature. If you put a feeder in your garden, truly wild animals will come and visit you,” says Jones. “It is an extraordinary experience.” 

The direct observation of the natural world can also get people to be more supportive of conservation efforts. “There is value in that human interactions with backyard birds make people realize the birds are in trouble, and we need to make more efforts to conserve what’s left,” says Bonter. 

“There is value in that human interactions with backyard birds make people realize the birds are in trouble, and we need to make more efforts to conserve what’s left,” says Bonter. 

A 2019 study that surveyed participants of Project FeederWatch in the U.S. to understand the connection between people’s emotions and what they observed at bird feeders, found that most people who directly observed a problem at their feeders, such as the presence of a cat or sick birds, reported they would take action.

“There is a high percentage of people who do something in response to what they see,” says lead study author Ashley Dayer, an assistant professor of human dimensions in the department of Fish and Wildlife Conservation at Virginia Tech. “People are doing a lot more than just the feeding itself. They are managing the predators out there, they are cleaning the feeders, they are taking a lot of actions.”

In Australia bird feeding is strongly discouraged, even though the proportion of people feeding birds is the same as in the Northern Hemisphere. “People are strongly motivated to feed birds and care about them, but they are doing so in the complete absence of any information or advice and don’t know how to do it properly,” says Jones, who just published a book, Feeding the Birds at Your Table, to advise people how to feed birds responsibly. 

Backyard bird feeding can have benefits as long as it is done correctly, and a number of resources such as Project FeederWatch provide guidelines and steps people can take to create a safe feeding environment for birds, such as frequently cleaning feeders, spacing them far apart from each other to reduce exposure to disease, providing nutritionally appropriate foods, planting native species or recording data to allow scientists to better understand bird populations. With a recent study published in Science revealing that bird populations in the United States and Canada have fallen by 29 percent since 1970 — even species “once considered common and wide-spread” — people may become even more motivated to put out feeders to help birds, so making sure it’s done correctly will be important.

The post To feed or not to feed? The dilemma of interacting with birds and other wildlife appeared first on BirdsEye Nature Apps.

January 2020
February 2020
March 2020
April 2020
May 2020
June 2020
July 2020
August 2020
September 2020
October 2020
November 2020
December 2020

JANUARY 2020

North Shore Birding Festival
January 16-20, 2020 — Mount Dora, Florida
The North Shore Birding Festival is perfect for birders visiting Florida or locals wanting to learn more from knowledgeable birding guides. Add to your life list at an amazing birding area, the 20,000-acre Lake Apopka North Shore, where 360+ species have been sighted, more than any other inland location. Four full-day trips and 16 half-day trips are offered, along with keynotes and dinners. For details and registration, call Orange Audubon at 407-637-2525 or visit our website or Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/northshorebirdingfestival.

Everglades Birding Festival
January 16-20, 2020 — Davie, Florida
Explore the unique Everglades ecosystem while searching for 150 plus species.A focus on gaining advanced birding skills with daily mini-workshops, small groups, and expert guides. Keynotes, Dinners, and Evening Programs. Full-day field trips to Corkscrew, STA 5, Upper Keys, South Dade, Everglades National Park, and more. Target species: Snail Kite, Short-tailed Hawk, Limpkin, Painted Bunting, Red-whiskered Bulbul, Gray-headed Swamphen, Common Myna, Egyptian Goose, Burrowing Owl, Wood Stork, Roseate Spoonbill, Prairie Warbler, White-winged Parakeet, and Nanday Parakeet. Contact: Paddy Cunningham, 754-201-1141, (954) 805-6810, birdpaddy@yahoo.com

Morro Bay Winter Bird Festival
January 17-20, 2020 — Morro Bay, California
Morro Bay is a Globally Important Bird Area, located halfway between Los Angeles and San Francisco on the Pacific Flyway. Over 200 bird species have been seen during the festival weekend! The festival includes keynotes, field trips, workshops, bazaar, and family day. Saturday and Sunday keynotes to be announced. Registration opens early November. Contact: 805-234-1170, registrar@morrobaybirdfestival.org.

21st Annual Snow Goose Festival Of The Pacific Flyway
January 22-26, 2020 — Chico, California
See the beauty and experience the excitement of avian migration at this action-packed 5-day festival that celebrates the remarkable journey of millions of waterfowl and thousands of raptors that migrate along the Pacific Flyway and call Northern Sacramento Valley their home during the winter months.

17th Annual Eagles & Agriculture
January 23-26, 2020 — Minden, Gardnerville, & Genoa, Nevada

Wings of Winter Birding Festival
January 24-26, 2020 — Tennessee National Wildlife Refuge, Springville, TN
The Third Annual Wings of Winter Birding Festival is hosted by the Friends of Tennessee National Wildlife Refuge who partners with national and state agencies and organizations in the area. The Festival focuses on birds around the Kentucky and Barkley Lake area in western Tennessee and Kentucky. Dozens of volunteers and agency staff have worked to create an unforgettable weekend experience for any level birder. You will walk away with new tips and tricks from your guides to make you an even better birder.

FEBRUARY 2020

Galt Winter Bird Festival
February 1, 2020 — Galt, California
The 13th Annual Galt Winter Bird Festival advances public awareness of the conservation of the region’s wildlife. This area is a critical stop for many important species of birds commuting on a diverse chain of habitats called the Pacific Flyway. In addition to these magnificent migrating birds, hundreds of bird species call Galt and its surrounding cities home. The festival brings tours, vendors, programs, and presentations for guests to enjoy. There will be wildlife entertainment for all ages, art, food and more! Over 1,200 attendees enjoyed our last festival. Contact: Jackie Garcia, jgarcia@ci.galt.ca.us.

Cumberland County Eagle Fest
February 1, 2020 — Mauricetown, New Jersey

8th Laredo Birding Festival
February 5-8, 2020 — Laredo, Texas
The Laredo Birding Festival highlights over 200 species of spectacular birds. Laredo is a dynamic city that bridges two cultures and plays host to pleasant winter weather; while also being the crossroads of eastern, western, and neotropical birds. Birders will encounter lovely vistas along the Rio Grande; access to nearly two dozen historic South Texas ranches; and experience quality field trips in small intimate groups led by professional field guides! The upcoming Festival kicks off on Wednesday, February 5, 2020, at the Laredo Center for the Arts, during the Birds, Beer and Cheer mixer and Birds of the Brush art exhibit opening. The festival is hosted by the Rio Grande International Study Center, the Monte Mucho Audubon Society, and the Laredo Convention & Visitors Bureau. For more information, visit our website or call (956) 718-1063.

High Plains Snow Goose Festival
February 6-9, 2020 — Lamar, CO
Come see the Snow Geese as the migrate through Colorado! Tours, silent auction, trade show & craft fair, programming, banquet, and more. Great change to meet other birders. Contact: highplainssnowgoose@gmail.com

Teatown Hudson River EagleFest
February 8, 2020 — Croton-on-Hudson, New York
The bald eagle’s return to the Hudson Valley after being on the brink of extinction is one of the great conservation success stories of our time. Join us at Croton Point Park as our region’s bald eagles descend upon the Hudson River as part of their winter migration. Celebrate the return of this magnificent bird with live bird-of-prey shows, educators with viewing scopes observing wild eagles, children’s activities, food trucks, and 25+ environmental organizations — all in heated tents!

41st Annual Winter Wings Festival
February 13-14, 2020 — Klamath Falls, Oregon
The Winter Wings Festival is produced by Klamath Basin Audubon Society volunteers with support from sponsors, grants, and participant registration fees.  Proceeds from this festival support local grants to teachers and other entities for outdoor education and community nature-related projects. Typically the reported species at the festival number about 120 – 133. Here is our 2019 festival bird species count.

Eagle Expo And More
February 13-15, 2020 — Morgan City, Louisiana
Boat tours in various waterways, presentations by wildlife & birding experts, photography seminar and social with guest speaker.

Nebraska Crane Season
February 15 – April 15, 2020 — Gibbon, Nebraska

24th Annual Whooping Crane Festival
February 20-23, 2020 — Port Aransas, Texas
This festival is a one of a kind event, focused on the Whooping Crane-the rarest of cranes and one of the most endangered birds in the world. The festival is open to birders, photographers, families, and anyone who loves the outdoors and nature-related activities.

California Duck Days
February 22, 2020 — Davis, California
California Duck Days is a family oriented, community-based outdoor festival with activities for people of all ages. Field trips are led by some of the region’s most experienced birders and naturalists. On-site activities for families include interactive exhibits, wetland themed arts and crafts, trout fishing in our ponds, and much more. 

San Diego Bird Festival
February 26 – March 1, 2020 — San Diego, California
Join us for activities, live bird presentations, interesting workshops, and guided bird walks for the whole family. If you are interested in being a sponsor or a vendor in 2020, please contact Jen Hajj at hajj@sandiegoaudubon.org. If you are a San Diego Local and would like to participate as a volunteer, contact us.

MARCH 2020

SOAR With the Eagles – Cancelled
March 1-29, 2020 — Wabasha, Minnesota
SOAR With the Eagles is the National Eagle Center’s annual festival that celebrates the spring Bald Eagle migration along the Mississippi River. During weekends in March, visitors enjoy a variety of special programming hosted by the National Eagle Center. The festival includes animal presentations, nationally renowned flying bird shows, environmental exhibits, demonstrations by the DNR and US Fish and Wildlife Service, Native American crafts, wild eagle viewing, and much more! There is programming for all ages and exciting opportunities to experience and learn new things about the natural world! Contact 651-565-4989 or info@nationaleaglecenter.org.

Vallarta Bird and Nature Festival
March 4-8, 2020 — Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
Our Mission: To Spark Awareness for Birds and Nature and To Inspire People to Act to Conserve Birds and Nature For Its Ability to Enrich Our Lives. The World Renowned Vallarta Botanical Garden Is Surrounded By The Beautiful Bird-Rich Mountain Landscape Of Cabo Corrientes, located 24 Km (15 Miles) South of Puerto Vallarta. All Tours, Workshops, And Presentations Have Spanish and English Speakers.

Friends of Goose Pond Marsh Madness Sandhill Crane and Migratory Bird Festival
March 6-7, 2020 — Linton, Indiana
The festival will kick off Friday night with a social hour and dinner, live/silent auction, and guest speake Saturday festivities are at the Linton Humphrey’s Park from 8 am to 4 pm with Guided Bus Tours, Education Workshops, Craft Vendors, Art Exhibit by the Indiana Wildlife Artists, Birds of Prey Exhibit, Amphibian Exhibit, and Food Vendors. Contact: mail@friendsofgoosepond.org or visit our website or Facebook page (Friends of Goose Pond).

International Festival of Owls
March 6-8, 2020 — Houston, Minnesota
Immerse yourself in owls at the only annual, full-weekend, all-owl festival in North America. Highlights include seven species of live owls (including a Snowy Owl and a flying Barn Owl), owl prowls to call in wild owls, a birding and natural history bus trip, and learn from owl experts from around the world. Families can build an owl nest box, dissect an owl pellet, make a variety of owl crafts, buy owl merchandise, enjoy owl art and photography, and have a hoot eating owl-themed food. The whole city of Houston gets involved! Contact Karla Bloem, 507-896-6957, karla@internationalowlcenter.org.

North American Bluebird Society Conference
March 11-14, 2020 — Kearney, NE
The North American Bluebird Society is a non-profit education, conservation and research organization that promotes the recovery of bluebirds and other native cavity-nesting bird species in North America. 

Birding America Conference
March 14, 2020 — Chicago, IL
Chicago Audubon Society is proud to present the 13th bi-annual Birding America Conference. Join us to discover great places, great people, and great birds presented by international experts, with topics ranging from plovers to penguins to scrub jays; covering locations from the Midwest to Montana and Maine to Brazil to the boreal forest. Keynote Speaker: Dr. John Fitzpatrick, Director, Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology: “Birds Can Save the World – but only if we invest in them today.”

Owl Prowl At Jack Miner – Cancelled
March 18, 2020 — Kingsville, Ontario, Canada
Join us at Jack Miner Migratory Bird Foundation for an Owl Prowl with Xander Campbell and Jeremy Hatt. We will be meeting in the historic house first to discuss the species of owls in the Kennedy Woods and what features make owls so unique! This is a family friendly event. Pre-registration required. Only 40 spots available. Call or email the Sanctuary to book your spot.

22nd Othello Sandhill Crane Festival – Cancelled
March 20-22, 2020 — Othello, WA
The Othello Sandhill Crane Festival has announced the Friday, March 20th and Saturday March 21st keynote speakers.  The 23rd annual festival will be held March 20, 21, and 22, 2020 in Othello, Washington.  With the celebration of the spring migration of the Sandhill cranes, the festival offers a variety of events for the whole family to enjoy and learn.  Online registration opens on February 1, 2020.  Some tours sell out quickly, so check the website early!

Audubon’s 50th Annual Nebraska Crane Festival – Cancelled
March 20-21, 2020 — Omaha, NE
Join us for our 50th Crane Festival on Friday and Saturday, March 20 and 21, 2020! On-line registration will begin at 9:00 am CST on Monday, December 9. Registration will include Saturday meals, access to all speakers and a free t-shirt. Student and child discounts available. 

Wings Over Water Northwest Birding Festival – Cancelled
March 20-22, 2020 — Blaine, WA
Join us for our 18th annual birding festival! Wildlife speakers, exhibits, kid’s activities, interactive art stations, birding field trips, birding and wildlife cruises, and more!

Waterfowl Weekend – Cancelled
March 20-21, 2020 — Brighton, Ontario, Canada
Waterfowl Weekend will be held at the park. World-class waterfowl viewing during the spring migration from 10 to 4 pm. Volunteer naturalists will help you view and identify over 25 different species of ducks, geese, and swans at our viewing stations. Also check out art, photography, and carving displays and children’s activities in the Nature Centre. Join The Friends for BBQ lunch fundraiser at the Lighthouse, on Saturday and Sunday, from 11 am. The Lighthouse Interpretive Centre and The Friends’ Gift Shop will be open. Contact: David, David.bree@ontario.ca, 613-475-4324 x225

Raptor Fest 2020 – Cancelled
March 21, 2020 — Gainesville, GA
With live bird and animal encounters, this seasonal program will offer children, families, and all nature lovers the chance to learn about wild birds of prey. There will be plenty of hands-on activities, guided hikes, scheduled presentations, and food vendors for kids of all ages to enjoy! List of exhibitors and vendors coming soon to our website. Contact: elachee@elachee.org, 770-535-1976.

Brant Wildlife Festival – Some events cancelled
March 21 – April 19, 2020 — Parksville, British Columbia, Canada
A Spring Celebration of Nature – we welcome the arrival of thousands of migratory birds, fish and marine mammals to the shores of Parksville and Qualicum Beach on Vancouver Island in March and April. The Brant come to rest and feed before continuing their arduous northern journey to their nesting grounds. Contact: Robin Rivers, rrivers@naturetrust.bc.ca

Brew On The Bayou – Postponed to Nov 7, 2020
March 21, 2020 — Lake Jackson, TX
Join the Gulf Coast Bird Observatory for our third annual Brew on the Bayou here in Lake Jackson. Come sample and enjoy specialty brews from local breweries as well as wines. Listen to live music, grab a bite to eat from local food trucks and check out some hot items at our silent auction. Our beautiful wooded grounds will be lit by torchlight making it a perfect spot to enjoy the brews, the food and the music! This is one of GCBO’s biggest fundraisers for our conservation efforts, so you can have fun while helping birds! Contact: Celeste Silling, 979-480-0999, csilling@gcbo.org

4th Annual Matagorda Bay Birdfest – Postponed
March 27-29, 2020 — Palacios, TX
Matagorda Bay Birdfest is a truly exceptional event and bird celebration. Our expert-guided tours by boat, kayak, and land include tours to Powderhorn Ranch and to the Mad Island Nature Conservancy, #1 in bird species count for Audubon Christmas bird count in 21 of the last 25 years! It is the undiscovered jewel of mid-coast Texas! Our extensive panel of speakers include many outstanding professionals including speakers from the Audubon, The Smithsonian, and the International Crane Foundation. Don’t miss the Keynote dinner at the Palacios Pavilion overlooking beautiful Matagorda Bay or the one-of-a-kind Bird Parade along the waterfront that is both fun and fabulous! Contact: Laurie Beck, (956) 285-3234, lbeck@becktv.com.

Attwater’s Prairie Chicken Festival
March 27-29, 2020 — Palacios, TX
Matagorda Bay Birdfest is a truly exceptional event and bird celebration. Our expert-guided tours by boat, kayak, and land include tours to Powderhorn Ranch and to the Mad Island Nature Conservancy, #1 in bird species count for Audubon Christmas bird count in 21 of the last 25 years! It is the undiscovered jewel of mid-coast Texas! Our extensive panel of speakers include many outstanding professionals including speakers from the Audubon, The Smithsonian, and the International Crane Foundation. Don’t miss the Keynote dinner at the Palacios Pavilion overlooking beautiful Matagorda Bay or the one-of-a-kind Bird Parade along the waterfront that is both fun and fabulous! Contact: Laurie Beck, (956) 285-3234, lbeck@becktv.com.

APRIL 2020

A Celebration Of Swans – Cancelled
April 1-30, 2020 — Marsh Lake, Yukon, Canada
Yukon’s premier birding festival brings residents and visitors alike out to great swan viewing areas to welcome spring to the North. The mass migration of tens of thousands of swans, ducks, and geese is not to be missed. The Swan Haven Interpretive Centre, open daily in April, is the hub of the festival. Events include photography and art workshops, presentations, campfire storytelling, children’s activities, and more. Contact 867-667-8291, wildlife.viewing@gov.yk.ca.

24th Annual Great Louisiana BirdFest
April 3-6, 2020 — Mandeville, LA
Birders travel from all corners of the U.S. and from around the world to participate in the Great Louisiana BirdFest. Our area is a prime bird-watching location, and the Great Louisiana BirdFest is considered one of the premier birding events in the country. Join us and enjoy what people travel long distances to see and experience the ideal spring weather, natural resources, and wildlife of Southeast Louisiana in our own backyard. Birding trips by foot and pontoon boat for expert and beginning birdwatchers in varied habitat, including swamps, wetlands, pine savanna, and hardwoods. Photography and other workshops, Southern food and hospitality. Contact: Rue McNeill, 985-626-1238, rue@northlakenature.org.

MAY 2020

JUNE 2020

#BlackBirdersWeek
May 31 – June 5, 2020 — Everywhere! Twitter, Instagram, Facebook!
Organized by @BlackAFinSTEM in response to what happened to black birder Christian Cooper. But it’s also in response to the murders of Ahmaud Arbery, Breyonna Taylor, George Floyd, and the countless others. Many of us work in the outdoors, in urban areas and wilderness. It could’ve easily been anyone of us. We want our peers to not only recognize our existence but our experiences being Black. The history books set a precedent for civil unrest in the face of injustice. We want it to be clear that we stand with the protesters fighting against police brutality even as we organize a protest specific to being #BlackinNature.

JULY 2020

AUGUST 2020

Live Guided Birding Tour at the Panama Canal
August 25 – September 30, online, Gamboa, Panama
We are Eco/birding guides in Panama and we have created an amazing online birding experience for people who cannot travel due to the pandemic. We have attached cameras to our powerful scopes and can transmit videos of birds in the rainforest LIVE to people around the world. As a way to continue doing what we love, we came up with an idea that we think is innovative and practical during this difficult time that will allow people from all over the world to experience the rainforest live from the safety of their home. We are lucky enough to be able to transmit live from the middle of the jungle with a strong internet signal in an area famous for birdwatching and wildlife viewing. We have created a live guided birdwatching tour right next to the Panama Canal that includes 2 hours of birdwatching in a world famous birding area followed by a 30 minute driving tour of Gamboa, an old American Canal Zone town that is home to the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute.

SEPTEMBER 2020

Yampa Valley Crane Festival
September 3 – September 6, Steamboat Springs Hayden, CO
Enjoy Greater Sandhill Cranes during Labor Day weekend in the beautiful setting of Northwest Colorado! The 9th annual Yampa Valley Crane Festival takes place September 3 – September 6, 2020 in Steamboat Springs and Hayden, CO. and features the Rocky Mountain Greater Sandhill Cranes that breed and stage in the Yampa Valley. Festival activities include nature walks, a crane-friendly ranch tour, documentary films, bird art, family activities, live raptors, workshops and more.

Puget Sound Bird Fest
September 12 – September 13, online
Keynote speaker Kaeli Swift will kick off the festivities on Saturday at 10:30am with a live interactive webinar “Something to Crow About,” followed by other interactive webinars throughout the day. Cast your vote in the annual Bird Fest Photo Exhibition and Contest. Other festival favorites such as the Kids Corner and a Birders Help Desk will also be available on line, as well as video-based virtual birding tours featuring some of our local hotspots. The Pilchuck Audubon Society plans to host a native plant sale at the Edmonds Wildlife Habitat and Demonstration Garden on Sunday.

Virtual Bird Camp
September 14 – October 30, Boulder, Colorado
Our summer session was such a success that Bird Camp will continue this fall with new sessions to get 4 – 12 year olds kids involved in birds, birdwatching, and conservation. Participants of all ages learn about bird identification, journaling, science explorations, photography, and more through online and family experiences that meet state science standards. Sessions for specific age groups ensure that we work at a good pace.

OCTOBER 2020

Virtual World Migratory Bird Day
October 8 – October 10, Everywhere!
World Migratory Bird Day (WMBD) is a global event that celebrates the phenomenon of bird migrations and serves as a call to action to protect the birds we share. Environment for the Americas organizes WMBD in the Americas, connecting people to bird conservation from Canada to Argentina and the Caribbean. WMBD is officially celebrated on the second Saturday in May (May 9, 2020) and the second Saturday in October each year (October 10, 2020).Bird Day LIVE brings together biologists and educators from across the Americas to share their work and activities for the conservation of migratory birds. Visit BirdDayLIVE.com for our schedule of activities.

Virtual 5th Hawai’i Island Festival Of Birds
October 15 – October 19, Kailua-Kona, Hawaii
The Hawai‘i Island Festival of Birds (HIFB) 2020 is virtual event due to precautions and uncertainty surrounding COVID-19 and travel restrictions to Hawai’i this year.  Festival content will be launched on the HIFB website at the start of the Festival on October 15 and will run through October 19. There is no cost to attend the virtual festival, but participants will need to register.

There will be bird challenges and guest speaker videos posted each day throughout the festival week as well as opportunities to win prizes including HIFB Virtual 2020 stickers and care packages mailed from Hawai’i to your home. This year’s theme is “Wanderers and Migrants.” Guest speaker video talks will highlight many of the pelagic, migrant, and vagrant species that visit the main Hawaiian Islands and that thrive in Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument. 

Virtual Winter Raptor Fest 2020
October 18 – November 30, Greenwich, New York
The Winter Raptor Fest will be virtual and available for streaming from October 18, 2020, to November 30, 2020.
Events include:
“Night Owls” – Whispering Willow Wild Care & North Country Wild Care
“Predators Of The Sky” – Vermont Institute Of Natural Science
“The Threat To Boreal Habitats” – Adirondack Wildlife Refuge
“Raptors In Flight” – Adirondack Raptors
“Wildlife Alive!” – New York State Wildlife Rehab Council

NOVEMBER 2020

Fall Migration Celebration
November 8, Augusta, MI
The W.K. Kellogg Bird Sanctuary was founded in 1927 and deeded over to Michigan State University in 1928, so we are celebrating more than 90 years! The Sanctuary is an important migration stopover for waterfowl and the best place to view Trumpeter Swans in Michigan’s lower peninsula. Join us from 1 to 4 pm and look for migrating waterfowl on Wintergreen Lake, meet our education raptors, make crafts to take home, create enrichment for the resident birds, and learn about how and why birds migrate. There will be a decoy exhibit by local, award-winning decoy carver Willy McDonald of The Duck Blind, who will also be helping the kids with their crafts! 

Black-Necked Crane Festival
November 11, Bhutan
The Black-necked Crane is the last discovered of 15 species of cranes in the world. This majestic bird is endemic to the Tibetan Plateau and migrates to lower altitudes, including several areas of Bhutan, in autumn. In Phobjikha Valley, one of the major habitats in Bhutan, the arrival of the cranes signals the end of the harvesting season. The Black-necked Crane festival was first initiated with the objective of linking conservation of the graceful birds to the improvement of livelihood of the community. Over the years, as the festival gained popularity among the community people, visitors from the nearby Dzongkhags (districts) and international visitors, it became an annual event to welcome the cranes and to celebrate the centuries’ old relationship between the cranes and people of Phobjikha. Among the events is the popular Black-necked Crane dance performed by school children in crane costumes. The local community also performs folk dances and mask dances. The Black-necked Cranes have a sacred identify in Bhutanese culture and often appear in folklore, dances, and historical texts. Since 1987, Royal Society for Protection of Nature has been working to protect and rebuild the population of the Black-necked Cranes. 

Bhutan Bird Festival
November 11 – November 13, Zhemgang Dzongkhag, Bhutan
Zhemgang Dzongkhag (District) will organize the three-day “Bhutan Bird Festival,” which coincides with the Birth Anniversary of the Fourth King of Bhutan in Tingtibi Town. The festival has eleven enthralling events split into pre-festival, main events, and post-festival programs.

Zhemgang district is a popular birding destination. With the district’s boundary intersecting with three protected areas–Royal Manas National Park, Jigme Singey Wangchuk National Park, and Phrumshengla National Park. The district harbors more than 500 species of birds.

White-bellied Herons are found in the Mangde Chu (river) and its tributaries. All four species of hornbills found in Bhutan–Rufous-neck Hornbill, Great Hornbill, Wreathed Hornbill and Pied Hornbill are sighted at different elevations. Beautiful Nuthatch is occasionally sighted in the upper regions of Zhemgang.

California Swan Festival
November 13 – November 15, Yuba City, CA
The festival honors the return of tens of thousands Tundra Swans to their winter home. In close-knit family groups, the swans make a spectacular show for bird watchers and photographers. This three-day event offers more than 35 guided tours by experts, exploring a wide range of waterfowl habitats and other natural assets of the beautiful Yuba-Sutter region. Field trips include Swan Sighting, Ag/Wildlife Educational Tours, Historic Tours, Nature Hikes, and trips to the region’s National Wildlife areas. Registration for field trips (at affordable rates) begins online in late August. Free Junior Naturalist program, led by Shady Creek Outdoor School naturalists. Children of all ages will enjoy hands-on learning. Activities include crafts, games, live animal presentations and much more. A vendor fair is held all day Saturday and Sunday in the Swan Central building. Parking and entry to the Swan Festival are FREE, as are a wide range of workshops and presentations on wildlife education, natural sciences, ecosystem management, and photography. 

DECEMBER 2020

The post Updated: Birding and Birdwatching Festivals and Events in 2020 appeared first on BirdsEye Nature Apps.

As the world adjusted to life amid the coronavirus pandemic, this spring and summer birding was heralded as a safe, physically distanced way to get outside and enjoy something beautiful. No matter where you are, you too can observe the wonderful world of birds – even vicariously through these gorgeous bird photos!

Are you a bird photographer? Whether just starting out or a seasoned pro, you can create an account at birdseye.photo. Your photos may be featured on BirdsEye apps, where they will help other birders quickly ID the birds they see.

Have a favorite image in our apps that you’d like to see featured? Email us at info@birdsinthehand.com.

The post This Summer’s Best Bird Photos appeared first on BirdsEye Nature Apps.

By Alexandra Witze, Knowable Magazine

This article originally appeared in Knowable Magazine on July 29, 2020. Knowable Magazine is an independent journalistic endeavor from Annual Reviews, a nonprofit publisher dedicated to synthesizing and integrating knowledge for the progress of science and the benefit of society. 

The post Collective Behavior: How Animals Work Together appeared first on BirdsEye Nature Apps.

Between flight shaming and a global pandemic, destinations that depend on travelers to protect ecosystems are finding themselves with fewer resources to do so.

July 1, 2020 — Rincon del Mar, a beachside hamlet on Colombia’s Caribbean coast, is part of a burgeoning industry that is helping to turn the tide for the country’s peacetime economy and its environmental conservation.

In 2010, Amauri Julio, a fisherman turned tour guide, joined other community members to form an environmental group to protect Rincon del Mar’s beaches and mangroves. During the day, he offers tours for snorkeling among tropical fish and corals and visiting idyllic Caribbean islands. Participants in afternoon tours view giant flocks of seabirds going to roost, aquatic reptiles and, as night falls, luminescent plankton in the lagoon surrounded by mangroves. With the country’s more-than-50-year armed conflict in the past, Julio says that more and more international tourists are visiting, providing a sustainable source of income for the village and their environmental projects.

Growing concerns about climate change, however, could change that. One response has been “flight shaming,” using remorse to discourage travelers from flying. The movement started in Sweden in 2017 and gained international attention when climate activist Greta Thunberg crossed the Atlantic in a sailboat to attend the U.N. Climate Action Summit in New York in September 2019. Some conservationists and ecotourism providers are concerned that flight shaming may have negative unintended consequences, especially in developing countries where tourism is a key source of jobs, economic growth and conservation funding.

Places like Rincon del Mar depend heavily on tourism. And the Colombian government views tourism as a whole, which has grown some 300% since 2006, as the country’s “new petroleum” and is investing heavily in the blossoming industry.

The Covid-19 pandemic is offering a preview of what could happen if flight-shaming caused air travel and international tourism to dry up. “If you want to see what happens when people stop flying to Africa or Asia, we can see it right now. With tourists gone, poachers are moving in and killing endangered species,” Costas Christ, a former senior director at Conservation International and founder of Beyond Green Travel, a sustainable tourism consultancy says in an email. Christ says he is concerned that with tourism companies and governments’ conservation budgets pummeled, previously protected natural habitat may be turned into cattle ranches. “That is what happens when tourists stop flying.”

Tourism With Benefits

There’s an important distinction to be made between nature tourism — the act of vacationing outdoors — and ecotourism, Christ says.

Nature tourism involves spending a holiday in natural places, “but that does not mean [travelers] are having a positive impact on nature,” Christ says. He points to Tayrona National Natural Park, also on Colombia’s Caribbean coast, as an example of where people visiting in large numbers damaged the natural environment by discarding trash, lighting fires and trafficking plants and animals.

Ecotourism, on the other hand, encapsulates principles and practices that ensure that tourists benefit both the environment and local communities. “Ecotourism was developed to make sure nature tourism did not destroy the very environment that tourists want to visit,” Christ says.

Liven Fernando Martinez Bernal, a professor at the National University of Colombia and an expert in tourism, economics and the environment, says that if the ecotourism industry can grow in an organized way with quality standards, it could generate impressive benefits. Bernal wrote his doctoral dissertation on the environmental impact of tourism in Colombia’s National Parks, looking at the post-conflict scenario and focusing his analysis on the economic impacts for local communities. He found that ecotourism doesn’t require a large capital investment, so rather than concentrating benefits in the hands of a few as often happens in the tourism industry, it can contribute to wealth distribution and economic development at the local level.

Costa Rica is a prime example. From the early 1940s to the 1980s, forest cover decreased from 77% of the country’s territory to 21%, mostly driven by the expansion of cattle ranching and production of crops like coffee and bananas. Facing an economic crisis in the early 1980s, the country looked to ecotourism as a way to diversify the economy while protecting the environment. Today more than 3% of its GDP comes from ecotourism. This, combined with a carbon tax on fossil fuels and payments for environmental services has meant that within 30 years, the country had more than doubled its forest cover.

Conscious Decisions

Experts suggest there is a balancing act at play between the desire to support local economies and conservation efforts and the need to address global climate change. Ecotourism clearly plays a role in protecting habitats and the biodiversity they support. Yet reducing the threat of climate change is key to their well-being, too.

Christ suggests that the answer may lie in finding a happy medium that accommodates both, particularly where they intersect. “The answer is not to stop travel,” he says, “but to get travel right.”

Dimitri Selibas (@dselibas) is a freelance writer and photographer.

This article was originally published by Ensia and is reproduced here under a Creative Commons License.

Editor’s note: Dimitri Selibas wrote this story as a participant in the Ensia Mentor Program. The mentor for the project was Rachel Cernansky.

The post We’re Flying Less. Remote Areas That Depend on Tourism Feel the Impact. appeared first on BirdsEye Nature Apps.

By Sophie Fessl, Knowable Magazine

Every fall, the bar-tailed godwit takes to wing and flies nonstop from Alaska to New Zealand — a journey of 7,000-plus miles. Countless other birds head off too, bound for warmer spots before returning in the spring. How they do it without getting lost remains mysterious to this day.

Scientists are convinced birds must be using some type of biologically based magnetic compass, but they have yet to figure out how such a system would work. Now the field is heating up, and the latest research is pointing away from one long-standing theory and bolstering some intriguing alternatives.

Clues have been piling up for decades. Back in the 1960s, researchers discovered that European robins can somehow sense Earth’s magnetic field. In the decades since, scientists learned that robins and a variety of other bird species use the field, which is created by movement of iron in Earth’s core, as a navigational aid. The birds combine this guide with information deduced from the sun, the stars and geographical landmarks to complete their voyages.

But a vexing question that remains is what sort of biological receptor birds use to detect the magnetic field.

“Key experiments by a group in Germany definitively showed that a magnetic sense exists. Now, more than 50 years later, we still don’t really understand how it works,” says neuroscientist David Keays of the Research Institute of Molecular Pathology in Vienna.

Today, researchers are focusing on three possible ways that a magnetic sense could work. One idea involves a form of iron with magnetic properties, called magnetite, acting as a sort of compass within cells that rotates to align with the magnetic field. Another contender, known as the radical-pair mechanism, hinges on a chemical reaction in a bird’s eye that is influenced by Earth’s magnetic field. A third hypothesis suggests that as a bird moves through Earth’s magnetic field, small currents are generated in the creature’s inner ear.

In all three of these scenarios, signals are produced and passed on to the bird’s brain to be processed and translated into directions. Here’s a look at each of them.

Testing their metal

The magnetite idea has been studied the longest. Though it is biologically possible — certain kinds of swimming bacteria use the iron mineral to orient themselves — evidence in higher animals remains elusive, with scattered reports that are not always reproducible.

“The history of the magnetite literature in vertebrates is basically, ‘I find magnetite here,’ ‘I find magnetite here,’ ‘I find magnetite here,’ but it’s not getting much further than that yet,” says biologist Henrik Mouritsen, who investigates magnetoreception in European robins and blackcaps and coauthored a 2016 overview of the topic in the Annual Review of Biophysics.

Mouritsen, of the University of Oldenburg in Germany, would like to test the magnetite hypothesis using a classic tool of biologists: Remove something from the animal and see what happens to its behavior. If magnetite is critical for navigation, destroying the magnetite-containing cells would affect the birds’ ability to find their way. But for this research strategy to work, scientists need to know just where to find magnetite in the robins. And even if they find it, “it’s a long way from showing a cell contains iron to showing it’s magnetite connected to nerve tissue that has any biological relevance,” Mouritsen says.

One major knock against the magnetite theory is that a bird’s compass senses only the axis of the magnetic field and not its polarity, says chemist Peter Hore of the University of Oxford, a coauthor on the Annual Reviews paper. Unlike the compass needles used by people, which rely on the magnetic field’s polarity to point toward the magnetic North Pole, birds know which direction the nearest pole is but can’t distinguish between north and south. So when scientists invert the magnetic field in the lab, birds don’t sense a change and continue to head in the same direction.

But magnetite particles would respond to a flipped field by pointing in the opposite direction, just like a compass needle would. If birds were depending on magnetite, they would sense the change and turn around to head in the opposite direction.

The eyes have it?

The weight of evidence gathered by scientists tilts toward another idea known as the radical-pair hypothesis, Hore says. Mouritsen also favors this idea, which is based on a protein in birds’ eyes called cryptochrome. When light hits cryptochrome, reactions within the protein generate a pair of molecules, called a radical pair. The two molecules in the pair each have an odd number of electrons, leaving each with a single, unpaired electron. These two extra electrons can have spins that are in the same (or parallel) direction, or in the opposite (antiparallel) direction, and they can also flip between these two states.

According to the radical-pair hypothesis, Earth’s magnetic field influences how likely the spins are to be parallel or antiparallel. How those spins are then translated into a compass isn’t certain, but scientists suspect that in a biochemical reaction in the bird’s eye, the two spin states could lead to different amounts of chemical products being made. The products could then influence signals sent from the bird’s retina to its brain, making it aware of the magnetic field.

A mechanism based on radical pairs instead of magnetite could potentially allow birds to detect magnetic fields, Keays agrees. But because the radical-pair system depends on light hitting birds’ eyes, he thinks there is probably more than one mechanism at work. “It seems counterintuitive to have a light-dependent magnetic sensor when you are flying at night,” he says.

Or maybe the ears do

Keays is testing a long-forgotten hypothesis, first proposed in 1882, that as a bird flies through Earth’s magnetic field, tiny electric currents are generated in its ear. This would happen through electromagnetic induction, akin to how a magnet that moves through a coiled wire creates an electric current in the wire. Extremely sensitive receptors would pick up the small voltages induced in the bird’s inner ear and send signals to the brain.

Electromagnetic induction is thought to be plausible in sharks and skates, which can sense electric currents in seawater. That same electrosensory system could potentially function as a sort of biological wire in which currents could be induced, allowing the animals to sense Earth’s magnetic field.

To test whether induction could work in a land animal like birds, Keays built a simple, scaled model of a pigeon’s inner ear: a plastic tube filled with conductive fluid. When he put the model in a rotating magnetic field, sure enough, a small current was induced. Keays suspects the pigeon behavior of rapid head-turning to scan the environment during flight may also serve to boost the voltage in the birds’ ears. He has also discovered a very sensitive electroreceptor in the pigeon’s inner ear, which is exactly where it would be needed for induction to work.

Though scientists in the field are finding many new and intriguing pieces of evidence, the definitive test that will finally reveal how birds “feel” the magnetic field has yet to be devised, Hore says. “What we need is a killer experiment that would have the power to show, once and for all, whether it really is radical pairs and whether it really is cryptochrome. But it’s actually very hard to come up with something.”

Sophie Fessl swapped the fruit fly, her favorite neuroscience model, for pen and paper and is now a freelance science writer based in Vienna. Follow her on Twitter: @brainosoph

This article originally appeared in Knowable Magazine on July 16, 2020. Knowable Magazine is an independent journalistic endeavor from Annual Reviews, a nonprofit publisher dedicated to synthesizing and integrating knowledge for the progress of science and the benefit of society. Sign up for the newsletter.

The post Earth to Birds: Take the Next Left appeared first on BirdsEye Nature Apps.

By Jacqueline L. Scott, University of Toronto

Birdwatching is open to all. Unless you are Black.

This is the message Christian Cooper received as he was birding in New York City’s Central Park last week. When Cooper asked a white woman to obey the posted signs regarding off-leash dogs, she called the police, claiming that her life was being threatened by an African American man. Christian Cooper filmed the encounter, which his sister posted online. It went viral, resulting in the woman being fired from her job.

There are different ways of looking at the encounter in the park.

Birding is one of the most popular nature-based activities in Canada. About a quarter of adults spend time watching, feeding or photographing birds. Birding is widespread as it is cheap and can be done close to home. It appeals to both women and men. Birdwatching is a charming way to teach children about nature.

Birdwatching is also a racialized hobby, where whiteness and white privilege work together to keep it non-Black. What this means is that the birders are white, may belong to white birding clubs and go on birding walks in woodsy areas which are seen as white spaces. If they are lucky, they may encounter a Black birder once every decade.

I am a Black birdwatcher, and I am also a researcher whose work focuses on how race shapes conservation, environmentalism and outdoor recreation. These fields are overwhelmingly white and noted for their lack of diversity.

Rules for Black birders

Ornithologist Drew Lanham has written nine rules for Black birders, including: “Don’t bird in a hoodie. Ever.” In a recent update, he added: “Roadrunners don’t get gunned down for jogging through neighbourhoods, do they?” These pieces of advice refer to Trayvon Martin, a Black Florida teen killed while wearing a hoodie, and Ahmaud Arbery, a Black man from Georgia slain while running.

Racism in birdwatching is not a new phenomenon. The founder of modern bird conservation, John James Audubon, is rightly praised for his splendid books Birds of America. However, slavery paid for his birding activities: Audubon was born in Haiti and was the heir to a sugar plantation.

On his arrival to the United States in 1803, he remained connected to slavery by buying and selling enslaved people. In fact, Audubon painted birds on a visit to Canada in 1833, the same year that slavery was abolished in Canada and the rest of the British Empire.

Ornithology, or the study of birds, was also hatched as colonial discipline. The quest to find and classify the birds of the world flew wing by wing with the spread of European empires and colonialism. White birders are credited with discoveries, while the local people who taught them, guided them and prepared their scientific specimens are erased from the studies.

In the past, birds were hunted for food and for their feathers. Watching birds for pleasure took off in the early 1800s, as a counter to industrialization and brutish life in the cities. Early birding clubs were formed by and for white people. Modern birding and bird eco-tourism are still dominated by this demographic.

Black faces in the white outdoors

I spend a lots of time in parks and conservation areas (which are, in turn, on Indigenous land), either hiking, cycling or looking for birds to add my life list.

In Black Faces, White Spaces, geographer Carolyn Finney traces how the legacies of slavery warp African American experiences in outdoors recreation. Their visits to national parks are tainted by everyday racism and fears of racial violence; Black people are made to feel unwelcome, and treated as if they are intruders on what is supposedly public space.

In geography, the racialization of space and the spatialization of race describes how Black people are expected to be penned in urban areas paved with concrete, and not in parks and free to enjoy nature. Nature is thus coded as a white space and Black people who venture there are seen as out of place. The same phenomenon occurs in Canada where wilderness and whiteness go together in our land of the Great White North.

The lack of role models is another obstacle to Black people’s participation in birdwatching. In one study, two-thirds of African Americans had never met a birdwatcher. People are less likely to try a new hobby if they don’t see someone like themselves doing so.

In response, Black outdoor activists and enthusiasts have established #BlackBirdersWeek as a social media celebration. According to a statement from former U.S. president Barack Obama, it should not be the new normal, where Black people are harassed in public spaces by white people or the police, including birdwatching in a park.

I got into birding by looking out the window. I saw a flash of crimson and dashed out to check it. I thought the poor bird was spray-painted bright red, as a prank by graffiti artists working on a nearby mural. Then, I spotted another pair of crimson wings. The cardinals sparked my love of birding. I hold on to this moment, this memory of joy, when I think of other Black people’s brush with colour and birdwatching.

Jacqueline L. Scott, PhD Student, Social Justice Education, University of Toronto

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

The post What you should know about Black birders appeared first on BirdsEye Nature Apps.

Sheridan Alford’s love of bird-watching stems from a simple fact: “Anybody can do it.” Old or young, through expensive binoculars or with the naked eye (or ear), in a bucolic park or from a city window, anyone can connect to the avian world around them. Alford, a graduate student in natural resources at the University of Georgia, in Athens, Georgia, studies African American participation in bird-watching, trying to understand why some Black people engage in the activity and others don’t.

She’s also one of the co-founders of a social media push, #BlackBirdersWeek, which launched on May 31. The campaign was sparked by the viral video in which a white woman threatened a Black birder in New York’s Central Park, announcing that she was calling the police “to tell them there’s an African American man threatening my life.” 

“I think a lot of us identified with that scenario,” Alford said in a recent interview. In response, she and other members of a grassroots group, @BlackAFinSTEM, who work in science or related fields, decided to organize a week of social media prompts. They hope to boost visibility of Black nature enthusiasts, highlight the value of racial diversity and promote dialogue within the larger (and largely white) birding community.

High Country News caught up with Alford the day before the launch, during a tumultuous weekend of nationwide protests over police violence against Black people. In Western cities, from Albuquerque, New Mexico, to Denver and Seattle, peaceful daytime protests provoked by the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis gave way to overnight chaos, as police fired tear gas and rubber bullets into crowds, and buildings and cars were destroyed. Officials responded with curfews, emergency declarations and National Guard deployments. The organizers of Black Birders Week addressed the synchrony of their project and the civil unrest directly on Twitter: “We want it to be clear that we stand with the protestors fighting against police brutality even as we organize a protest specific to being #BlackinNature,” they wrote.

This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

High Country News: Who should participate in Black Birders Week? Who is it for?

Sheridan Alford: It is for Black birders. But who can participate? Anybody and everybody, and we encourage everybody to participate! We love seeing the support. When you’re trying to fight for something that you believe in, sometimes you just want to know that someone else is in your corner, fighting that same fight with you.

We are not excluding anyone. … The whole purpose is to highlight and showcase Black birders, and anybody can do that.

“We want it to be clear that we stand with the protestors fighting against police brutality even as we organize a protest specific to being #BlackinNature.”

HCN: Why is the Black Birders Week initiative important at this moment?

SA: At this point, things are popping up in cities around the country that are either racially driven or stereotypically driven, prejudice, whichever word you would like to use. The climate is shifting to where a lot of the acts against people of color or Black people are being filmed, and they are available to the general public — a lot of people are now seeing what some people have experienced their entire lives.

But we think that it’s very important to highlight the work that people are actually doing and kind of drive that conversation to, yes, look at us, and please acknowledge the hardship we go through — but as you acknowledge those hardships, also look at what we’ve been doing in our research, or what we’ve been doing in our communities to better the climate as a whole. So I think this week kind of fell exactly where it needed to, as far as time frame.

HCN: It’s happening right at the same time as these nationwide protests.

SA: And there was no way we could’ve predicted that!

“When you’re trying to fight for something that you believe in, sometimes you just want to know that someone else is in your corner, fighting that same fight with you.”

HCN: Do you see the initiative and the protests as parallel? Or not?

SA: I see them in parallel. … As a Black person, I feel for my people, within the riots and the protests and all the things that are happening across the country. And I think it all just further affirms and identifies what it is to be a Black person in America.

People need a break from a lot of the hurt that they’re feeling. I know a lot of my counterparts are like, I’m not going to get on social media today, I’m going to take the day to myself. I think providing this uplifting and celebratory week will give people that break that they need to mentally gather themselves as a lot of these racially charged and very heated discussions are being had all across the country.

You need the heat, but you also need something to offset that sometimes. I feel like that’s what Birders Week will provide.

HCN: It seems like these are two different ways to respond to the same thing — systemic racism — two different ways to try to dismantle that.

SA: Right. Two sides of the same coin; really, the same side of the same coin. It’s just different ways of hitting it at different angles, and all of it can only help, at the end of the day.

HCN: It feels like this campaign is a celebration of the diversity within the birding community — is that right? 

SA: I would say celebration, as well as a safe space. Because not everything is peaches and roses, and there are dialogues that need to be had. … Hopefully, we’ll be able to touch on some of the issues that people are truly feeling in their hearts and kind of hash things out.

“I think providing this uplifting and celebratory week will give people that break that they need to mentally gather themselves…”

HCN: What do people need to hear?

SA: The biggest thing is just allowing peoples’ voices to be heard. A lot of times, someone will say that they’ve created a safe space or, they’ll say, like, ‘Oh, yeah, we want to hear what you have to say.’ But then when you actually step out and say it, it’s not received well, or it’s discounted or discarded. 

It’s really just about voices and accountability and understanding that everyone, especially Black people, are human beings, and we would like the same treatment as everyone else.

HCN: What do you hope people watching or participating in Black Birders Week will take away from it?

SA: I think that one of the biggest takeaways will be to kind of disprove or muddle the generic stereotype of what a birder or a bird-watcher is.

A lot of times on bird walks, the people on the walk will automatically look to the men in the group for answers. … So it’s always important to be like, actually, no, the woman said that, or actually, no, this Black person actually knows a lot about this bird; to just kind of change the narrative about what not only a Black birder is, but what a Black scientist is.

HCN: How’s the reception been so far?

SA: The reception has been amazing and astounding. We’re all just really grateful, and really appreciative, and glad that people are looking for it; it seems to be something that a lot of people didn’t know they needed.

This story was originally published at High Country News (hcn.org) on June 2, 2020.

Emily Benson is an associate editor at High Country News, covering the northwest, the northern Rockies and Alaska. Email her at emilyb@hcn.org or submit a letter to the editor.

The post Inaugural #BlackBirdersWeek Breaks Stereotypes About Birders appeared first on BirdsEye Nature Apps.

Have a favorite image in our apps that you’d like to see featured? Email us at info@birdsinthehand.com.

The post Best Bird Photos From May appeared first on BirdsEye Nature Apps.