California Bird Festivals

Bird festivals are fun. You meet other birders, visit new places, see their regular birds plus whatever rarities have dropped in, hear interesting presentations and discussions, admire – possibly buy – beautiful bird paintings and carvings, eat lunch and dinner with others, support their local economy and much more, not far from home. Festivals marked TBA have not yet scheduled their dates. Make reservations in advance.  Events with dates marked with an asterisk (*) are probable, but not yet finalized.

April 2012
[Canceled] 18-21      Wed – Sat     Yuma Birding & Nature Festival       http://www.yumabirding.com/
19-25    Thur – Wed   17th Annual Arcata Godwit Days Bird Festival    http://www.godwitdays.org/
21    Saturday     18th Annual Kern River Valley Spring Nature Festival                       http://kern.audubon.org/KRVSNF.htm
27-30  Fri – Mon     Point Reyes Birding & Nature Festival                  http://www.pointreyesbirdingfestival.org/site/

May 2012
[Canceled] 4-6     Fri – Sun      California Redwoods Bird & Nature Festival         http://www.calredwoodsbirdfest.org/
5           Saturday     Clear Lake Heron Festival                    http://www.heronfestival.org/
12         Saturday    International Migratory Bird Festival                                        http://www.birdday.org/
12         Saturday      Tule Lake Migratory Bird Festival                                          http://www.fws.gov/klamathbasinrefuges/
18-20  Fri – Sun     Spring Wings Bird Festival – Fallon, Nevada           http://www.springwings.org/

June 2012
[Canceled] 2   Saturday    3rd Annual Tahoe Int’l Migratory Bird Festival          http://www.tinsweb.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=102&Itemid=178
15-17    Fri – Sun    11th Annual Mono Lake Bird Chautaqua                                   http://www.birdchautauqua.org/

August 2012
11       Saturday      14th Annual Kern River Valley Hummingbird Celebration     http://kern.audubon.org/hummer_fest.htm

September 2012
15            Saturday      29th International Coastal Cleanup Day         http://sites.healthebay.org/volunteer/ccd/2011/default.as
13-16     Thur – Sun   7th Annual Monterey Bay Birding Festival              http://montereybaybirding.org/
29           Saturday       18th Annual Kern Valley Turkey Vulture Festival    http://kern.audubon.org/tvfest.htm

October 2012
9-15       Tues – Mon   National Wildlife Refuge Week Celebration              http://www.fws.gov/refuges/news/VisitYourNationalWildlifeRefuges_09262011.html
*27           Saturday       Orange County Sea & Sage Book Sale & Pancake Breakfast      http://www.seaandsageaudubon.org/SpecialEvents/SpecialEvents.html

November 2012
2-4          Fri – Sun      16th Annual Lodi Sandhill Crane Festival  http://www.cranefestival.com/
15-18      Thur – Sun   16th Annual Central Valley Birding Symposium           http://www.cvbirds.org/Symposium.htm

January 2013
18-21     Fri – Mon      17th Annual Morro Bay Bird Festival         http://morrobaybirdfestival.org/index.htm
*24-27    Thur – Sun    14th Annual Chico Snow Goose Festival        http://www.snowgoosefestival.org/

February 2013
*8-10      Fri – Sun        17th Annual San Francisco Bay Flyway Festival        http://www.sfbayflywayfestival.com/
*15-17      Fri – Sun        32nd Annual Klamath Falls Winter Wings Festival        http://www.winterwingsfest.org/
*[Not in 2012]          Annual Salton Sea Birding Festival          http://www.newriverwetlands.com/
15-18      Fri-Mon        Great Backyard Bird Count        http://www.birdsource.org/gbbc/
*22-23     Fri – Sat     Davis California Duck Days    http://www.yolobasin.org/events.cfm                Registration: https://www.ticketturtle.com/index.php?preseason=ybf

March 2013
*7-10         Thur – Sun     16th Annual San Diego Bay Bird Festival     http://www.sandiegoaudubon.org/birdfest.htm
*8-9       Sat – Sun        Los Banos Wild on Wetlands Weekend        http://creec.edgateway.net/cs/creec5p/view/creec_res/934
[Chuck Almdale]