One of the best things about birding is the community. And what better way to enjoy the unique community that is the bird world than with an event that celebrates the thing we all love best? Bird festivals across the country offer dedicated trips for spectacular birds and camaraderie. They offer experienced guides, interesting speakers, exhibitors, and socials that will jam-pack your schedule with activity. And best of all, it is impossible not to make new friends at a bird festival, since everyone speaks your language (birds) and is eager to speak it with you. I honestly feel like bird festivals are like holidays that I look forward to every year, with each having its own traditions and bird family members I expect to spend time with. Whether you are a complete newbie, casual birder or a jump-on-a-plane-to-get-that-ABA Code 5 diehard, you should consider adding a bird festival to your life sooner rather than later. Warning: they can become addicting!
What do I do at a bird festival?
While each festival is different, many have a similar structure. In general, they focus on guided birding trips that take participants to find target rarities or regionally special species. Many of the most well-known festivals take advantage of a regional birding hotspot or seasonal phenomenon (i.e. migration) to draw attendees. While not birding, participants can also take advantage of lectures and presentations on a myriad of subjects, including Bird ID, ornithological research, and upcoming books. Other activities can include art or writing workshops or kid-friendly family outings. Vendors and exhibitors often enhance the festival experience by offering shopping and educational opportunities. Finally, festivals are social events, and there are often social evenings, restaurant outings, and all kinds of fun events to meet new friends and unwind after a good day of birding!
It is important to remember that every bird festival is different, and not every festival will have the same activities as another. It is a good idea to read the festival’s promotional materials and posted schedule of events to make sure that it has the activities you are looking for.
Which festival do I choose?
Bird festivals take place across the country and around the world. Some are small, local festivals, while others are renowned across the birding community. No matter what your schedule and budget, there is a bird festival for you. Many popular birding websites have festival finding tools that can help you find the perfect event for you to attend. Here are some of my favorites:
Bird Watcher’s Digest Festival Finder
The Cornell Lab Festival and Event Page (this one has dates for upcoming festivals, which I really like, as well as an interactive map with pins.
Bird Festival Reviews (From a festival-loving, obsessive birder and exhibiting bird artist/Bird Guide and other super cool people)
Okay great, you have decided that you just have to get to one of these events. Or maybe you have already been to some and want to try a new one. I am fortunate that attending bird festivals as an exhibitor (and obsessive birder) has been a major part of my life for the past five years, and has given me the ability to offer a review of some of the most popular festivals along the east coast and wherever else I can creatively get my art to. Whether you are a future festival attendee as a participant, exhibitor, or a guide, I will give you my perspectives as a birder, artist, and guide/program facilitator at each of these events that I have attended, as well as perspectives from other festival-goers to provide further opinions. I will also include my Top Lists of Places to bird, Birds to find, and Places to eat, as well as any constructive negatives I may have about each event.
Disclaimer: I LOVE BIRD FESTIVALS. I have had an incredible time at each and every one I have been to, no matter how critical I try to be. That being said, I will do my best to be objective during each of these reviews!
Cape May Fall Festival
3rd weekend in October
Cape May is a world-renowned birding hotspot. The spectacle of bird migration at Cape May is just un-freaking-believable, and I look forward every year to being bombarded by thousands of Yellow-rumped Warblers, ducks, gannets, shorebirds, Black Skimmers, and those oh-so-incredible tornadoes of Tree Swallows that you can actually stand inside and hear the flutter of thousands of wingbeats.
Birder Perspective: While I have never participated in any of the guided trips at this festival (exhibit hall hours make it difficult for me to do this), I am birding by myself or with groups of friends every moment that I am not working. One thing in particular that I love about Cape May birding is that all of the hotspots and best birding locations are all really close to each other, so I can hit a number of them all within a short amount of time every day. On top of this, a dedicated hawkwatch platform with talented Cape May Bird Observatory staff offers a great window to the phenomenon of raptor migration, no matter your skill level. Rarities are also frequently spotted from the hawkwatch platform (and all over Cape May, for that matter!) Combine all of this with easy access to absolutely spectacular sunset walks along the beach, the quaint Cape May architecture, and cheap but delicious places to eat, and the Cape May Fall Festival is a restorative as well as exciting festival option.
Exhibitor Perspective: I have now done this show five times and have always loved it. The exhibit hall is a really nice space, with windows that look out over the beach and provide perfect opportunities to test optics from the optics vendors. There is a good mix of artists, tour companies, publishers, nature retail, and optics, though because of space limitations only a small number of each. “Nature Nick” and his wild animals show is a draw for families (but I find that this particular clientele does not often buy from me, so although I love seeing the animals myself I do not find it a draw that reliably helps artists or tour companies based on anecdotes from some of my friends in these businesses). I enjoy that there are no pipes and drapes, because this allows me to be more creative with my setup in terms of using my own tables and hangings as “walls.” It often creates a sense of openness in the hall. This show has always been really good for me in terms of sales, but I do not go into it expecting to sell a lot of originals. If I do sell an original, great, but in general I expect to sell items that are at most $20 (a set of greeting cards). However, because this show is right at the beginning of the holiday buying season, I often get customers that will buy a lot of small items as gifts, resulting in larger total sales. Everything I sell has something to do with birds; there are a handful of exhibitors at this show who sell “non-bird” items and while they do fit in with the feel of this show (perhaps because Cape May is such a touristy place and a lot of the attendees are tourists/locals not necessarily birders), I am not sure how well they do. Oh, and one other really cool little thing, that actually makes my day awesome: Birdwatching magazine has been providing a hospitality room for vendors every year I have gone. It is so nice not to worry about remembering lunch. AND, on the last day, they always have pizza! (It’s the little things that matter, right?)
Guide Perspective: N/A
Personal Cons: Festival is only three days (I wish it would be at least four, since by the time I finish setting everything up I feel like it’s already time to take it all down and go home.) It can be hard to find budget accommodation, since camping options are not really available and the only reliably budget motels are at least 45 minutes away in Wildwood. The best way to get around this is to split a room with as many friends as possible.
Top Highlights
My Top 3 Hotspots:
Cape May Point State Park: About a ten minute drive from the convention hall, it is easy to just shoot over and start seeing fantastic birds. A giant lighthouse watches over the Cape May Bird Observatory Hawkwatch platform, where Cooper’s Hawks, Sharp-shinned Hawks, Peregrine Falcons, and all manner of raptors pass over in waves all day long. It is not unusual to find one of these raptors taking a brief rest in the trees around the hawkwatch, making for great photo ops. Really rare birds have been sighted passing over the hawkwatch (like a Gray Kingbird, that I missed. * sob * If you can pull your eyes away from the sky, the pond below the platform is crammed with waterfowl and waders. Northern Pintail, Northern Shoveler, Gadwall, Blue-winged and Green-winged Teal, American Wigeon, and very reliably a Eurasian Wigeon round out the usual ducks. Mute Swans galore, American Coots, Great Blue Herons, Great Egrets, Double-crested Cormorants and the occasional American Bittern are around the pond as well. The shrubs and bushes around the pond are home to a resident Northern Mockingbird(s) that will pose for pictures all day long, as well as endless Yellow-rumped Warblers and other warblers. Song Sparrows, Swamp Sparrows, and Field Sparrows will pop out of the shrubs, as will Northern Flickers (I once saw a Flicker get grilled by a Sharp-shinned Hawk.) A walk around the pond can take you to trails through the more forested section of the park, or can spill you onto the beach. The beach is filled with Great Black-backed, Laughing, Ring-billed, and the occasional Lesser Black-backed Gull. Shorebirds abound, with Sanderlings, Black-bellied Plover, and American Oystercatcher being common sightings. This beach is one of my favorite places to look for Black Skimmers, which will often hang out in groups. In the evening, huge flocks of migrating seaducks, cormorants, and the occasional jaeger can be seen on the water’s horizon. And there is nothing quite like a Cape May sunset on this beach, the colors are truly stunning. I almost always end my day watching the Sanderlings melt into gold, pink, purple, and finally dusk.
The Nature Conservancy Meadows
Higbee Beach
Stone Harbor Beach.
My Top 10 Birds:
Eurasion Wigeon (a recurring rarity at the pond off of the hawkwatch at Cape May Point), Black Skimmers (often resting on beach), Tree Swallows (available in resting on beach or tornado format), Yellow-rumped Warbler (everywhere), Virginal Rail/Sora (the Meadows), Stilt Sandpiper (the Meadows), American Bittern (around the pond at Cape May Point), Peregrine Falcon (hawkwatch),
My Top 3 Places to Eat:
Insider Tips:
Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival (secondish week in November)
Don’t mess with Texas birding. Whew, I have only done this festival once, but I felt like I saw enough birds worth five festivals.
Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival
New River Birding and Nature Festival
The Biggest Week in American Birding
The Biggest Week in American Birding is, without a doubt, my favorite ten days of the entire year, and I will shout it from the rooftops unabashedly. A whirlwind of migration, warblers dripping from trees, and all of my favorite bird people gathered in one place all at once convalesce to become what is essentially a FREAKING BIRD PARTY. It is awesome. I would say that the majority of the close friends I have made in my post-college life I met at this festival, I even met the love of my life on the boardwalk at Magee while we were looking for a Mourning Warbler. This festival is magical, and it is really something that you have to experience for yourself to fully understand just how amazing it.
American Birding Expo
Cape Cod Birding Festival
Eastern Shore Birding and Wildlife Festival