The four-day 2024 Florida Birding and Nature Festival will feature field trips, boat excursions, seminars by experts, nationally renowned keynote speakers and a free nature expo. New this year is an expanded nature expo featuring activities for kids, including fishing workshops and a bird show from Earthquest featuring hawks, owls, vultures, falcons and eagles.
The event will be held Oct. 17-20, and headquartered at the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation’s Suncoast Youth Conservation Center, 6650 Dickman Road, in Apollo Beach. The festival coincides with the peak of the migration of birds through Central Florida and more than 180 species have been observed during previous festivals.
The outings, led by knowledgeable guides and, in some cases, the managers of the nature preserves visited, include walking, wagon, boat and canoe trips. Some field trips explore sites not normally open to the public, such as the Cross Bar/Al Bar Ranches, located in Pasco County but managed by Pinellas County Utilities as a wellfield with protected wetlands, oak hammocks, pine flatwoods and open pastures where burrowing owls and Florida scrub-jays can be seen.
Most of the field trips are scheduled Friday through Sunday. Among the destinations: Egmont Key, the Duette Preserve, Cockroach Bay Aquatic Preserve, Honeymoon Island, Blackwater Creek Preserve, Fort DeSoto Park, and Celery Fields in Sarasota County. A special Thursday field trip to the St. Petersburg Museum of Fine Arts will feature a behind-the-scenes look at a traveling exhibit, Audubon’s Birds of Florida, featuring nearly 80 original prints, paintings and artifacts Audubon documented on his trips to Florida in the early 1830s.
New this year is a trip to the Roberts Bay Bird Colony Island on the Carefree Learner, Sarasota High School’s floating classroom. Recognized as a critical wildlife area, Roberts Bay hosts listed species including little blue herons, tricolored herons, reddish egrets, roseate spoonbills and American oystercatchers.
Also new are back-to-back photography workshops Friday morning led by National Geographic photographer and ornithologist Tim Laman. Although focused primarily on beginner to moderately experienced bird photographers, even experts are likely to gain insights by learning how Laman approaches different situations in the field.
Field trip space is limited so early registration is advised.
Keynote speakers include David Sibley, who wrote and illustrated what is considered the most comprehensive field guide to birds in nearly 100 years. His focus on the critical details that simply bird identification led the Department of Homeland Security to consult with him after Sept. 11 on how to detect irregularities in people that might indicated terrorist activities.
Laman will be the Saturday keynote speaker. He will share his favorite bird photographs from more than 25 years in the field that cover a broad range of species from diverse habitats.
The festival will also offer two days of in-person and Zoom-broadcasted seminars, with experts who will explore fascinating nature topics such as the mysteries of wildlife migration, the underappreciated virtues of the vulture, environmental threats to the mighty killer whale, and the lessons of 50 years of research into the dolphins of Sarasota Bay.
A free Nature Expo on Friday, Oct. 18, and Saturday, Oct. 19, will feature displays from numerous environmental organizations, nature-related businesses, and artists. Earthquest’s bird shows, sponsored by TECO’s Manatee Viewing Center, are scheduled for 11 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. on Saturday. Exhibitors will sell binoculars, artwork, bird boxes and native plants that attract birds and butterflies.
For info information and registration, visit https://www.floridabirdingandnaturefestival.org/
Originally published Sept. 4, 2024