Explore the festival’s Nature Expo after a morning (or day!) of birding. Check the “Big Boards” (birds and wildlife checklists) to see if you can mark off any new birds, snakes, or butterflies seen that day on your field trip and engage with our exhibitors and volunteers who are happy to share their expertise and hospitality with you.
Festival Celebration in the Nature Expo
Drop by the Nature Expo for a chance to win some special door prizes and get an update on festival bird sightings. A cash bar will be on-site along with free appetizers.
Kenn Kaufman Book Signing
Meet Kenn and have your copy of Kingbird Highway, or one of Kenn’s other great titles, personally signed!
Sonoran Plein Air Painters Showcase
Walk through the back of the Nature Expo and enjoy the local artwork from the Sonoran Plein Air Painters. You’ll recognize many of the landscapes as our favorite birding hotspots and some of the art will be for sale.
Nature Expo is Open with Festival Friends & Partners
Explore the festival’s Nature Expo after a morning (or day!) of birding. Check the “Big Boards” (birds and wildlife checklists) to see if you can mark off any new birds, snakes, or butterflies seen that day on your field trip and engage with our exhibitors and volunteers who are happy to share their expertise and hospitality with you.
Birds and Brew sponsored by Beaumont & Port Arthur Convention and Visitors Bureau
Spend an evening at Brother Johns Beer, Bourbon, and BBQ and enjoy some food and drink with your birding friends. Share your stories from recent bird trips and learn about new places to explore while drinking and eating–what could be better? Sponsored by Beaumont & Port Arthur CVB. Information on location to be given closer to event. Limited to 75 participants.
Festival Celebration in the Nature Expo sponsored by BWD
The “happy hour” of the festival is something you don’t want to miss. We’ll have special opportunities for you to win some awesome door prizes, and stop by the “Big Board” to see where we are at with festival bird sightings. This evening BWD will be on hand with copies of their newest magazine! A cash bar will be on-site along with free appetizers.
Nature Expo is Open with Festival Friends & Partners
Explore the festival’s Nature Expo after a morning (or day!) of birding. Check the “Big Boards” (birds and wildlife checklists) to see if you can mark off any new birds, snakes, or butterflies seen that day on your field trip and engage with our exhibitors and volunteers who are happy to share their expertise and hospitality with you.
Nature Expo is Open with Festival Friends & Partners
Explore the festival’s Nature Expo on the first night and talk with leaders and exhibitors about their favorite birding locations in Southeast Arizona while checking out new optics, beautiful nature-oriented art, and more.
Patagonia-Sonoita Creek Preserve with a Nature Conservancy Volunteer
Difficulty: Moderate (mostly flat walking trails on some uneven and rocky terrain)
One of the best known U.S. birding hotspots with tall cottonwoods and willows lining a perennial stream. Open fields, mesquite bosque and a cienega compound the habitat diversity that make it a birding paradise. Listen for the Gray Hawk’s whistle in the cottonwoods while looking for Common Ground Dove, Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Thick-billed Kingbird, and more. Please bring $8 per person for Nature Conservancy fees. Be prepared to wear chigger protection. Drive time to the meeting location from the festival venue is about 70 minutes, specific meeting instructions will be emailed beforehand. Limited to 10 participants.
Gray Hawk by Ned Harris