festival | GFBWT

Orlando Wetlands Festival

Lauren Ali — Sat, 17 Feb 2018 14:00:00 +0000

Come and enjoy the Orlando Wetlands Festival on Saturday, February 17, 2018, from 9am-3pm at Fort Christmas Historical Park. The Orlando Wetlands Festival highlights the Orlando Wetlands Park, the City’s 1,650 acre water reclamation wetland. The event is sponsored by: City of Orlando, Orange Audubon Society and Orange County Parks and Recreation.
On February 17, 2018, experience this unique wetland treatment system with the entire family. Event co-sponsor, Orange Audubon Society, will lead guided bird-watching excursions. The Friends of the Orlando Wetlands will lead wetland exploration hikes and the Florida Native Plant Society will lead native plant identification hikes. Bring your camera and join guided photo hikes led by professional photographers. For those who like to sit and ride, guided bus tours will travel along the wetland berms, giving riders a chance to experience firsthand, Florida’s wild wetlands.
In addition to the numerous guided tours, there will be bird-banding and mist-netting demonstrations, as well as, live music by Homer Stiles. Featured in the various wildlife shows, many different live animals will be present such as alligators, snakes, birds and many others. Also, free native wildflowers and backyard wildlife plants will be given away to encourage biodiversity.
There will be interactive children’s activities, bounce houses, hay rides and much more! So bring the whole family and invite your friends and neighbors to this fun, free educational festival. Please leave your pets at home; there are wild animals. Food will be available for purchase. Free admission and free door prizes! For more information: call Orlando Wetlands Park 407-568-1706.
Sponsoring the Festival in a financial way is the Orange Audubon Society and Professional Service Industries, Inc. (PSI)
Directions: To get to the Park, take S.R. 50 to Christmas, Florida. Turn north onto 420, Ft. Christmas Rd. Continue north 1.8 miles. Fort Christmas Park will be on your left. Free parking will be located on your right across from Fort Christmas Park. The address is 1300 North Fort Christmas Road, Christmas, FL 32709.

Indian River Birding Festival and Nature Art Show

Lauren Ali — Fri, 13 Oct 2017 04:00:00 +0000

The Pelican Island Preservation Society is hosting this event, now in its third year, The festival is being held in conjunction with “National Wildlife Refuge Week,” October 8th to 14th.
Activities include local birding tours and lectures, Nature Art Show that includes a plein air paint-out at the PIAS campus, and a sunset pontonn boat cruise on the Indian River Lagoon at Pelican Island. Visit the festival Facebook page for more details, as they become available.

Birds of a Feather Fest

Lauren Ali — Fri, 09 Feb 2018 05:00:00 +0000

Several years ago, the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission recognized several park trails in Palm Coast as Great Florida Birding Trails, thanks to the City’s ideal bird watching opportunities along its extensive trail system. Fast forward to present time, and now Palm Coast is truly for the birds. The First Annual Birds of a Feather Fest was introduced to the community in February 2015. An entire weekend is devoted to teaching participants about birds, with workshops, presentations and nature walks designed for adults and youths, both amateur and professional. Many activities are free of charge. The Festival was developed and organized by a City employee who had attended a bird fest in another Florida city and truly believed that Palm Coast’s amenities and natural setting would be a perfect fit to host our own bird event. He was correct. The event keeps growing and has taken flight to become a highly anticipated annual event.

Florida Scrub-Jay Festival

Lauren Ali — Sat, 03 Feb 2018 13:00:00 +0000

Space Coast Birding & Wildlife Festival

Lauren Ali — Wed, 24 Jan 2018 05:00:00 +0000

Discover why Florida’s Space Coast is your launch pad to incredible nature-based experiences. World Class Photographers, Field Workshops, Presentations & Classes. Come see why we’re the largest Birding & Wildlife Festival in the United States.

Lake Apopka Birding Festival

Lauren Ali — Thu, 18 Jan 2018 05:00:00 +0000

This festival is perfect for birders visiting Florida or locals wanting to learn more from well-known, knowledgeable birding guides. Add to your life list at an amazing birding area, the 20,000-acre Lake Apopka North Shore. Two full-day trips and 9 half-day trips led by well-known local birding guides are offered, along with two dinners and keynotes.

For details and registration, visit WEBSITE or call 407-637-2525

Birding the Bay Festival

Lauren Ali — Sat, 22 Apr 2017 11:00:00 +0000

Join us for a day-long birding event on the Forgotten Coast for birders of all levels, from advanced to beginners. Professionally-led tours will focus on shorebirds, migratory birds, and/or woodland species. See colorful song birds like Indigo Buntings and Summer Tanagers on St. George Island on their migratory stop over, view shorebirds in the shallow waters around St. George Island State Park, visit the pine woodlands where the Red Cockaded Woodpecker thrives, or learn the basics of birding with Audubon at the Apalachicola National Estuarine Research Reserve (ANERR).

After a morning in the field, participants will return to the ANERR Nature Center for lunch and a lecture by Budd Titlow, award-winning nature photographer and author, professional Wildlife biologist and wetlands scientist (Emeritus). The afternoon will also feature educational booths including the University of Massachusetts with a migratory mist net and bird banding demonstration, birds of prey information, Florida Audubon and representatives with the Florida Wild Mammal Association.

Visitors not registered for the tours are welcome to go birding along the ANERR boardwalks and beach, or attend the afternoon lecture. There will also be bird videos playing at the Nature Center throughout the day. The Jackson Childs “Gulf Crossing: Story of Spring” documentary will be shown at 10:00am in the Multipurpose Room. The educational booths will be staffed from 10am-2pm and include children’s activities and birding info. A silent auction open to all rounds out the afternoon.

Tours are for intermediate to experienced birders and are most appropriate for those 8 years and up. Children must be accompanied by an adult at all times. For beginner birding, sign up for the Birding 101 class. Tours are not strenuous. Seats are limited and available first come, first serve; participants must register and pay in advance.
$45.00 ticket includes: Guided tour, roundtrip transportation to and from ANERR to the birding tour sites, lunch, a Sibley’s birding book, commemorative t-shirt and a reusable tote bag filled goodies.
Participants choose from one of three options:
-Tour 1: St. George Island migratory songbirds, shorebirds, woodland birds
-Tour 2: Red Cockaded Woodpecker tour
-Tour 3: Birding 101 Guided tour for beginner birders. Learn birding basics, and see shorebirds and woodland species at ANERR.

Want to go birding on your own? Limited packages without tours are available. Package includes lunch, the lecture, a t-shirt, Sibley birding book and tote bag for $35.00.

Attendance for the movie, information booths, and silent auction activities are free and open to the public. ANERR’s nature center is free and open to the public Tuesday-Saturday 9am-4pm.

To register, visit birdingthebay.eventbrite.com. For more information, call 850-670-7700. Full refund available until April 3rd. Tours will happen rain or shine. If there is lightning, we will delay the tours until danger has past, then continue.

Florida Birding & Nature Festival

Lauren Ali — Fri, 13 Oct 2017 04:00:00 +0000

Experience Central Florida’s wild side at peak migration – over 180 species! Field trips by land, boat and wagon to the best wildlife sites in West Central Florida, led by experienced and engaging experts. Seminars for beginning and expert birders, for gardeners and photographers, on reptiles, insects, conservation, aquatic restoration and bird rehabilitation. Keynotes on bald eagles and manatees and a panel discussion on the Economic Value of Conservation Lands for our communities. Special family friendly field trips. Nature Expo and vendors.

Florida’s Birding & Photo Fest

Lauren Ali — Wed, 26 Apr 2017 04:00:00 +0000

Welcome to one of the most celebrated and beautiful festivals in the nation.The 2017 Birding & Photo Fest will feature the return of festival favorites, world-class photographers along with new professionals and instructors who will offer technical training opportunities and more birding in-field programs than ever before.

As always, 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. And of course the community of St. Augustine, Ponte Vedra and all of Florida’s Historic Coast is welcoming bird lovers and photography aficionados with the friendly hospitality you’ve come to expect.

13th annual Southwest Florida Nature Festival

Lauren Ali — Fri, 13 Jan 2017 05:00:00 +0000

Mark your calendar for field trips and lectures during the 13th Annual Southwest Florida Nature Festival! Explore the local environment through almost 40 guided field trips to 20 wildlife hot spots around Southwest Florida and lectures at the Rookery Bay Environmental Learning Center.
Field trips, including birding walks, buggy rides and boat tours, are offered in conjunction with partners such as Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary, Big Cypress National Preserve and Conservancy of Southwest Florida. Field trip prices range from $15 – $135, and registration is required.
Field trip registration is open!