Watsonville Civic Plaza.
Festival headquarters and registration for all activities will take place at the City of Watsonville Civic Plaza.

Species Seen In 2012

FESTIVAL FACTS

HEADQUARTERS HOURS The Festival headquarters at Watsonville Civic Plaza, 275 Main Street, will be open Thursday, Friday, and Saturday from 5:30 a.m. to 9 p.m., Sunday 5:30 a.m. to Noon.

FIELD TRIP KEY
Easy - under 1 mile, usually level ground.
Moderate - 1 to 3 miles, moderately level ground.
Strenuous - 3 miles or more, difficult terrain, tick sand, steps, steep.
K - For young people ages 8 & older with adult
B - Beginners
W - Wheelchair accessible
Most workshops, and a limited number of field trips may be accessible to people in wheelchairs and/or limited mobility. There is no wheelchair access on Pelagic trips.

DEPARTURES & TRAVEL
Field trips depart from the Festival headquarters at the Watsonville Civic Plaza as designated in the schedule of events at times listed. All workshops, Vendor's Faire and featured speakers will be held at the Civic Plaza's City Council Chambers and Community Room. Please be on time as activities start promptly. Trip lengths are approximate and include travel time.

TRIP SIZE
Field trips designated as "Limited" have a maximum of 15 participants per leader, with exception of Shearwater Journeys Pelagic Trip, Ventana Wildlife, Owling at Robinson Canyon, Kayak Connection and Elkhorn Slough Safari activities.

TRIP CANCELLATION
Field trips go regardless of weather. Ocean trips may be cancelled at the discretion of Coast Guard or ship's captain. Other trips may be cancelled at discretion of the festival committee along with the trip leader.

CLOTHING & GEAR
Be prepared for morning marine layer and warm weather in afternoon. Dress in layers. Bring binoculars, scopes and other essentials. Poison oak is a possibility on walking field trips.

OCEAN TRIPS
Dress warmly. No ice chests permitted. If prone to motion sickness, take appropriate measures beforehand.

    Sept. 12-15, 2013

Latest News & Features

Ninth Annual
Monterey Bay Birding Festival

Designed for both seasoned and beginning birders, as well as outdoor lovers, the festival offers a unique opportunity to explore, learn and appreciate world class habitats such as the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, Elkhorn Slough National Marine Estuary, and Pinnacles National Monument. Specially designed field trips will take partic-ipants to Big Sur to see California condors. Join a pelagic trip by Shearwater Journeys to one of the world's most productive regions for albatrosses, shearwaters, storm-petrels and more. Jump into a kayak and get closer to nature or take a scenic ride at Elkhorn Slough Safari. All field trips are led by top quality, friendly leaders.

Online sales is now under way for each birding event offered a la carte, so you're able to mix and match outings according to your personal interests.

FEATURED PRESENTATIONS

Sophie Webb

Sophie Webb-Ornithologist, Artist, & Author

Keynote Speaker Saturday, Sept. 14, 7 p.m.

All her life Sophie Webb has loved nature and art. The result: that for years she has traveled and worked as a field biologist. This has become an integral part of her art work: seeing the wildlife, birds in particular, that she has painted and drawn. The basis of almost all my work is observation and field sketching, combined occasionally with museum specimens; in particular for the field guide plates that she paints.
Her travels as a biologist and artist studying and painting birds have taken her from the Amazon to the Arctic and Antarctic. In 1995 she co–authored and illustrated “A Guide to the Birds of Mexico and Northern Central America” with Steve Howell. She continues to work on field guides, a few plates here and there for a variety of neotropical bird guides and most recently she illustrated 40 species of marine mammal for a “Field Guide to the Marine Mammals of the Pacific Coast.”
Sophie will share her experiences about NOAA research cruises that she participated in the Eastern Tropical Pacific (ETP). Although the focus of the cruises was marine mammals her work was to census seabirds. Many bird and mammal species in the ETP region are migrants to or from the California current, so relevant to our region. Her slide show will feature the incredible wildlife she encountered, but also includes a bit about life on a four month research cruise, conservation issues in the region and the importance of long term monitoring in our oceans.

Bob Power
Bob Power

Field Identification of Raptors – Friday, Sept. 13, 7 p.m.


Raptors inspire awe and inspiration but identification in the field can often be difficult and confusing. Join Bob Power as he leads you through a straight-forward process for identifying raptors in the field. Along the way, Bob will convince you that you have what it takes to excel at raptor identification and that you too can distinguish Cooper's Hawks from Sharp-shinned Hawks with confidence. Bob Power is the Executive Director for Santa Clara Valley Audubon Society. He has led or co-led trips to Alaska, Costa Rica, Texas, Southeastern Arizona, the Mono Basin, the Klamath Basin, and throughout the San Francisco Bay Area.

Cat Burns

Cat Burns
Western Snowy Plover Recovery – Thursday, Sept. 12, 7 p.m.


The San Francisco Bay Bird Observatory has studied Western Snowy Plover populations in the Bay Area for the past 10 years. Cat will discuss SFBBO′s latest findings on the status of this federally threatened species, including ongoing efforts to increase population numbers, to identify key threats to plover existence, and to test new strategies to enhance plover habitat. Come find out about SFBBO′s work to lead the Bay Area′s Western Snowy Plover recovery effort. Cat Burns has a Ph.D. in Ecology & Evolutionary Biology from Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. Her Ph.D. research focused on understanding the impacts of habitat loss and habitat alteration on wildlife populations in New England. Prior to coming to SFBBO as Executive Director, Cat served on the Wildlife Ecology faculty at the University of Maine, and most recently was the Director of Science at The Nature Conservancy in North Carolina.

We are now accepting photos for Calendar Contest 2014 Deadline to Enter Is Aug. 23, 2013
2014 Photo Contest Rules


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