17 Annual San Diego Bird Festival

17 Annual San Diego Bird Festival

4010 Morena Blvd. Suite #100
San Diego, CA 92117
858.273.7800
http://www.sandiegoaudubon.org/events/bird-festival

Region: Mission Bay and Beaches

Date: February 28 - March 3, 2013

Price: $0 - $130 depending upon the event

Venue: Marina Village on Mission Bay Park

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The San Diego Audubon Society invites you to the 17th annual San Diego Bird Festival, being held at the Marina Village Conference Center. Festival headquarters, overlooking a picturesque marina, is just steps away from San Diego’s species-rich San Diego River estuary. From sea to desert to mountaintop, San Diego County has a lot of birding to offer, with more than 500 species. The birding area encompasses diverse habitats ranging from desert to mountains, shore to coastal wetlands, urban and suburban. We’ll even go birding by bicycle and kayak.

The keynoter banquet with Dr. John Fitzpatrick is scheduled for Saturday, March 2, 5:30 to 8:30 pm, and features an Italian-style buffet. Long-time festival favorites such as social mixers, the keynoter banquet, the silent auction, and the Birding & Optics EXPO are returning in 2013.

The 2013 Bird Festival offers three pelagic trips. Swarovski Optik, SeaWorld San Diego, and Searcher Natural History Tours are pelagic trip sponsors. Pelagic birding maestro Terry Hunefeld leads the trips and his co-leaders include Steve Howell, Paul Lehman, Guy McCaskie, and Todd McGrath. In addition to keynote speaker Dr. John Fitzpatrick, who is the Louis Agassiz Fuertes Director at Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Bill Thompson III is a special festival guest. Bill is an acclaimed birder, editor, entertainer, and the author of The Young Birder’s Guide to Birds of Eastern North America, and Bird Watching for Dummies. Fitzpatrick will be a guest leader on the Bird the Birch Aquarium at Scripps trip and will co-host a workshop luncheon on eBird. Thompson will present a workshop, the Perils & Pitfalls of Birding, as well as headlining a social mixer and co-leading a Birding Along the Border trip. He will also lead a children’s program, Watch Out for Vulture Vomit and Other Adventures in Bird Watching.

Family Free Day, Sunday, March 3

Sponsored by SDG&E, family-friendly activities include a Beginning Bird Art Workshop, the Raptor Rap Workshop, a Puppet Show starring threatened California birds, and It’s a Hoot!, a bird-calling workshop just for kids. All family events on Sunday are free with no pre-registration needed, although we do ask you to RSVP at www.sandiegoaudubon.org.

Birding & Optics EXPO

Our exhibition area will be open to the public from 1 to 4 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 28 through Sunday, March 3. A pre-registration mixer for festival attendees will be held in the EXPO area Wednesday, February 27, from 4 to 6 p.m. Social mixers for ticketed festival attendees are held in the EXPO area from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. Thursday and Friday.

Location & Directions

The 2013 San Diego Bird Festival will be held at the Marina Village Conference Center, 1936 Quivira Way, on Mission Bay. All field trips begin and end at Marina Village and all workshops are held at Marina Village break-out rooms near the Seaside Room. Signs will direct you to the registration and check-in area.

From Interstate 5:
Take the Sea World Drive exit. From Sea World Drive, take West Mission Bay Drive on your right. When you see the large green sign that says Quivira Road, get in the farthest left of the two left turn lanes. Turn left, go one very short block and turn left again. Drive about one-half mile and Marina Village will be on your right. Turn right into the parking lot when you see the sign for the office. Then, just look for the Bird Festival signs that will direct you to our registration area, classes and our Optics Fair.

From Interstate 8:
Take the West Mission Bay Drive exit to the right. You will be on Ingraham Street for a short distance from which you will take the next exit marked West Mission Bay Drive on your right. When you see the large green sign that says Quivira Road, get in the farthest left of the two turn lanes. Turn left, go one very short block and turn left again. Drive about one-half mile and Marina Village will be on your right. Turn right into the parking lot when you see the sign for the office. Then, just look for the Bird Festival signs that will direct you to our registration area, classes and our Optics Fair.

Post-Festival Trip

Extend your festival experience with a post-festival trip! Join San Diego Audubon and Andiamo Tour Mexico for a 10-day, specially priced trip to bird all 1,063 miles of the stunning and rugged Baja Peninsula, Mexico. More than 400 bird species have been recorded in Baja California Norte and Sur and adjacent waters. Several of these are endemic species and unique plumage subspecies found nowhere else in the world. Target birds include Belding’s Yellowthroat, Xantus’s Hummingbird, Gray Thrasher, and the Mangrove Warbler. The trip includes a stopover to visit a California Gray Whale Sanctuary. The trip departs from Bird Festival Headquarters in a comfortable, private motor coach that will be the primary means of transport on the journey down the Peninsula. At the conclusion of the trip in San José del Cabo, participants will fly to their home destination. The trip is sponsored by San Diego Audubon and operated by Andiamo Tour Mexico. Click here for more information. Registrations are made through Andiamo Travel, not with San Diego Audubon.