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A stunning Costa’s Hummingbird is one of the many species you can see at the San Diego Bird Festival (photo by Ed Hale).

A stunning Costa’s Hummingbird is one of the many species you can see at the San Diego Bird Festival (photo by Ed Hale).

San Diego Bird Festival: Where Every Day is a Big Day

By Jennifer Hajj, San Diego Audubon Society

San Diego Audubon Society is proud to announce its 2020 San Diego Bird Festival taking place February 26-March 1, 2020 at Marina Village Conference Center in Mission Bay Park, San Diego. Our festival is a celebration of the wild birds and habitats of San Diego County. With an impressive checklist and diverse habitats, San Diego is a great place to go birding any time of the year. Our festival is in the winter, when you can see both migrant and resident species.

Offered trips include wildlife kayaking and much more (photo by San Diego Audubon Society).
Offered trips include wildlife kayaking and much more (photo by San Diego Audubon Society).

The festival features around 10 field trips each day, visiting ocean waves, rocky seashores, chaparral scrublands, oaky foothills and piney mountains. Many of these field trips fill within the first day of registration, but space does remain in a few.

Also of note are the many workshops that occur throughout the day. With speakers from around the world, you can learn about fun places to bird, species you have never seen, identification tips, and natural history stories. Each evening, we have a keynote speaker. Our keynotes for 2020 include Cornell Bird Academy instructor Kevin McGowan, the Legendary Pete Dunne, community science facilitator Julia Parrish, bird vocalization expert Nathan Pieplow, and host of the YouTube series Birds of North America, Jason Ward.

Participants of the San Diego Bird Festival pose after a birding trip (photo by San Diego Audubon Society).
Participants of the San Diego Bird Festival pose after a birding trip (photo by San Diego Audubon Society).

Our exhibit hall is open every day of the festival (check the website for times) and is free of charge to visit.

Family Day, sponsored by SDG&E, takes place on Sunday, March 1. All festival events from 10 am to 3 pm are free of charge and planned for all ages. We will have additional exhibitors on Family Day, including exhibitors with live birds, nonprofits with information on important topics such as tree care, mosquito abatement, and caring for San Diego’s wild nature.

So come one, come all! For more information about the festival, visit our website, or contact Jennifer Hajj.