Monterey Bay Birding Festival
Birders living near the Central Coast of California simply have to make the most of the Fourth Annual Monterey Bay Birding Festival. Whether you are a beginner or a more advanced bird watcher, young or old, local or not, you will find that this great annual event has something for everyone. This year’s festival will be offering a lot of opportunities for beginners. But there will still be plenty on offer for experienced birders.
The main appeal of every bird festival is, of course, the birds. The Monterey Bay Birding Festival is no different and birders will find that vast majority of the more than 600 bird species to be seen in California can be spotted in the Monterey Bay area. The Monterey Bay region and the nearby Pajaro Valley have a wonderful variety of habitats which house an incredible variety of birds. Habitats found here include beaches, ocean, forest, rivers, sloughs and wetlands – no wonder there are so many birds living in this area! However this is not all that the Monterey Bay Birding Festival has to offer visitors. Beginner birders stand the chance to learn from a number of skilled and knowledgeable birders who will act as team leaders on birding trips and help you to find, identify and learn more about the birds living in the area. There will also be workshops, vendors and lectures for more advanced birders. In total more than 70 different activities have been planned for the three days of the birding festival so you can be sure that there will be plenty of interesting things to see and do.
The Wetlands of Watsonville Nature Center at Ramsay Park will also feature during the festival as it will be offering free, bilingual family days on both Saturday and Sunday for the whole family. This is the perfect compliment to the weekend’s activities and should definitely be taken advantage of. Pajaro Valley and the Monterey Bay region is well known for being the biggest bird hotspot on the Central Coast of California and fall is the perfect time to visit this fantastic area as this is when a number of shorebirds choose to winter here. The festival will be taking place on 26-18 September 2008, so register for the Monterey Bay Birding Festival now to make sure that you don’t miss out!