3rd Annual Southwest Florida Birding Festival
January 19-21, 2007

Hundreds flocked to the third annual Southwest Florida Birding Festival! Whether you are a birding expert or simply enjoy looking at birds, don't miss the Fourth Annual event scheduled for January 18-20, 2008. This event provides an excellent opportunity to learn about birding and the rich bird life of this region.

Keynote speaker Julie Zickefoose, NPR commentator, illustrator and author of Letters from Eden Photo by Dave Graff

Julie Zickefoose

This year's event was kicked off with a keynote presentation and booksigning by artist and author Julie Zickefoose. Her presentation was based on her new book, Letters from Eden. Details about Julie and her work can be found at www.juliezickefoose.com


Live Raptors

Live raptors from the Audubon Center for Birds of Prey were the center of attention at the 2007 festival. Cracker is a crested caracara, who, along with Paige the bald eagle and Owen the barred owl, served as an ambassador from the Center to help festival participants learn more about our feathered friends.

Family activities included building a birdhouse, making edible eagles, an optic treasure hunt and more!

Birders at Tigertail Beach enjoyed spotting a “trifecta” of plovers among many other coastal species

Expert presentations, demonstrations and live birds were a few of the activities ongoing throughout the weekend at the Rookery Bay Environmental Learning Center.

Guided trips to to 18 birding hotspots in our region provided great viewing opportunities and identification tips.

Tigertail Beach and Sandollar Lagoon gave good views of several species of plovers and many other shorebirds.

Some Photos Provided by Festival Participants



Burrowing owls on Marco Island - photos by Kevin Pietrowicz.



A reddish egret (white morph) was captured on film by festival participant Gary Vaccaro