Sunday, August 19, 2007

Monterey Bay Birding Festival

The third annual Monterey Bay Birding Festival will be Fri, Sat, Sun, Sep 21, 22, 23 this year. Go to their web site by clicking on the link above. Here is the checklist of birds seen last year during the festival. There are so many trips planned it is hard to decide which trip(s) I would like to attend. The Monterey Bay area, a large part of the central coast of California also known as the Pajaro Valley, is quite extensive and geologically diverse - such as wetlands, marsh areas, grasslands, woodlands, etc.

Various and numerous trips are offered and the cost is certainly more than affordable for each trip. Most trips seem to have a limit of 20 attendees - so the earlier one registers, the better the chance of getting your choice of activity.
Oh, so many choices! Watsonville wetlands, Monterey Bay, Elkhorn Slough, Pajaro Dunes, Big Sur, Santa Cruz, Carmel Valley and River, or Pinnacles National Monument. Two of the trips offered are pointing out that there is a possibility of locating a California Condor - those trips are full-day events - one to Big Sur and the other to Pinnacles National Monument. The Big Sur trip will also have bird banding demonstrations.

Can you imagine an opportunity to see more than a hundred species of shorebirds and songbirds?

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Looks like this is going to be a wonderful event! I would love to see all the shorebirds that show up!

Mary said...

And it's very affordable, too! Sounds wonderful, Mary. You make me want to contact some local groups around here. Maybe I'll do that in the fall. Right now, it's a little to warm for hiking.

Anonymous said...

Man am I jealous. I was in Monterey for a week once before I started birding and I was amazed by how gorgeous it was. Good luck finding some good birds!

Mary C said...

Hi Tom - yes, I am hoping to attend at least part of one day. Maybe, non-birding DH will want to make it a full day, or at least Friday afternoon and Saturday morning.

Mary - it's bound to cool off fairly soon for you. It's been way too long for a change in your weather. I sure hope you will get the chance to find a similar event to attend close to home, possibly in September or even early October. Then you will get to see a number of migrating birds. Hey, aren't you going to Cape May in October?

Corey, thanks for the good luck wishes. I hope that some day you'll get another chance to come out this way - especially the central coast. It is amazing how beautiful it is, and how many birds one can see in that area.

dguzman said...

Wow, birding AND the Pacific Ocean. Nice. And the chance to see a condor!

 

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