The Morro Bay Winter Bird Festival

by Mike Stiles

If you had the time and the money, you could attend a bird festival every month of the year, and travel the entire continent doing it. Many festivals are timed to coincide with migration periods, or to showcase a certain habitat or region. Most offer a wide variety of field trips, workshops, and lectures, and there are even bird festivals dedicated to specific birds like the Lesser Prairie Chicken Festival in Oklahoma or the Kirtland's Warbler Festival in Michigan. 

I was recently involved in the Morro Bay Winter Bird Festival. I led tours, attended a few workshops and evening programs, and interviewed many participants, vendors, and organizers. I was curious why people attended, and just what went into organizing an event like this.

Many of the attendees on my field trips told me they were there — not surprisingly — to learn the area, and to find specific birds. What did surprise me somewhat is that many of the customers return year after year, and some have attended every year in the 16 years of the festival's existence. I would have assumed that after a few years they no longer needed to be shown the area. Again not surprisingly, I was told that Morro Bay is a great place to bird (we found a total of 210 species of birds that long weekend), and the wide variety of trips and workshops makes it easy to find something new to do each year. Some participants told me that they enjoy the camaraderie of birding in groups, and still like to be shown the birds. The festival committee also pays attention to the feedback received and has fresh trips and speakers almost every year.

Some field trips ranged great distances, looking for condors or visiting far reaches of the county — and beyond, the participants quite happy (for the most part) to be squeezed into vans for a great portion of the day, and a few trips were all-day walking affairs. There were pelagic trips, trips dedicated to specific birds — sparrows and gulls for example — and some were designed to learn to draw the birds. There were workshops for beginning birders, migration, photography, butterflies and otters (yes, non-bird talks were allowed), and a very popular feather workshop. I sat in on John Schmitt's feather workshop, and the attendees just did not want John to stop.

There were nearly 500 people attending this year, ranging from rank beginners to some very accomplished birders, some who could even help the leaders identify birds if needed. One side benefit to this much birding activity, and with this many eyes, is the possibility of finding unusual birds. We weren't disappointed when an Arctic Loon was found, only the 8th state recording. This was no doubt a life bird to many who were able to see it. Due to the size of the festival, I heard one lighthearted "complaint" that our nighttime trip for owls filled up two minutes after the online registration opened. They likened it to trying to buy tickets to a rock concert.

It's truly daunting to ponder the logistics of organizing this many people into four days of trips and lectures, scheduling van rides, finding drivers with the appropriate license, providing lunches, organizing all the off-site venues, and — probably the hardest job of all — trying to find volunteer leaders to give up four days showing these visitors around. Many of the volunteers had to be there very early in the morning, as some trips left before 7:00am. As you read this, about a month after the festival, Marlys McPherson and her 10 committee members are already planning for next year. She would definitely appreciate more help, and Marlys can be reached at Marlys McPherson if you would like to get involved.  

One aspect of most bird festivals is the vendor area, where local and visiting artists, book sellers, and optic companies are displaying their wares. It's a great place to try different binoculars and spotting scopes or buy one more field guide. And there are always amazing photos and art pieces to purchase. Some of the vendors travel around the country following various festivals and art shows. For the locals, it's a great opportunity to showcase their talent to the community. The Friday evening wine and cheese meet and greet in the vendor area is always well attended, as you can imagine, and I'm sure the local hotels, restaurants, gas stations, etc. appreciated an extra 500 people in town.

Roger Zachary, a long-time festival leader and prominent birder in the county, met his future wife, Ruth, on a bird festival trip to the Carrizo Plain. A few years later, on a festival field trip to the Atascadero area, he proposed to her in front of the entire group. It was a very special moment according to Roger, and he had almost the entire group in tears. I guess just about anything can happen at a bird festival.

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