SAN DIEGO BIRD FESTIVAL A GREAT WAY TO MEET BIRDERS

I can’t believe it’s been about 10 years. I first moved to San Diego from Salt Lake City in around 2012, following a boy to greener pastures. He had an important job with a local tech company, and I had just been laid off by my employer of six years. I had been involved in wildlife education programs, and I figured that those days were over for me. Jobs working directly with wildlife and people are hard to come by, and I didn’t think I would be able to compete in the San Diego County market.

We settled in, choosing a cozy apartment in Carlsbad. It was very close to Batiquitos Lagoon, an easy walk to the estuary which we did often. Almost every day, we went birding along the shore, and then we would go into town for an ice cream or a coffee and walk home.

One Saturday morning, we stopped at a coffee shop for coffee and some pastries. We chose a table outside, and while my boyfriend was inside ordering, I waited at the table. An older woman walked by, saw my binoculars, and plopped herself down beside me.

“Are you a birder?” she asked. “Yes,” I replied.

And then came the outpouring of stories about local birding hotspots and events. By the time I finished talking to her, I was signed up to participate in the upcoming Christmas Bird Count and had leads on several jobs with San Diego Audubon Society. I owe my current trajectory to birds and birding.

I applied for the San Diego Bird Festival coordinator position, and the rest is history.

My first festival was in what I now call “the wet year.” That festival was five solid days of torrential rains. We had to cancel quite a few trips, and get eager birders onto alternative activities. It taught me how hardy birders are, how they are willing to go out and see birds in the nastiest conditions.

We celebrated our 20th anniversary of the event in 2018, honoring the hard-working volunteers who had turned it into a spectacle that attracts attention from people all over the country. And then there was 2021 when we had to do the festival virtually, because COVID-19 had made it unsafe to meet in large groups. Once again, people showed up, eager to learn and support each other in their celebration of birds, habitat and wildlife. We seem to be emerging from that, as people are signing up to attend this year’s festival with great enthusiasm. Current numbers are nearing 600.

At the festival, participants can attend workshops, take field trips or hang out with other birders at social events. Field trips go out on buses, cars, bikes, kayaks, big boats or on foot. There are so many ways to bird, and we do them all. We have an exhibit hall with optics, birding gear and birding destinations of interest. And it all supports the programs at San Diego Audubon Society: important restoration work, conservation projects and education programs that benefit people across San Diego County.

The festival has introduced me to the wonderful people who love birds, and I have come to really appreciate these people. We say the birds are the stars of the event, but for me, it’s really about the people who come to see the birds, share what they are seeing with others, learn all they can and celebrate what birds do for us every day.

Sounds like fun? You can still sign up to participate in the San Diego Bird Festival.

The event runs Wednesday through Sunday at Marina Village Conference Center in Mission Bay. Visit sandiegoaudubon.org/ birding/san-diego-bird-festival for more information. Most of the programs on Saturday and Sunday are free with no registration necessary. Sunday is the Bird-friendly Home and Garden day, where we’ll have programs and exhibits, all about things people can do every day to help birds.

I’ve been at it for 10 years, and I still love it. I may just do 10 more.