Want to learn about South Florida's birds? Interested in becoming a birder? Or just want to start identifying our feathered friends? Then come to Fairchild's Bird Festival.

 

Download this year's festival program here!

The Bird Festival kicks off with two days of off-site tours of South Florida bird habitats led by Tropical Audubon Society experts. The Bird Festival then continues at Fairchild with activities for birders of all ages, including presentations by bird experts, bird walks and an amateur bird photo contest and exhibit. You will be able to purchase bird-attracting plants and birding merchandise and enjoy educational activities for the entire family. The 77th Annual Members' Day Plant Sale is held in conjunction with the festival, making it a uniquely special weekend of plants, birds and learning fun. 

Bird Festival at Fairchild admission is included with Garden admission. $25 for non members and free for Fairchild Members. Tickets for non members can be purchased the day of the festival or pre-purchased below.  

Birding Tours

All birding tours are led by Tropical Audubon Society (TAS) experts. Registration is required. All participants are asked to meet at Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden's visitor center at 7:30 a.m.  If you would prefer to meet at the birding site, please indicate this preference on your registration.   All registrants are invited to attend our VIP Evening Reception Friday October 2nd at 6:30p.m. at the Garden.  

Thursday, October 1
Deering Estate at Cutler (Half-Day Tour) - Join Rangel Diaz as you explore a variety of coastal Biscayne Bay and upland habitats on the former estate of Charles Deering, including some areas not usually accessible to the public. Expect to see waterbirds, neotropical migrant songbirds and resident specialties including White-crowned Pigeon and possibly Mangrove Cuckoo. A rare Key West Quail-Dove was discovered on the property last winter! Transportation not included. Carpooling encouraged. 
Miami Exotics (Full Day Tour) - Join Paul Bithorn and Brian Rapoza as they search for birds introduced to South Florida such as Egyptian Goose, Purple Swamphen, Common and Hill Myna, Red-whiskered Bulbul, Spot-breasted Oriole, Scaly-breasted Munia and over a dozen species of parrots, parakeets and macaws, including the spectacular Blue-and-yellow Macaw. Transportation and lunch included.

Registration is now closed, please come back next year for the 2016 Bird Festival 

Friday, October 2
Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park (Half-Day Tour) - Join Carlos Sanchez on this walk through restored coastal habitats at the southern end of Key Biscayne. The tour will include a visit to Cape Florida's bird banding station. Expect raptors and neotropical migrant songbirds; the park's bird list also includes an impressive selection of Caribbean rarities, so anything is possible! Transportation not included. Carpooling encouraged. 
Florida Keys Hawkwatch at Curry Hammock State Park (Full Day Tour) -Join Paul Bithorn, Brian Rapoza and the Florida Keys Hawkwatch team as they tally hawks, eagles, falcons and vultures migrating south through Florida's Keys. Over twenty species of raptors have been recorded at the hawkwatch site, including the highest Peregrine Falcon counts in North America! A variety of waterbirds and neotropic migrant songbirds are also likely during the tour. Transportation and lunch included.

Registration is now closed, please come back next next year for the 2016 Bird Festival

Weekend Festival Activities

The James A. Kushlan Keynote Speaker of the 2015 Bird Festival will be Kenn Kaufman.

photo by Jeffrey Gordon

A lifelong passion for birds and nature captured Kenn Kaufman at the age of six and has never let go. Kenn burst onto the national birding scene as a teenager in the 1970s, hitch-hiking all over North America in pursuit of birds, an adventure later chronicled in his cult-classic book Kingbird Highway. After working as a leader of nature tours to all seven continents, he switched to a career as a freelance writer and naturalist. Most of his energy currently goes into book projects and into painting bird portraits. He has written a dozen books, including his own field guide series, Kaufman Field Guides, published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt of Boston; his books have been published in three languages. In 2005 he moved from Arizona to Ohio, where his wife Kimberly is now director of the Black Swamp Bird Observatory. Kenn is a field editor for Audubon magazine, a fellow of the American Ornithologists’ Union, and the only person to have received the American Birding Association’s lifetime achievement award twice. 

 

Saturday, October 3rd

7:30 a.m. -Bird Walk led by Joe Barros, Tropical Audubon Society 
Departs from Visitor Center
10:30 a.m. -Breakfast with Birders
Kick off the Bird Festival with an interactive panel discussion with our birding experts as we discuss trends in migration, conduct a year-end review of South Florida sightings and get an update on current conservation efforts. Breakfast will be served.Panelists include: keynote speaker, Kenn Kaufman, Brian Rapoza of Tropical Audubon Society, Bill Boerrenger, local birder and Rafael Galvez, wildlife artist and Director of Keys Hawk Watch. Moderated  by Tropical Audubon Society President, Joe Barros.  
Garden House
11:30 a.m. -Lecture by Steve Siegel, Bird Enthusiast 
Garden House
You Can't Direct The Talent. Birding Through A Camcorder
12:00 p.m. -Conversation with Glenn Huberman, Master Gardener
South Florida Butterfly Garden Plaza
Attracting Birds and Hummingbirds to Your Garden
12:00 p.m. -Family Yoga with Rina Yoga  
Cycad Vista
Bird poses and many more
1:00 p.m. -Lecture by Kenn Kaufman, Creator and Editor, Kaufman Field Guides
Garden House
Birds and the Undiscovered world
Book signing to immediately follow lecture. Books are available for purchase in advance at The Shop at Fairchild or during the event at the Garden House.
2:00 p.m. -Kids Bird Walk 
Departs from the Learning Garden Chickee Hut
3:00 p.m. -Lecture by Joe Barros, Tropical Audubon Society
Garden house 
Birding 101
4:15 p.m. -Bird Walkled by Joe Barros and Brian Rapoza  
Departs from the Tropical Audubon Society booth on the Garden House Lawn

Sunday, October 4th

7:30 a.m. -Bird Walk led by Joe Barros, Tropical Audubon Society
Departs from the Visitor Center
10:30 a.m. -Lecture by Nils Navarro, Author and Artist
Garden House
A Comprehensive Field Guide to the Endemic Birds of Cuba: A New Concept and Style for Birding in the Caribbean. 
11:30 a.m. -Lecture by Angel and Mariel Abreu, Nature is Awesome 
Garden House
Radar Birding 101
12:00 p.m. -Family Yoga with Rina Yoga
Cycad Vista
Bird poses and many more
1:00 p.m. -Lecture by Kenn Kaufman, Creator and Editor, Kaufman Field Guides
Garden House
Why We Need Birds
Book signing to immediately follow lecture.  Books are available for purchase in advance at The Shop at Fairchild or during the event at the Garden House. 
2:00 p.m. -Kids Bird Walk
Departs from the Learning Garden Chickee Hut
3:00 p.m. -Lecture by Brian Rapoza, Tropical Audubon Society 
Garden House 
Birding 101
4:15 p.m. -Bird Walk led by Joe Barros and Brian Rapoza
Departs from the Tropical Audubon Society booth on the Garden House Lawn