The first Monterey Bay Birding Festival was held on November 4-6 at various birding venues throughout the Monterey Bay region, but some of the best glimpses of both rare and native wildlife was right here in our own backyard.

Pajaro Dunes provided the backdrop for 8 of the 31 bird walk and presentations throughout the three day event. About 250 participants from all over California as well as Oregon and Washington state attended.

Sponsors of the event included Sandra Casey of Pajaro Dunes on Monterey Bay, who provided financial support for the event’s advertising and printing costs. Mickey Holzman of the Pajaro Dunes Company provided refreshments for the two evening presentations at the Sandpiper Center.

Additional sponsorship for the event was provided by the Red Roof Inn, Best Western Inn, the Bird Feeder and Swingtime Café.

On Friday night, Clay Kempf, a local bird enthusiast, discussed the diverse native habitat and wildlife of Monterey Bay entitled “From the Mountains to the Sea.” Clay’s 35 mm slide presentation set the stage for the many opportunities to sight birds in a variety of habitats. 80 people attended this event.

Throughout the day on Saturday, attendees met at “Bird Central,” a large white tent located at the Red Roof Inn. This location, provided by Chuck Allen of Red Roof Inn, was the meeting place for attendees and birding guides. From this point, car pools drove to birding venues up and down the bay including Elkhorn Slough, the Watsonville Wetlands, UC Santa Cruz, Big Sur and, of course, Pajaro Dunes.

At Pajaro Dunes, participants and their guides were able to access the lagoon area of the north community and the confluence of the Pajaro River and Watsonville Slough of Pelican Point (PD South) for six different walks. A popular field trip included a presentation on the Western Snowy Plover and a walk out on the point to observe this endangered species within its protected habitat.

On Saturday night, 80 more attendees assembled at the Sandpiper Center to hear Joe Burnett, from the Big Sur Ornithology Lab, present photographs and discuss how the lab is leading the recovery of California Condor from near extinction.

Based upon enthusiastic evaluations and the better than expected attendance, the festival planning committee is considering a second festival during fall of 2006.

The local newspaper, the Register Pajaronian, featured the bird festival in recent articles.

• Birding Festival a soaring success.
• Expert guided trip yields surprises near Pajaro Dunes

Finding Birds in Pajaro Dunes North

Registration Tent at Red Roof Inn