Morro Bay Bird Festival – Morro Bay Bird Festival

2023 Morro Bay Bird Festival, January 13 - 16

The Morro Bay Winter Bird Festival is a yearly ecotourism event promoting an understanding and appreciation of birds and other wildlife and an awareness of environmental and conservation issues of the Central Coast, while contributing to the well-being of the Morro Bay community. Each year the Festival has grown to include more events and to attract more participants.

Morro Bay and the surrounding area is an idea spot for avid birders. Located on the Pacific Flyway, Morro Bay is a Globally Important Bird Area and a designated State and National Estuary. Morro Coast Audubon Society always ranks in the top five for the Audubon Christmas Bird Count. In most years, over 200 different bird species are spotted during the Festival.

Great Blue Heron by René Reyes

Registration Opens Nov. 5, 8am PT

Festival Program

Program Update (Schedule and Program Details now available)

For the 2023 Festival, we are returning to a four-day event, starting on Friday, January 13 and concluding on Monday, January 16. Our program includes 160 events; field trips, presentations, master classes and special events. As you know, our Festival was canceled the past two years due to COVID concerns; we can assure you that for 2023 we will be adhering to all government guidelines and procedures to ensure the safety of all participants.

Exciting news for 2023 is that David Allen Sibley will be our featured guest, offering a Master Class, leading two field trips and delivering the Keynote Address on Saturday night. We are also scheduling two book signings for David. Additionally, Jon Dunn will be participating in the Festival as a field trip leader (see below under special events).

All-day and half-day tours take participants to a wide variety of habitats, including deep water pelagic, oak woodland and riparian, wetland and estuary, and the unique grassland habitat of the Carrizo Plain. Workshops cover a vast array of topics ranging from beginner birding classes to gull identification and a new workshop on bats. A number of the events are geared toward birders who are also photographers. Birders of all levels are welcome, and the schedule identifies programs especially appropriate for beginners or children, as well as programs that are wheelchair accessible.

Festival HQ

Vendor Bazaar

Festival T-shirt

Morro Bay Bird Festival Special Events

Opening Festival Reception

Friday, January 13, 2023,
5:00 to 6:30pm
Morro Bay Community Center

Enjoy wine and cheese and fellow birders at the Bird Festival Bazaar. Browse the vendor booths featuring optics, books, music, nature art & photography, woodcarvings, jewelry, educational exhibits, and more! If you purchased a copy of David Sibley’s book, What It’s Like to Be a Bird, during the registration process, David will be available to sign your book at this event. Takes place at the Morro Bay Community Center, 1001 Kennedy Way, Morro Bay.

Video running represents festivals over the past 25 year!

Keynote:
David Allen Sibley

Saturday, January 14, 2023, 7:00-8:30pm at the Cuesta College Performing Arts Center

What It's Like to be a Bird

From UV vision, to deep diving, navigation, balance, super-efficient breathing, and more - birds have some amazing "superpowers", and at the same time nearly every aspect of their anatomy, physiology, and behavior has been shaped in some way by the demands of their ultimate superpower - flight. Using a selection of illustrations and information from his new book What It's Like to be a Bird, David will talk about some of the incredible things birds are able to do, and the adaptations that make those things possible.

About David Allen Sibley

David Allen Sibley is the author and illustrator of the series of successful guides to nature that bear his name, including the New York Times bestseller The Sibley Guide to Birds. He has contributed art and articles to Smithsonian, Science, The Wilson Journal of Ornithology, Birding, BirdWatching, and North American Birds, and wrote an illustrated a syndicated column for The New York Times. He is the recipient of the Roger Tory Peterson Award for Lifetime Achievement from the American Birding Association and the Linnaean Society of New York’s Eisenmann Medal. He lives in Deerfield, MA.

Special Guest:
Jon Dunn

Jon will lead field trips:
#'s 106, 137, 206, 315, 343

About Jon

Jon was the chief consultant for the first five editions of National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of North America and co-authored the sixth and seventh editions. Having David and Jon on the program for 2023 will re-establish the Morro Bay Bird Festival as one of the top bird festivals in the USA and will energize leaders, volunteers and attendees.

More about Jon Dunn

Jon's interest in birds developed from the age of eight when he became absorbed with the Hooded Orioles in his yard in the L.A. area in 1962. He has written extensively about birds since the 1970's, often with his colleague, Kimball Garrett. Together they wrote Birds of Southern California, Status and Distribution (1981) and Warblers (1997). Jon also worked extensively with Jonathan Alderfer and together co-authored the Birds of North America by the National Geographic Society up through the 7th edition (2017) and Birding Essentials (2007) and co-edited the three editions of the Complete Birds of North America by National Geographic.. Jon has served on various committees, notably the California Bird Records Committee (30 years), the ABA Checklist Committee and the Committee on Taxonomy and Nomenclature of the AOS (2000 to present). Beyond birds Jon has an interest in history and the music and poetry of Leonard Cohen.

Special Guest:
Richard Crossley

Richard will lead field trips:
#'s 205 and 306

About Richard

Richard Crossley is an internationally acclaimed birder, photographer and award-winning author of ‘The Crossley ID Guide’ series. Richard’s recently published books The Crossley ID Guide: Western Birds, The Crossley ID Guide: Waterfowl, and Ornitherapy April 2021. Richard will be leading two field trips, Learning to Look, and will be onsite for Festival attendees during our Bazaar open hours.

More about Richard Crossley

Born in Yorkshire, he also lived in Japan, and birded worldwide before settling down in the USA. After one of his frequent mid-life crises at the turn of the millennium, Richard decided it was time to spend less time obsessively birding and to focus on paying it forward. Sometimes called crazy (his badge of honor), wildly passionate, and driven, Richard’s focus is youth birding, and connecting people to a fuller appreciation and understanding of nature.

His books continue to connect us all to nature with a stronger appreciation and understanding of our surroundings, including their many health benefits. Self-published, these new guides encourages all outdoor conservation groups to view each other as one.

Richard also co-founded the global birding initiative Pledge to Fledge, Race4Birds and The Cape May Young Birders Club. He served on the board of directors at Hawk Mountain Sanctuary. He has contributed to most major birding publications, is frequently heard on radio, and is a sought-after public speaker.

RECORDED PAST PRESENTATIONS 2022 VIRTUAL FESTIVAL PRESENTATIONS

RECORDED PAST PRESENTATIONS

Please enjoy the following recorded keynote speaker presentations from previous bird festivals: (Hint for optimum viewing: open this webpage in your cell phones browser and "cast" to a nearby smart tv. Turn up the volume on your tv)

Jonathan Slaght presents: Fish Owls
John Muir Laws Presentation - Part 1
John Muir Laws Presentation - Part 2
Chris Cameron - Migration and Peregrines
How Woodpeckers can save the World: Stephen Shunk presenter, 2020 Morro Bay Winter Bird Festival
Dancing with the Grebes: Krisztina Scheef, presenter, 2020 Morro Bay Winter Bird Festival
Birding the Globe with James Currie: James Currie, presenter, 2019 Morro Bay Winter Bird Festival
The World's most amazing birds, Seabirds: Alvaro Jaramillo, presenter, 2019 Morro Bay Winter Bird Festival

2022 VIRTUAL FESTIVAL PRESENTATIONS

"Flying By The Seat of Our Pants" 2022 Morro Bay Bird Festival

Free Virtual Festival Has Ended

Enjoy these unedited recorded presentations

Presenter	Title of Presentation	Video Link

Thursday
Mark Mushkat	Becoming a Better Birder - 45 tips in 45 minutes	45 tips in 45 minutes
Jessica Griffiths	Why Birds Flock	Why Birds Flock

Friday
Kelly Vandenhevel	PWC Meet the Raptors	PWC and Meet the Raptor
Sarah Killingsworth	Advanced Bird Photography 1 & 2	Advanced Photography
Steve Beissinger	Conserving the Black Rail	Black Rail
Steve Schubert	Peregrine Falcons of Morro Rock	Peregrine Falcon
Brian Sullivan	Cornell on the Cutting Edge of Bird Science	Cutting Edge of Bird Science
John Muir Laws	The 7 Habits of Successful Happy Birders 1 & 2	7 Habits - Successful Happy Birders

Saturday
Chris Cameron	Human/Raptor Interactions through the Centuries	Human and Raptor Interactions
John Muir Laws	Keeping a Birders' Field Journal	Bird Journal
Norm Pillsbury	Bird Recording	Bird Recordings
Tom & Peggy Burhenn	Owl Boxes - Why and How? Building and Info	Owl Boxes
Benjamin Jacobs-Schwartz	Sea to Summit and Feathers to Flight - The Marvelous Hummingbird	Part 1: Sea to Summit & World Tropics - Part 2: Feathers to Flight
Bob Revel	Bobolink - the New Way to Run a Bird Festival	Bobolink

Sunday
Kara Hagedorn	Sunshine's Story (red-tailed hawk)	Sunshine's Story
Jessica Griffiths	Birding by Ear	Birding by Ear
Steve Schubert	Condor Recovery Program	Condor Recovery Program
Mary Whitfield	MOTUS - Science is tracking birds and bats	The Science of Tracking Birds and Bats
John Muir Laws	Bird Drawing Basics - Fast Sketching	Bird Sketching, Parts 1 & 2
Heather Hayes	Tracking the Long Billed Curlew	Tracking the Long-billed Curlew
Claudia Freitas	Shorebirds	Shorebirds

2023 Morro Bay Bird Festival, January 13 - 16

Morro Bay Bird Festival Special Events

Opening Festival Reception

Keynote: David Allen Sibley

Special Guest: Jon Dunn

Special Guest: Richard Crossley

Keynote:
David Allen Sibley

Special Guest:
Jon Dunn

Special Guest:
Richard Crossley