Welcome to the 4th Annual Pikes Peak Birding & Nature Festival....

This year’s festival promises to be a special event! Spring migration along Colorado’s Front Range is often full of surprises. El Paso County, situated near the southern end of the Front Range, where the short-grass prairies rise to meet the majestic summit of Pikes Peak, has much to offer.

Join world-renowned Flammulated Owl researcher, Dr. Brian Linkhart, in the Manitou Experimental Forest to look for these diminutive raptors. Or visit a working cattle ranch to find birds and learn how ranchers and birders work together to preserve critical bird habitat. Stroll around a mountain lake, looking and listening for returning summer residents, or enjoy a hike in the aromatic junipers and scrub oaks of a foothills riparian area. Go higher in elevation and see what birds call the montane forests their home. And the opportunities don’t end there!

Several new events are available for participants this year, including new field trips to two private ranches only rarely accessible to the public, an edible and medicinal plants hike, and a “Birds and Brews” happy hour with live birds, live music, vendors, and more.

Fountain Creek, an oasis on the plains, offers essential food and stopover sites for many resident birds and those migrating through the area. Spend some time at the North Cheyenne Cañon Hummingbird Festival and visit with a couple who specialize in banding hummingbirds. You won’t believe how delicate each hand made hummingbird band truly is! Walk the land where ornithologist Charles Aiken raised his sheep and see which bird species live there today. Observe which bird species thrive in our regional parks or learn about the geology of the renowned Colorado Springs Garden of the Gods city park. You can enjoy a behind the scenes tour at one of America’s most respected zoos, see birds in the hand at banding sessions, enjoy local farming demonstrations or enjoy a lunch with ranch hands at a working ranch.

Throughout the day on Saturday you can learn to identify the raptors that are common in the Pikes Peak Region. Take the raptor quiz; is it a Buteo, falcon or Accipiter? How do you tell a Sharp-shinned Hawk from a Cooper’s Hawk? Then get outside to test your newly-acquired skills.

You can also learn about and handle live tarantulas, native to Colorado, at a local nature center, or explore the latest research about how dinosaurs and birds are connected.

On Saturday evening, join us for our “Birds and Brews” happy hour with free appetizers and drinks. There, you will be able to see participants’ photographs from Saturday’s field trips and a list of the birds found during field trips on Friday and Saturday. Additionally, you can visit with live birds and other creatures, enjoy live music, enter a birding gear and supplies auction, and share stories with other participants.

Look over the website for festival information, registration, speaker bios, and field trip descriptions to help you decide how to spend your weekend in and around the Pikes Peak Region. There are events for everyone. We hope you will join us in Colorado Springs, Colorado on May 11 – 13, 2018 for dynamic birding field trips and appealing seminars and workshops.

Date: Friday, May 11 – Sunday, May 13, 2018