Back to All Events

Point Reyes Birding & Nature Festival


Save the Date

Point Reyes Birding & Nature Festival
April 19th - 21st, 2024
Marin/Sonoma Counties

The Environmental Action Committee of West Marin (EAC) will be hosting the 15th Annual Point Reyes Birding & Nature Festival on April 19th-21st, 2024.

This annual fundraising event celebrates spring bird and wildlife migrations along the Pacific Flyway in Marin and Sonoma counties and benefits our nonprofit mission to protect and sustain the unique lands, waters, and biodiversity of West Marin (coastal Marin County). There is something for everyone in your brood, with trips and activities for various ages and experience levels.

Point Reyes National Seashore provides the main backdrop for our festival, which offers some of the finest birding in the United States with over 70,000 acres of habitat including estuaries, grasslands, coastal scrub, and forest with a strong influence from the Pacific Ocean. In fact, Point Reyes and the surrounding area have been named the National Audubon Society’s #1 birding hotspot for multiple years, where 54% (490 of 900 species) of all North American bird species have been seen and recorded. In addition, during April, California’s Mediterranean climate allows us to see wintering and breeding birds overlapping along this coastal hotspot. However, birds are not the only thing you’ll see. Whether you are at a field event discovering whales, elk, or wildflowers, your time in between may have you come across a plethora of wildlife including deer, fox, skunk, raccoons, otters, river otters, and more! Be sure to keep an eye out, and drive slowly!

Over Earth Day weekend (April 2024) attendees can:

  • Become a Friend of the Festival sponsor, and help us take flight! Friends of the Festival are vital to the event’s success, and whose support is critical to our mission to protect and sustain the unique lands, waters, and biodiversity of West Marin throughout the year

  • Join our guides for up to 55+ field-based events across the Bay Area to learn about birds, wildlife, plants, marine life, photography, and journaling with award-winning naturalists and birders while hiking or kayaking. Schedule coming in February 2024. EAC Members get early bird access one week prior to the public.

  • Attend our Saturday Social & Keynote Event: Gather with our festival community over food and drink, and hear from our keynote.

  • Sponsor or Attend our free Sunday Family Fun Day. Bring your entire brood for a visit with live bird ambassadors and a variety of activities including bird identification and binocular use, owl pellet dissection, feather, eggs, skull and wing span identification, family walks, art activities like bird origami, and more! and more.

These events are geared to bring a broader awareness, appreciation, and stewardship of the area to novice and expert birders/naturalists alike. Participants are primarily from Marin, Sonoma, and the greater Bay Area or California, but participants also come from the Pacific Northwest (Washington, Oregon), Rocky Mountains (Colorado), the Southwest (New Mexico and Arizona), the Midwest (Illinois and Ohio), East Coast (New York), Hawaii, and even as far as Mexico, Australia, Germany, and the Netherlands.

Proceeds support EAC's mission, which protects birds, wildlife, and habitats in coastal Marin. Examples include protecting eelgrass habitat in Tomales Bay, nesting and migratory bird protections from vegetation management, and improved water quality in Point Reyes National Seashore.

Get details