Twin Cities Urban Birding Festival May 13-16

Pull out your binoculars and clear your schedule. This weekend is the fifth annual Twin Cities Urban Birding Festival. This is one of those events that makes living in such an outdoor oriented city so cool. The event runs May 13-16, 2010 and there are 22 events including bird hikes, bird banding and more.

Work and family commitments prevent me from taking part in any of the events this year which is killing me as they look fabulous. I'm disappointed to not even be able to attend the hike at Como Park since it is practically right in my back yard and usually turns up some fun things. I'll be showing live raptors to kids at a school that day so hopefully I'll be making some new birders in my own way. If you can only do one hike be sure to check out some of the hikes at the Arden Hills Army Training Site which is usually closed to the public.

No registration is required for these events, simply show up. The only event with a fee is the catered lunch on May 15.

Check out all these events!

Date	Event	Time	Location
5/13	Bird Hike	8:00-9:00 am	Rice Creek
5/13	Bird Hike	8:00-9:30 am	Vento Nature Sanctuary
5/13	Bird Hike	7:30-9:00 pm	Tamarack
5/14	Bird Hike	8:00-9:30 am	Como Park
5/14	Bird Hike	8:00-9:30 am	Locke Park
5/14	Bird Hike	10:00-11:30 am	Roberts Bird Sanctuary
5/14	Bird Hike	10:30-11:30 am	Mississippi Regional Park
5/14	Osprey Nest	11:30-1:00 pm	Josephine Park
5/14	Peregrine Aerie	11:30-1:00 pm	Lock & Dam 1
5/15	Bird Hike	8:00-9:30 am	Reservoir Woods
5/15	Bird Hike	8:00-9:30 am	Innsbruck Park
5/15	Bird Hike	8:00-9:30 am	Crosby Park
5/15	Activities	9:00-3:00 pm	Springbrook Nature Ctr
5/15	Lunch	Noon	Springbrook Nature Ctr-registration required
5/16	Bird Hike	8:00-9:30 am	Battle Creek Park
5/16	Bird Hike	8:00-9:30 am	Mississippi River Gorge
5/16	Bird Hike	8:00-9:30 am	St. Paul Campus
5/16	Bird Hike	12:00-1:30 pm	Arden Hills Army Training Site
5/16	Bird Hike	1:00-3:30 pm	Arden Hills Army Training Site
5/16	Bird Hike	2:00-3:30 pm	Arden Hills Army Training Site

If the events seems a little "east of the river" centric that is because the event is largely organized by Saint Paul Audubon, Ramsey County Parks and the Minnesota Ornithological Union. I'm happy to see such great representation of sites on the East of the River but I'd love for something like this to be more Twin Cities wide in the future. Still, there's already so much to attend. If you're more of a Minneapolis type don't be afraid to cross the river, we don't bite. (usually)

The full schedule is posted at www.urbanbirdingfestival.org.

~Kirk

(photo credit: MPF)