Nature lovers and bird enthusiasts will come together from Thursday through Sunday, April 9-12, in Apollo Beach for the annual Florida Birding and Nature Festival. This four-day event will feature field trips, boat excursions, seminars by experts, nationally renowned keynote speakers and a free nature expo.
“Previously scheduled to coincide with the peak of fall migration, it now coincides with the peak of spring migration,” said Ann Paul of the festival. “More than 180 species have been observed during previous festivals, and the new dates are expected to be even more productive for birders.”
Most of the festival’s activities will be held at the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s (FWC) Suncoast Youth Conservation Center in Apollo Beach.
Organizers decided to move the festival to April after Hurricanes Helene and Milton caused widespread damage and disrupted lives along Florida’s west coast in 2024. The festival is sponsored by Tampa Electric Company, the FWC’s Suncoast Youth Conservation Center and Hillsborough County’s Conservation and Environmental Lands Management/Environmental Lands Acquisition and Protection Program. “We invite the community to come celebrate the wonders of the birds, wildlife, and natural lands that we enjoy in West Central Florida,” Paul said.
The field trips, led by knowledgeable guides and, in some cases, the managers of the nature habitats visited, include walking, wagon, boat and kayak trips and bus tours of Central Florida birding hot spots. Some field trips explore sites normally not open to the public.
“Destinations include Egmont Key, the Cross Bar Ranch in Spring Hill, Cockroach Bay Aquatic Preserve, Fort DeSoto Park, Coffeepot Bayou, the Alafia Bank Bird Sanctuary and the Lower Green Swamp Nature Preserve,” Paul said. “The keynote talks will be held at St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church in Sun City Center and include a buffet dinner.”
Friday evening’s keynote speaker will be Leslie Kemp Pool, an associate professor at Rollins College and the author of Saving Florida: Women’s Fight for the Environment in the Twentieth Century. It chronicles how women, from social club members to renowned authors, such as Marjory Stoneman Douglas, were critical to the effort to protect natural Florida.
Saturday evening’s speaker will be Hilary Flower. The Eckerd College associate professor is the author of The Kite and the Snail: An Endangered Bird, Its Unlikely Prey and a Story of Hope in a Changing World.
“It explores the success of the endangered Everglades kite, which learned to forage for invasive snails,” Paul said. “The raptor has expanded its range into Central Florida, and Flower also will lead a field trip to Lake Tohopekaliga, where it is commonly seen.”
The festival also will offer two days of in-person and Zoom-broadcasted seminars, with experts covering fascinating nature topics.
A free Nature Expo on Friday, April 10, and Saturday, April 11, at the Suncoast Youth Conservation Center will feature displays from numerous environmental organizations, nature-related businesses and artists. Exhibitors will sell binoculars, artwork, bird boxes and native plants that attract birds and butterflies.
For more information about the festival, ticket pricing and registration for the festival, you can visit their website at www.floridabirdingandnaturefestival.org.
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