Registration is now OPEN for the Godwit Days Spring Migration Bird Festival, April 13-16, 2023! Click here to REGISTER

Currently recruiting volunteers for the 2023 festival, click here to find out how you can help.

Help us spread the word, click here for flyer.
 Our 2023 Sponsors & Supporters, click here

 

Welcome to Godwit Days!

 

Come celebrate the Marbled Godwit and explore the lush Redwood Coast. Observe many bird species and other wildlife through our selection of field trips, lectures, and workshops led by experienced local guides during our annual festival each April. Tour the expansive mudflats, the wild river valleys and the rocky ocean coast of this sector of the Klamath bioregion in northwest California.

Special Events:

Pints for Non-profits fundraiser on Wednesday, April 5th @ Redwood Curtain in Arcata

The 2023 Student Bird Art & Nature Writing Contests (Entries due by 5 pm on Saturday, March 18, 2023): 

CLICK HERE for the 2023 Student Bird Art Contest Flyer

CLICK HERE for the 2023 Student Nature Writing Contest Flyer

CLICK HERE for a Special Letter to Schools regarding submissions for the student bird art contest.

 

2022 MERCHANDISE available! Purchase Godwit Days logo shirts, hoodies, hats, totes, mugs, water bottles, linens, cards, stickers, buttons, and even face masks here https://www.cafepress.com/godwitdays.

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2023 KEYNOTE SPEAKERS

Friday, April 14, 2023, Keynote Lecturers Tiana Williams-Claussen & Chris West

“California Condor Recovery in Northern California: Prey-go-neesh Flies Free”

After a 14-year journey, the Yurok Tribe — in partnership with Redwood National and State Parks, the US Fish and Wildlife Service, and many others — has successfully brought Prey-go-neesh (California condor) home to the Pacific Northwest. This restores a critical member of our ecological community, promotes reconnection to this amazing species, and cultural revitalization for the tribal people who have long lived in relationship with him. Tiana Williams-Claussen, director of the Yurok Tribe Wildlife Department, and Chris West, the Northern California Condor Restoration Program Manager, will provide a brief introduction to the incredible Prey-go-neesh and discuss the traditional paradigm guiding the Yurok Tribe’s efforts to bring the birds home to northern California and the Pacific Northwest. They will discuss the management approach the Tribe is taking for reintegrating condor into the region, and provide an update on how the newly released population is doing, flying free in Northern California once again.

Saturday, April 15, 2023, Keynote Lecturers Dr. Lisa Ballance & Robert Pitman

“Clipperton Island: Booby Research on a Tropical Desert Isle”

Bob worked for 40 years as a marine bird and mammal researcher for National Marine Fisheries Service. He participated in survey cruises in all the world’s oceans, with particular focus on the eastern tropical Pacific, Alaska, Antarctica, and Western Australia. His wife Lisa is the director of the Marine Mammal Institute at Oregon State University’s Hatfield Marine Science Center in Newport. She was previously the director of the NOAA/NMFS Endangered Species department at the Southwest Fisheries Science Center in La Jolla, CA. She has studied the ecology and conservation biology of whales, dolphins, and porpoises (and seabirds) around the world for over 30 years. Clipperton Island in the eastern tropical Pacific is perhaps the most isolated island in the world. French-owned, it is a tiny (1.6 sq. km), uninhabited desert atoll, with an average elevation of only 3 m. It is, however, surrounded by very productive tropical waters, and tens of thousands of Masked and Brown boobies crowd its barren shores. Its teeming seabird population has been whip-sawed by human activity over the past 100+ years and its future remains uncertain. We will introduce you to its cast of feathered characters and summarize some of our research results on booby taxonomy, diet, and abundance before discussing some of the ongoing conservation threats to this remarkable place.