Wings over Whidbey Bird Festival 2025

May 16 and 17, 2025

Join us for the third year of our annual festival, Wings over Whidbey Bird Festival, Saturday, May 17, 2025 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. This year it will be a full one-day all ages community bird and nature festival with a well-rounded variety of fun to include educational and informational presentations.

We expect about a dozen Washington affiliate nonprofit organizations who will have booths that focus on birds, nature, conservation and climate change. There will also be local artists whose work involves birds and the natural world.

No one will go hungry as there will also be local concessionaires at food booths.

Touch and Feel Birds — Whidbey Audubon Society’s own bird specimen library will have a collection of preserved birds for visitors to look at closely and touch. Some fun new attractions have been added to our event this year. Whidbey Audubon will have more specimens on display this year in the Roost building. Matt Klope, professional taxidermist, will be demonstrating how he prepares birds for specimens.

Birding Pacific Rim — Patrick Layton, an experienced bird watcher, has offered to take families on short birding trips throughout Pacific Rim Institute with loaner Whidbey Audubon binoculars and his spotting scope. The times of these field trips will be listed on the Wings over Whidbey program.

This presentation by Dr. Mark Borden, falconer, will give a synopsis of falconry, answering the basic questions “everyone” asks, and then will give a thumbnail sketch of the raptors one can expect to see on Whidbey, focusing on the insights gained by having each species on his glove afield, and in his home, for years. Mark Borden has been a falconer since he was 12 years old. He has lived on Whidbey for over 20 years.

Bats on Whidbey at 12:30 p.m.

Programs in the Granary

We have three phenomenal presentations planned on May 17.

A Falconer’s Gestalt of Whidbey Island Raptors at 11:30 a.m.

Discovery Bay Wild Bird Rescue’s Education Raptors at 2 p.m.

As night falls, the nine species of bats on Whidbey Island fly into many niches that birds occupy by day. Bats help to maintain a healthy ecosystem as they hunt moths, beetles, mosquitoes and other insects in our night skies. Learn about these fascinating and useful mammals and how to create an attractive environment for them so that they can do their best for you. The presenter is local naturalist and bat biologist Sarah Schmidt.

Meet some of the ambassador birds from Discovery Bay Wild Bird Rescue (DBWBR) and learn more about the wild bird rescue. DBWBR receives 400-500 birds of all types each year from our community by people who find these injured and orphaned wild birds. These raptor ambassadors may have come from the wild but have been trained in captivity for the job of meeting people. Hear their stories and learn more about the issues wild birds face today. Joseph Molotsky has been with the Rescue for ten years handling and training these raptors and will be presenting them.

Birding Field Trips:

Friday, May 16 and Saturday, May 17 - free of charge

Friday, May 16: Greenbank Farm. Forest and Trails.

Leader: Sarah Schmidt
Time: 8:00 to 10:00 a.m.
Length of trip: 1-2 miles
Description of trip: See what birds are active in the forest at Greenbank Farm with a focus on birding by ear, listening for songs and calls of the birds to reveal their presence and help with identification. We can expect flycatchers and warblers to be back from winter in the neotropics.
Where to meet: By the north entrance to the Off-lease Dog area at Greenbank Farm, off of SR 525 in the Old Hwy 525 pullout north of Smugglers Cove Road.
Maximum number of participants: 10. Please register here.

Friday, May 16: Fort Casey State Park & Crockett Lake

Leader: Steve Ellis
Time: 1:00 to 4:00 p.m.
Description: We'll assemble near the Fort Casey lighthouse and walk to the bluff for seabirds, marine mammals, and prairie wildflowers. The trip then continues with a walk in the woods section of the park to look for forest bird species. We'll finish with a caravan to Crockett Lake for Purple Martins, ducks and raptors. All vehicles will need a Discover Pass.
Maximum number of participants: 10. Please register here.

Friday, May 16: Fort Ebey State Park

Leader: Dave Parent
Time: 8:00 to 10:00 a.m.
Description: We will be birding at Fort Ebey State Park. We will first look and listen for birds in the forest around Pondilla Lake. We will then proceed to the beach and look for seabirds and raptors. Bring binoculars and spotting scopes if you have them.
Meeting Place: Follow the signs to Beach/Lake Pondilla and park by the beach in the lower parking lot. Discover Pass needed for each vehicle.
Maximum number of participants: 12. Please register here.

Friday, May 16: Deer Lagoon Preserve

Leader: Carlos Andersen
Time: 8:00 to 10:00 a.m.
Length of trip: 1 to 2 miles
Meeting Place: Meet at the Deer Lagoon Road Trailhead
Description: Deer Lagoon Preserve is a Whidbey Island treasure offering unique habitats that local and migratory birds call home for the summer. Over 217 bird species have been identified at the Preserve and our visit will be at the peak of spring migration. We will first quietly walk through forest habitat, birding by ear listening for songs and calls. After a short walk on dirt and gravel we reach the dikes, where the views and habitats open up to freshwater marsh, saltwater tidelands and in the distance Useless Bay. With the help of scopes and binoculars (please bring them if you have them) we should be able to hear and see almost 50 different bird species.
Maximum number of participants: 10. Please register here.

Saturday, May 17: Pacific Rim Institute

Leader: Joe Sheldon
Time: 8:00 to 10:00 a.m.
Length of Trip: 2.5 miles on easy level trails.
Description: We will meet in the main parking lot at Pacific Rim Institute to begin our birding adventure. You will need to park in the field for event visitor parking. Our path will take us through the spectacular blooming native prairie to enjoy this precious garden as we enjoy the plants and the prairie birds. We will then walk to the north forest to look and listen for the species that occupy the forest habitat. More than 120 species of birds have been recorded from Pacific Rim's 175 acres. It is a special, and to many, a sacred place. No registration necessary.

Saturday, May 17: Fort Ebey State Park

Leader: Dave Parent
Time: 8:00 to 10:00 a.m.
Description: We will be birding at Fort Ebey State Park. We will first look and listen for birds in the forest around Pondilla Lake. We will then proceed to the beach and look for seabirds and raptors. Bring binoculars and spotting scopes if you have them.
Meeting Place: Follow the signs to Beach/Lake Pondilla and park by the beach in the lower parking lot. Discover Pass needed for each vehicle.
Maximum number of participants: 12. Please register here.

Saturday, May 17: Deer Lagoon Preserve

Leader: Carlos Andersen
Time: 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m.
Length of trip: 1 to 2 miles
Meeting Place: Meet at the Deer Lagoon Road Trailhead
Description: Deer Lagoon Preserve is a Whidbey Island treasure offering unique habitats that local and migratory birds call home for the summer. Over 217 bird species have been identified at the Preserve and our visit will be at the peak of spring migration. We will first quietly walk through forest habitat, birding by ear listening for songs and calls. After a short walk on dirt and gravel we reach the dikes, where the views and habitats open up to freshwater marsh, saltwater tidelands and in the distance Useless Bay. With the help of scopes and binoculars (please bring them if you have them) we should be able to hear and see almost 50 different bird species.
Maximum number of participants: 10. Please register here.

Saturday, May 17: Native Bee Walk

Leader: Ingrid Carmean, Washington Native Bee Society
Time: 12:30 to 1:45 p.m.
Meeting Place: Pacific Rim Institute, meet at Washington Native Bee Society Booth.
Description: Did you know there are 600 to 700 species of bees and almost 60 genera in Washington? We will observe probably five or more different genera of bees. We will look for their nesting sites and talk about their different nesting behaviors. We will look for bees gathering nesting materials, pollen and nectar. The walk will include information on why native bees are excellent pollinators and where honey bees help. We might get into a discussion about weird parasites of bees and cleptoparasitic bees.
Maximum number of participants: 15. Please register here.

Wings over Whidbey Vendors

Mobile pizza oven and catering on Whidbey Island

Hot Dogs

Langley

3229 Old Goldie Rd. in Oak Harbor

Small things made by hand with great love.

Our 2025
Sponsors:

Major Sponsors:

In memory of Anne Matsen, my best birding partner for 56 years.
— Rick Matsen

The festival is a FREE event. It will be held at the Pacific Rim Institute (PRI) amongst the forest and prairie vistas of central Whidbey Island. There will be plenty of free parking and handicap parking available. Note that the terrain will be mostly gravel/dirt and uneven in some places.