Pikes Peak Birding and Nature Festival

The 6th Pikes Peak Birding and Nature Festival promises to be a special event! Spring migration along Colorado’s Front Range is often full of surprises. The Pikes Peak region has much to offer, with the short-grass prairie rising to meet the forested foothills and deep canyons of the southern Front Range, and rich, riparian forests providing for countless birds, insects, and other wildlife. The weekend will be a blend of in-person and virtual events. Field trip participant numbers will be reduced, masks are mandatory, social distancing is needed and most workshops and seminars will be virtual. New this year we have Live Birds of Prey from the Nature and Wildlife Discovery Center. Also new this year is a non-birding, paleontology trip to Corral Bluffs. This is the location discussed in a recent NOVA presentation and follows the first million years following the demise of dinosaurs and the rise of mammals. The fossil record found in the property is fascinating. There will be an ethnobotany (the study of the traditional knowledge and customs of a people concerning plants and their medical, religious, and other uses) adventure to the Paint Mines Interpretive Park or spend some time with the Mile High Bug Club, look closer and discover the magnificent insects that inhabit this region when they do insect black lighting. Or you can enjoy hikes in the aromatic junipers and scrub oaks of the foothills – and the opportunities don’t end there! Early Bird registration opens March 27 at 10:00 a.m.