Galveston FeatherFest (2025)
I attended the 23rd annual Galveston FeatherFest birding festival in late April 2025. Having relatives in the Houston area, I took it upon myself to kill two birds with one stone (Don't you just hate that expression?) to visit them and attend FeatherFest. This was my first time birding the Galveston area, and it was fabulous.
The FeatherFest is a project of the Galveston Island Nature Tourism Council and Houston Audubon is heavily involved as well. I was impressed with how well organized the event was -- clearly, they've honed their skills executing on a festival of this size, which attracts roughly 500 birders each year. They host a wide range of outings along with birder workshops, vendor exhibits, and more.
I participated in three field trips: the southern end of the Bolivar Peninsula, led by Greg Miller (one of the three birders portrayed in the movie "The Big Year") and Winnie Burkett; High Island, led by Jon Dunn (author and birder extraordinaire) and Galveston's West End, led by Cedar Stanistreet. In addition to expert leaders, each trip was accompanied by at least one member of Houston Audubon (several locations that we visited are owned/managed by Houston Audubon). Overall, the festival recorded 235 species; I had just shy of 100, with 13 life birds.
In terms of trip highlights, my top five in no particular order:
- Wonderful views of Scissor-tailed Flycatchers, a bird I'd only glimpsed on prior non-birding trips to Texas — finally, officially on the life list!
- Flocks of well over 150 American Avocets and more than 250 Black Terns - to see such gorgeous birds "in volume" in great lighting conditions was spectacular (Greg Miller, who has done extensive birding in the Galveston region, had never seen that large a grouping of Black Terns)
- The Smith Oaks Rookery at High Island — loaded with herons, egrets, and other water birds, all in their spring plumage glory and making quite a ruckus
- A Prothonotary Warbler very close at eye-level, binoculars not necessary
- Seaside and Nelson's Sparrows — the latter being a lifer for me
Next year's festival will be held April 16-19, 2026 with more details available at their website: galvestonfeatherfest.com &@151; registration for this year's Featherfest opened in mid-January 2025.
— by Ted Weller
