Annual Leavenworth Bird Fest Returns this Weekend

The Leavenworth Spring Bird Fest is underway and runs through this weekend at the Wenatchee River Institute.

The annual event, which is celebrating its 20^th year in 2022, invites bird enthusiasts of all ages and experience to enjoy the wide variety of avian life in North Central Washington.

The institute’s education director Rebecca Ryan says the weekend is packed with plenty of opportunities to get outside and see some feathered friends.

“We have field trips happening Friday, Saturday and Sunday (and) there’s still room to register. There’s also self-guided things that don’t require registration,” explained Ryan.

Ryan says in addition to the numerous birds which are indigenous to the region, participants can also expect to see an array of others which only make a brief appearance in the region every spring.

“This time of year we are seeing a lot of birds that are on their migratory paths through the area, so we see things that we don’t see year round,” detailed Ryan. “Some of the ones that people are always excited to see are the White-Headed Woodpecker, the Western Tanager (TAN-uh-jer) and others that are more unique to our area.”

Family Day at Bird Fest is Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. and includes prizes, live music and a keynote address by local author and poet Derek Sheffield of Wenatchee Valley College.

To register for any of this weekend’s Bird Fest events, go to wenatcheeriverinstitute.org