The Creston Valley Bird Fest committee would like to congratulate Jo-Anne Wesley, the 2016 festival artist. Her watercolour painting of a hairy woodpecker will appear in advertising, on the festival program cover, on the www.crestonvalleybirds.ca website, on Facebook and on posters to be distributed throughout the Kootenays and beyond. The committee would like to thank artist Eileen Gidman and all of the festival art participants at Cresteramics. Their creative efforts are truly appreciated.
This year’s festival includes guest presenters Jakob Dulisse, a wildlife biologist and photographer from Nelson, Glynnis Hood from Camrose, Alta., and Gary Davidson from Nakusp, with his photographs of birds of Panama. Friday night field trips are hosted by Brendan Mitchell of Creston, talking bats at the wildlife centre, Ulrike Sliworsky identifying birdcalls on the Duck Lake dike, and Lorraine Scott and Sharon Laughlin, with the birds of Fox Tree Hill.
The festival includes guided bird watching tours on Saturday and Sunday. Afternoon events include tours to Swan Valley Honey, Kootenay Meadows organic dairy, the College of the Rockies food forest and greenhouse, four hidden art studios and a kayaking tour to a cormorant colony. The wildlife centre will host guided canoe trips, children’s events and a photography workshop by Monte Comeau of Salmo.
Registration for the fourth annual Creston Valley Bird Fest opens in early March. To register online, go to www.crestonvalleybirds.ca or visit the College of the Rockies.
The Creston Valley Bird Fest is a committee of the Creston Valley Branch of Wildsight, a non-profit society valuing the wildlife and wild places of the Kootenays. For more information, go to www.crestonvalleybirds.ca, and to give a tax-deductible donation, visit www.wildsight.ca.
—CRESTON VALLEY BIRD FEST