Galveston Birding and Nature Photo Festival
Accessible
Join Virginia Rose, founder of Birdability, and Pam Smolen, chair-elect for Houston Audubon, on our first FeatherFest accessible field trip to Smith Oaks! From under an ancient sea, a salt dome emerged. After a few thousand years the dome reached 38-feet above a pancake-flat coastal plain; the highest point-of-land on the immediate coast from Mobile Bay to the Yucatan Peninsula. This is High Island, which is now a wooded beacon amongst the coastal marshland providing food, water, and places to…
Find out more »Resoft is a beautiful Brazoria County Park, and we are excited to offer a return this year, for two FeatherFest photography field trips! It is an 80-acre day-use park near Alvin that is wheelchair accessible. David will be using his own E-trike to get around. The park has interconnected, crescent shaped lakes with islands in the middle. During spring nesting/breeding season it becomes a mini-rookery. You’ll be able to observe and photograph Great Blue Heron, Great Egret, Snowy Egret, and…
Find out more »We are pleased to offer this accessible outing for birders with limited mobility, disabilities, or other health concerns, and for those interested in an easier-paced birding trip. We also welcome those interested in creating and understanding inclusive, accessible birding as a community and life list-building experience. This outing will be led by Virginia Rose, Founder of Birdability, an organization committed to making the birding community and the outdoors accessible, safe, welcoming and inclusive for everybody and every body. Co-leading with…
Find out more »Spring is an exciting time to go birding on the Upper Texas Coast because of its prime location within two major migratory flyways. In this workshop, Kristine Rivers will discuss the reasons birds undertake such a hazardous roundtrip journey each year, and review what ornithologists know about how birds orient and find their way. We’ll also talk about migration trends and take a closer look at some of the beautiful species you may see and hear during FeatherFest.
Find out more »Join Ruth Hoyt for this indoor session, where she presents her program and demonstrates how she processes raw photographs from digital cameras.
Find out more »We are pleased to offer this accessible outing for birders with limited mobility, disabilities, or other health concerns, and for those interested in an easier-paced birding trip. We also welcome those interested in creating and understanding inclusive, accessible birding as a community and life list-building experience. This outing will be led by Virginia Rose, Founder of Birdability, an organization committed to making the birding community and the outdoors accessible, safe, welcoming and inclusive for everybody and every body. Joining Virginia on…
Find out more »Bird photographers take a lot of photos. The latest cameras allow us to capture 10+ images a second and it’s not unusual to take 1,000 or more images in a day. Join Kathy Adams Clark for this workshop where she shares her editing and cataloguing workflow. Watch as she edits images explaining why some are deleted and others retained. She’ll share her quick processing and then import into a Lightroom catalogue. No need to bring your computer. A handout will…
Find out more »A surprising number of birds have very similar looking species and make you think you are seeing double when you look at them. Some look-a-likes are extremely difficult to separate, while others are challenging but can, with practice, be separated. Examples include the Neotropic and Double-creasted Cormorant, Solitary and Lesser Yellowlegs Sandpipers,, Couch’s and Tropical Kingbirds, Northern and Louisiana Waterthrushes to name only a few. In this presentation we will learn how to distinguish between some of the more commonly seen…
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Find out more »Kathy will teach participants about the various focusing features on modern mirrorless cameras and DLSR cameras. She’ll explain why it is important to select the proper ISO, shutter speed, and focus points to capture the perfect image. Tripods such as those with a ballhead or Wimberley head will be discussed with an emphasis on hand holding for action and flight work. You will learn how to work in different lighting conditions to get the best results, how to select the…
Find out more »Hawks are an exciting family of birds to observe and identify. We will discuss the identification of species that occur on the upper Texas Coast, including Accipiters, Buteos, Eagles, Kites, Falcons, Osprey, and Harrier as well as some birds that are often mistaken for a Raptor. In this presentation, we will cover the fundamentals of Raptor Identification. Join us to learn “how to look at a hawk”, “where to look”, and “what to look for” to identify hawks, both in…
Find out more »During this presentation, participants will learn exactly who this “disabled” audience is and how to find people with mobility and other health challenges. They will learn what accessibility REALLY looks like and get instructions on using the amazing Birdability Map. They will learn the steps to implement Birdability in their locales and learn ways to be a more welcoming and inclusive birder. Additionally, participants will learn about Adaptive Birding Equipment and Mindful Birding. What is Mindful Birding exactly and why…
Find out more »How often do we pass by moths under a porch light or fluttering under a streetlamp without giving them a second glance? Yet moths, far more plentiful than butterflies, with their intricate patterns and curious coloration often emerge as beautiful as butterflies. Join us for this program to learns about the  original field work of distinguished Texas naturalist, author, and photographer John Tveten. Tveten’s work stands as testament to what a person can discover by careful and systemic observations of…
Find out more »Resoft is a beautiful Brazoria County Park, and we are excited to offer a return this year, for two FeatherFest photography field trips! It is an 80-acre day-use park near Alvin that is wheelchair accessible. David will be using his own E-trike to get around. The park has interconnected, crescent shaped lakes with islands in the middle. During spring nesting/breeding season it becomes a mini-rookery. You’ll be able to observe and photograph Great Blue Heron, Great Egret, Snowy Egret, and…
Find out more »Good photography can change hearts and minds. Join professional photographer Sean Fitzgerald for a presentation on how to photograph an ecosystem for maximum impact, with a particular focus on often overlooked Texas prairie ecosystems. Learn valuable tips to take better photos using a variety of techniques to help you tell the stories you want to tell.
Find out more »Join Ruth Hoyt for this indoor session, where she presents her program and demonstrates how she processes raw photographs from digital cameras.
Find out more »We are pleased to offer this accessible outing for birders with limited mobility, disabilities, or other health concerns, and for those interested in an easier-paced birding trip. We also welcome those interested in creating and understanding inclusive, accessible birding as a community and life list-building experience. This outing will be led by Virginia Rose, Founder of Birdability, an organization committed to making the birding community and the outdoors accessible, safe, welcoming and inclusive for everybody and every body. Joining Virginia on…
Find out more »Have you been curious about taking videos but just haven’t tried it yet or do you need some tips on how to improve your videos? Join Tim is this workshop which will cover the basics of how to capture and process slow-motion videos. Utilizing your camera to take videos will elevate your story telling capability, beyond just still photography. Taking videos in slow-motion allows you to see the intricate details of animal behavior, whether it’s wing motion of birds in…
Find out more »We all want to continue to grow as photographers, and in this workshop, Scott will discuss many different things one can do to improve your technical and artistic skills in order to capture better images.
Find out more »In this presentation we discuss how the Purple Martin connection to the Native Americans brought about a complete transition change in their nesting habits. This shift marks an important relationship between humans and Martins today. In addition, we’ll examine their migratory patterns, food sources, and potential predators.
Find out more »Birding Artist Boat’s Coastal Heritage Preserve by Golf Cart is the perfect outing for those with mobility challenges. (This field trip is not available for those using wheelchairs.) Sit back and enjoy birding the Anchor Bay Peninsula of the Coastal Heritage Preserve from the comfort of the new Artist Boat electric golf cart with Executive Director Karla Klay! Guests will travel across a one-mile-long elevated peninsula strewn with wood motts, small freshwater wetlands, and tremendous views of saltmarshes, mudflats, coastal…
Find out more »We are pleased to offer this accessible outing for birders with limited mobility, disabilities, or other health concerns, and for those interested in an easier-paced birding trip. We also welcome those interested in creating and understanding inclusive, accessible birding as a community and life list-building experience. This outing will be led by Virginia Rose, Founder of Birdability, an organization committed to making the birding community and the outdoors accessible, safe, welcoming and inclusive for everybody and every body. Joining Virginia on…
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