Experience the peak of Florida’s Fall Migration! The Florida Birding and Nature Festival registration is open now, at https://fbnfestival.org/ with a great lineup of activities. The 36 field trips cover 6 counties around Tampa Bay, by boat, canoe, wagon or walking. Trips highlight our best birding sites. Some look for local specialties such as Reddish Egrets or Purple Gallinules, Florida Scrub Jays and Burrowing Owls. Several are to places not generally open to the public, others are just plain fun! One trip will visit an active banding station. Each day includes at least one wheelchair accessible trip. Most walking field trips are limited to 10 participants. The 14 seminars, all offered on Zoom so you can watch from the comfort of your home, highlight Florida’s birds, plus animals from bees to butterflies, crabs to coyotes. The Nature Expo features Redstart and Swarovski optics, plus numerous local nature and conservation organizations, artists and displays. The Expo will be held Oct 15-16, outdoors at the TECO Manatee Viewing Center just south of Tampa, where you can also enjoy the snack bar, or stroll the jetty walk to look for skates and fish, or maybe an early manatee. Evening keynote speakers, also outdoors at the TECO Center, include Craig Pittman, author of ‘Cat Tale, the Wild Weird Battle to Save the Florida Panther’, and Clay Taylor, noted birder, photographer and digiscoper from Swarovski Optiks, sharing stories and hints of how to build your birding skills.