Mountain Bird Festival Receives the First Mindful Birding Award

Klamath Bird Observatory receives the world’s first Mindful Birding Award for its efforts to promote a Mindful Birding ethic, and the role of birdwatchers as significant conservation actors, through its inaugural Mountain Bird Festival that will be held in Ashland, Oregon from May 30th through June 1st, 2014.  The Mountain Bird Festival combines a celebration of the Klamath-Siskiyou Region’s spectacular mountain birds with the stewardship ethic needed to ensure thriving landscapes for humans and wildlife.

Mindful Birding recognizes that bird watching, by nature, is an outdoor activity that connects participants with nature through an appreciation of the magnificence of birds.  With this recognition of the inherent value of birding, the Mindful Birding ethic encourages bird watchers to be mindful toward wildlife, mindful to safety and other people, and mindful of their own birding experience. With such consciousness it is believed that bird watchers will carry a Mindful Birding ethic from the field into their everyday activities, becoming even stronger messengers for and supporters of conservation for birds and people.  The Morrissey Family Foundation issued this first Mindful Birding Award in recognition of Klamath Bird Observatory’s efforts to promote birding ethics and conservation through the Mountain Bird Festival.

The Mountain Bird Festival is a unique community conservation event that celebrates the globally outstanding Klamath Siskiyou Region, recognized for its abundance of different habitats and species.  The festival offers two days of field trips that will search for mountain bird specialties, such as White-headed Woodpecker, Mountain Quail, Calliope Hummingbird, and Great Gray Owl.  The festival also features a fine art auction, live music, local foods and beverages, cocktail parties, and stimulating evening presentations.  Klamath Bird Observatory will distribute specific Mindful Birding guidelines to festival attendees and provide training to field trip leaders, who will encourage Mindful Birding practices on field trips.

Klamath Bird Observatory is hosting the 2014 Mountain Bird Festival in partnership with the City of Ashland, the Ashland Chamber of Commerce, ScienceWorks Hands-On Museum, and many other organizations.