Puget Sound Bird Fest in Edmonds, Washington is an annual fall celebration of birds and nature found on the beautiful shores of Puget Sound. It is listed as one of Seattle's best events on events12.com, the web site of events currently over 12 months in major cities.
Our three-day event includes speakers, guided walks, land and water-based field trips, exhibits, and educational activities for children and adults. Plan to spend the weekend in Edmonds, birding and meeting other birders, naturalists, photographers, and people engaged in fascinating bird research projects.
How Woodpeckers Can Save the World (or at least your local forest!)
Friday, September 15 7:30-9pm. Edmonds Plaza Room, Doors open at 7pm.
Woodpeckers represent one of the most specialized bird families in the world, and North America's woodpeckers play a critical role in our continent's forests and woodlands. In fact, nowhere else on Earth are woodpeckers such important contributors to forest ecology. Join Oregon naturalist and North American woodpecker specialist, Steve Shunk, for an exciting journey into the lives and times of our own Puget Sound woodpeckers.
Steve will take you inside the woodpecker anatomy, and translate anatomical adaptation into the fascinating behaviors we love to watch among our favorite woodland carpenters. He will explain how these amazing birds can slam their heads against trees without injury; he will share the broad variability among our local woodpecker species; and, he will describe how several species can co-exist in the same stand of forest without competition. You will hear stories of fly-catching woodpeckers, ant-eating woodpeckers, and the heavy-duty excavators. Steve will explain the keystone ecological roles played by our local woodpeckers, and he will send you home with a mission: Prepare to be entertained, educated, and inspired to be ambassadors for woodpecker and forest conservation.
About Steve
Steve Shunk started birding in the San Francisco Bay Area in 1989, and he moved to central Oregon's 'Woodpecker Wonderland' in 1997, where 11 woodpecker species breed in an area only one-tenth the size of Puget Sound. Inspired by this backyard abundance, Steve has spent nearly 20 years studying this charismatic family of birds. He co-founded the East Cascades Bird Conservancy (now East Cascades Audubon), and he started the region's woodpecker festival in 2008. Steve also co-founded the Oregon Birding Trails program and coordinated its flagship project, the Oregon Cascades Birding Trail. Recently, he spent three seasons as a field biologist for the Institute for Bird Populations studying Black-backed Woodpeckers of California's Sierra Nevada and Cascade Mountains. He now lectures and leads birding tours across North America and beyond. Steve's long-awaited Peterson Reference Guide to Woodpeckers of North America was released in May 2016, and he will gladly sign yours at the festival.
Check back in July for the complete 2017 Bird Fest schedule!
Edmonds - A Great Place for Birding Year-Round
Edmonds offers birders a wide variety of habitats: salt water, fresh water, wetlands, fields, ravines, woods, and lots of back yards! Several birders keep track of the species seen each year within the city limits. They have documented 263 species in the city. In a typical year 180-190 species are seen. Some are year-round residents and some are just passing through on migration. Some winter here and others just spend the summer. Some are one-time vagrants. Click here for up-to-date online postings of bird sightings in Edmonds and other birding hotspots around Washington State. Also check out the Bird Lore column at MyEdmondsNews.com.
Click to see current photos of Edmonds Bald Eagles and other wildlife.
Edmonds Welcomes Birders From Everywhere
Picturesque Edmonds is distinctive for a rich array of shops, galleries, restaurants, cafes and bistros that cater to arts and festivals. Many eateries located in the center of town and along the beachfront are all within walkin distance of our festival venue. Within driving distance, even more dining experiences are offered in Edmonds' neighborhoods of Firdale Village, Five Corners, Perrinville, and Westgate, and in Edmonds' International District along Highway 99. Parking is free on Edmonds' streets and in public parking lots but some in downtown have a three-hour limit. The Bird Fest is eagerly anticipated by Edmonds' locals, so you can always expect to see bonus activities and entertainments around town, with some listed on our event map.
Join the Flock!
EXHIBITORS: If you would like to have a booth at Bird Fest, please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. by June 31.
VOLUNTEERS: Bird Fest relies almost entirely on volunteers. If you are interested in joining us to help plan, organize, or help with activities the day of the festival, please contact Jennifer Leach 425-771-0227 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Puget Sound Bird Fest is organized by the City of Edmonds Parks & Recreation and Economic Development Departments.
We invite you to increase your awareness of birds that spend all or part of their lives in the Puget Sound region, and especially in the environs of Edmonds. Observe birds in their native habitats, and learn how to preserve or restore habitats for birds and other wildlife in urban and suburban areas through the informative program offered annually at The Puget Sound Bird Fest of Edmonds.
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Compiled and donated to the City of Edmonds by Ted Peterson, and is the result of 14 years of observations. It includes birds seen in all types of habitats within the city limits of Edmonds, Washington. The best places with public access to look for birds are the Edmonds Marsh, parks on the Puget Sound shoreline, the Public Fishing Pier, and Yost Memorial Park. See the Great Washington State Birding Trail – Cascades Loop for more great birding sites near Edmonds.
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Check out our most recent Puget Sound Bird Fest Event Map.
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Learn The Pro's Best Secrets
Birders should keep an appropriate distance from all species they observe. Stay on marked trails and avoid entering restricted areas, no matter how tempting it may be to venture closer to a bird. Disturbing a bird’s feeding area or nesting sites can cause unhealthy stress and fear that may drive the bird away, not only out of range of the birder’s observations but permanently forcing the bird to find a safer, less disturbed habitat where it will not be able to be observed.
The Puget Sound Bird Fest Steering Committee is composed of the following members of the community and City of Edmonds staff:
Cindi Cruz - City of Edmonds, Community Services & Economic Development
Jennifer Leach - Environmental Education & Sustainability Coordinator, City of Edmonds
Susie Schaefer - Program Chair, Pilchuck Audubon Society
