Birding enthusiasts have been waiting ‘owl’ year for the annual Berkeley Bird Festival to return, and last Sunday, their wishes were granted. Guests flocked inside and around the David Brower Center for the free event, with festivities across the first two floors and out onto Allston Way.
With “Myth and Memory” as the theme of this year’s festival, guests were encouraged to celebrate birds and their habitats while also looking toward future environmental preservation.
The organizers of the event — Golden Gate Bird Alliance and California Institute for Community, Art & Nature — coordinated booths and presentations displaying a diverse array of birds and their many styles of habitations.
The booths outside on Allston Way invited attendees to take a hands-on approach to the festival. Lines formed for the booths out front, such as one where guests could receive a free custom festival print. This service was provided courtesy of Bay Area artist Simone Lassar; her unique print used the image of a peregrine falcon in flight, a symbol associated with folktales of the Ohlone peoples, as well as a bird prominent in the Bay Area. Guests could choose to either receive the print on large cardstock paper or bring their own items to be printed on, such as tote bags or articles of clothing.
Continuing outside the center, one booth had sign-ups available to tour the UC Berkeley Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, wherein attendees could observe a variety of avians. The displayed birds here were specimens or the carcasses of dead birds. The tour gave a glimpse into some of the 3,200 fluid-preserved specimens kept inside the museum, such as the extinct passenger pigeon. While the presentation was slightly somber and macabre, it emphasized to visitors the importance of preserving these species to continue research in the field.
Guests could sign up for birding field trips, which started at about 8 a.m., allowing guests to view a variety of different birds such as ducks, other shorebirds, egrets and herons. For those who missed the festival, the Golden Gate Bird Alliance offers monthly birding trips similar to those offered during the event that are beginner friendly and for all ages. The organization also offers members free binocular and scope rentals for bird viewing to provide more detailed onlooking.
Out on the outer terrace of the David Brower Center, the crafting area had stations to draw and opportunities to learn bird origami, which were led by formerly incarcerated individuals from San Quentin Rehabilitation Center. Alongside her students, Jun Hamamoto, instructor for Folding4Justice, sat with both kids and adults to teach the art of origami for a moment of quiet amid the busyness of the day. The integration of formerly incarcerated individuals into the festival emphasized a view of environmentalism in which the community takes up equal importance as ecological factors. It also called attention to the importance of human social justice, as well as maintaining the longevity of our ecological environment.
A surprise highlight of the day included the dance performance “Splitting Skies: Dancing for the Birds and Our Future,” which closed out the festival at the end of the day. The carnivalesque show, performed by the UC Berkeley Eco-Performance Lab, featured performers in colorful, flowing costumes to emulate the appearance of birds in flight. Centering on themes of migration and coexistence, the lively performance took place in the center of Allston Way, garnering attention from attendees as well as passersby to the avant-garde routine.
Amid concerns about the climate crisis, the Berkeley Bird Festival asked its visitors to reexamine their relationship with nature and other humans through our avian neighbors. It’s one thing to go out and see our feathered friends in their natural habitat. But it’s another to view specimens of species of birds that humanity drove to extinction. The festival provided a friendly opportunity for Bay Area inhabitants of all ages to engage their natural curiosities, while encouraging them to funnel curiosity into tangible action.