Welcome to the official website for “FeatherFest 2008”, Galveston’s sixth annual celebration of the birds and natural heritage of, the Upper Texas Coastal area, in Spring-time.

If you have never attended before we hope you will in 2008. We put on a quality show! The "satisfaction" index for guests in 2007 was 4.7 on a 0 to 5 scale. The top reasons given for attending were "diversity of birds and breadth and scope of the festival". We received many unsolicited comments such as the following:

"It was by far the best-organized and smoothest-run event of this nature that I have ever attended. The variety of the field trips, lectures and other events was outstanding. In my opinion, there was something for anyone and everyone with an interest in birding, nature, conservation, history and related items”.

For those who have attended “FeatherFest” in prior years, we can promise that FeatherFest 2008 will be better than anything before. It will offer more time to attend and more events to choose from. So don’t be concerned that you will just doing the same thing again, come on back and bring your friends. The festival will again open early on the Thursday and there will be events scheduled throughout Sunday morning and into the afternoon. Our famous “Social” evenings showcasing Historic Galveston will still be very much part of our “show”. PLUS don’t miss the special and free, Raptor Project, the best Birds of Prey exhibition in the USA, open each day of FeatherFest at Saengerfest Park, at 23rd St and Strand.

Since its inception the festival has been held early in April. While not the peak of the spring birding migration season (which occurs in late April, early May), the timing provides an opportunity none the less, to see a great mix of bird species. Visitors will see the earlier spring migrant species plus the bird species that winter on the Gulf coast and which have not yet departed for their breeding grounds to our north. Add to that all the species that you can see here, year round and its clear why over 200 bird species might be tallied during the 4 days. For a fix on the birds you could see at FeatherFest 2008, check on the list of birds seen during FeatherFest 2004 thru 2007 under the General tab. It will be fun to see which birds you can add to these lists in 2008.

The theme of FeatherFest 2008 will be “change and adaptation” and our theme bird is the Crested Caracara, a striking symbol of “change and adaptation” as it has gradually extended its breeding area northward through Texas, from its historic range throughout Central and South America.

We are delighted and excited that the great naturalist, author and birder, Ken Kauffman, will be with us for the entire 4 days, will be our Keynote speaker, give some talks and lead some workshop type field trips. We are also pleased that the always popular Kevin Karlson will be returning, and that he and Ted Eubanks Jr., now residing in Galveston and helping spread the “nature equals quality of life” gospel, will be amongst our other “Marquee” trip leaders.

The festival is not ALL about birds, there will be nature trips with a focus on Butterflies, Dragonflies and Damselflies, Sea turtles, the Bay fringes, photography etc and seminars on a whole range of topics. Kathy Adams Clark, famed nature photographer, will be back by popular demand.

Many birding events are not too suitable for young children but we are specifically identifying those that are Child Friendly. We ask that children under 10 years (including babies in arms etc), not be signed up for a trip or carried onto a trip unless it is marked Child Friendly.

Thank you for visiting the FeatherFest 2008 website. We hope to see you in April 2008.

For those that might be interested in the results of FF 2007, the following is the June 2007 report to the Galveston County public.

Galveston’s fifth annual celebration of this island’s unique Natural Heritage, a.k.a FeatherFest 2007, is now history. Despite heavy rain over the FF weekend, about 450 persons attended the event, counting the free “Funday for Families” activities and the Keynote speaker dinner. The highest ever average guest rating, of 4.7, was uplifting.

The list of bird species seen over the 4 days was 183, down a bit, due in part to the heavy rain, especially on the Saturday.

Additional participation was represented by 412 photos entered in the six-week FeatherFest Photo Contest, supported by the Galveston County Daily News.

In addition about 500 persons total, including some of the above but the majority new, visited the Galveston County Historical Museum to view “Faces of Flight”, an exhibition of up close photos and interpretive panels created by Ted Eubanks Jr., between its opening on March 10, its featured night with music during FeatherFest itself, and its closing in late May. An exhibition of the nature art of Boyer Gonzales in conjunction with the Rosenberg library was also a winner.

The economic benefit to the City, of just the Festival itself, has been calculated by researchers at Texas A &M University at Galveston at $185k. Guests from beyond Houston again stayed an average 4 nights. It’s a gift that keeps on giving, because the folks become Galveston aficionados and keep coming back. This economic impact far exceeds the levels of sales and hotel/motel use taxes received from these expenditures.

The only “official” monetary support for FF 07 was just $5k of the special Hotel/Motel occupancy tax assigned to the promotion of Arts and Historic activities. Basically the festival happens due to the thousands of hours freely donated by its volunteers, including local nature professionals from Artist Boat, Galveston Ornithological, Fermata Inc., Skimmer Tours, and Kathy Adams Productions etc. and by the donations in-kind and in cash, from those who support what the festival does for Galveston commercially and in spirit.

Regarding “in-kind” we wish to publicly recognize and thank the following: GPM Inc., for venue space; GHF for museum use, Galveston.com for the website; several Hotels (Commodore, Casa Del Mar, La Quinta Inn/Suites, Holiday Inn-Beach, San Luis, Galvez, Gaidos ) for accommodating a dozen out of town festival leaders; Dean Johnstone for the theme bird photo and Brian Distefano for converting it to ad-art; Del Papa, Dienst Distributing, Coca-Cola, Pepsi-Cola, Frito Lay and Maceos, for provisions; Schlitterbahn, Yagas and Cracker Barrel for partnering on Family Funday/Birders Bazaar; and the Outdoor Nature Club for birding booklets.

FeatherFest is planned and implemented by Galveston Island Nature Tourism Council Inc. a 501 c3 all volunteer organization. The GINTC Board wishes to recognize and thank its members and Century 21 Bay Reef, Neptune Properties, Sand ‘N Sea, Houston Audubon, Kempner family members, the Kempner Fund, the George Mitchell family members, Frost, Texas First, Moody, and Prosperity Banks plus numerous non member individuals, for cash donations and grants that support all of GINTC’s activities.

Planning for GINTC’s fourth year of activities is commencing. New members will be welcomed and a new Board will be formed. NOW is the best time for those with an interest in GINTC/FF etc, to come on board. We plan to take on more projects, achieve more prominence for Galveston’s NATURAL assets and heritage, ensure “Nature” tourism doesn’t get “lost” in the priorities and have a more authoritative voice in how green space on the island gets developed.

For those interested in the history of FeatherFest, following is an excerpt from the FF 2007 Home page.

IIn 2002, a group of like minded persons (including Sheridan Mitchell Lorenz, members of the Parks Board and the local Audubon chapter, encouraged by Nature Tourism expert Ted Eubanks and sponsored by George Mitchell, founder of the Mitchell Energy Company), formed the Galveston Island Nature Tourism Council. Councilwoman and now Galveston’s Mayor, Lyda Ann Thomas, agreed to be its first Chairperson. Its purpose is to increase the Galveston business community’s share of the growing nature tourism market and encourage environmental awareness as our island prospers. A start toward these ends occurred when the group voted to hold an annual birding and nature festival, created the name “FeatherFest” for it and held the first such festival in April 2003.

Today “FeatherFest” is just one of the projects that are coordinated by the Galveston Island Nature Tourism Council, which is now a fully incorporated 501 c3 entity, with an all volunteer r Board of Directors and an enthusiastic membership.