Nature lovers may spot rare, hard-to-find birds at Alabama Audubon’s next festival.
The second annual Black Belt Birding event is tomorrow and Saturday in Greensboro. The festival starts tomorrow night with a kickoff at Lions Park. There are early and late morning, afternoon, and evening field trips on Saturday.
One highlight is the Connecting with Birds and Nature Tours at Joe Farm. Workers will mow hay in hopes of attracting local Swallow-tail and Mississippi kite birds.
Development Director Chris Oberholster says the festival is an invitation for non-residents to visit and experience Hale County.
“The purpose of the festival is to really introduce people both who’ve never been to Birding in the Black Belt as well as offer new options for people who have been coming to the Black Belt," he said. "By having a festival, we actually want to draw attention so that people can really learn how rich this area is.”
Oberholster says the event also gives local Greensboro businesses the opportunity to open shop and make more money this weekend.
“We’ve already seen tangible benefits to local businesses," he said. "We’ve got multiple quotes that various local store owners, gallery owners and restaurant owners have given us saying last year’s festival resulted in their best cash register sales, daily sales or daily visitation by customers ever.”
Pre-registration is closed, but anyone can call Alabama Audubon and ask about possible remaining tickets.