“Today” and “tonight” signify Friday, April 10.
SEQUIM — To modify a quotation from the poet Rumi, there are a thousand ways to celebrate spring.
Several, it turns out, involve the Olympic Peninsula BirdFest stretching across the North Olympic Peninsula this weekend.
BirdFest has attractions for nature lovers of any persuasion: 24 guided field trips and tours today through Sunday, photography and drawing classes — and a pair of free programs open to all ages.
Advance registration is necessary for many of the events, so check www.OlympicBirdfest.org; visit the Dungeness River Audubon Center in Railroad Bridge Park, 2151 W. Hendrickson Road — the headquarters for the weekend’s festival — or phone the center at 360-681-4076.
As is traditional, hawks, owls and eagles have the floor tonight in the first free event.
The Northwest Raptor & Wildlife Center and Discovery Bay Wild Bird Rescue will present a program starring these taloned ones at 7 p.m. in the Sequim Middle School cafeteria, 301 W. Hendrickson Road.
The family-friendly talk features the tiny pygmy owl, Belle the red-tailed hawk and other birds that soar over the Peninsula.
Photography — without flash — is allowed, and Jaye Moore, founder of the raptor center, always takes lots of audience questions.
Sunday brings a new BirdFest event to the river center.
Titled “I’ve Been Eagle-Eyezed,” it will include volunteer Gretha Davis’ eagle-related stories for children at 1 p.m. and continue with an all-ages presentation about eagles at 1:30 p.m.
“We’re going to keep it lighthearted and interactive,” said Paige Belfry, the new river center staff member who’ll give the talk.
Participants may well have the opportunity to try the yoga pose known as eagle, or garudasana in Sanskrit, she added.
After Belfry’s eagle discussion, she’ll lead a creative writing activity at 2:30 p.m. — equally lighthearted of course.
Saturday’s BirdFest banquet will feature guest speaker Lynsy Smithson-Stanley, who will speak on “Not Your Grandfather’s or Nana’s Climate Change — A New Path Forward.”
The dinner will be catered by Kokopelli Grill at the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribal Center on Sequim Bay. Admission is $45.
Several birding trips were sold out by Thursday, including the always-popular Olympic Owl Prowls and a three-hour cruise Sunday to Protection Island National Wildlife Refuge.
A bird drawing class was full by Thursday.
Also sold out were today’s birding trips to Sequim Bay and the John Wayne Marina, as well today’s tour from the Elwha River mouth to the Dungeness River, although the Saturday versions were still available.
Saturday morning’s Dungeness Bay and Three Crabs tour was full, but spots remained for the afternoon tours today and Saturday.
Also still available was today’s Dungeness Spit and recreation area birding trip, although Saturday’s was sold out.
Here is a list of events still open as of Thursday:
Today
■ Totem Tour — 9 a.m. and 11 a.m., leaving from 7 Cedars Casino; $25.
This is a guided tour of the Jamestown S’Klallam tribe’s totem poles that includes a visit to the House of Myths, where the totem poles are created. Limited to 16 participants.
■ Bays and coasts of the Olympic Peninsula — From 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., leaving from the river center; $80.
Bob Boekelheide will guide this all-day coastal birding trip between Sequim Bay and the Elwha River.
■ Dungeness Bay and Three Crabs — 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.; $25.
This is a tour of the estuary at the mouth of the Dungeness River that is deemed an Important Bird Area by the National Audubon Society.
■ Birding Dungeness Spit and recreation area trip — 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.; $25.
Participants will view bird life on the 5-mile Dungeness Spit.
■ Live raptor presentation — 7 p.m., Sequim Middle School; free.
Saturday
■ Dawn chorus at Railroad Bridge Park — 6 a.m. to 7:30 a.m.; $15.
This is a birding walk along the lower 11 miles of the Dungeness River.
■ Elwha to Dungeness — 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., leaving from Placee Road on the Elwha River; $80.
This trip focuses on the Elwha River mouth, Ediz Hook and Dungeness Bay, all prime bird habitats, and offers a view of the changes to the Elwha River and its delta since removal of the dams upstream.
■ Bays and coasts of the Olympic Peninsula — 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., leaving from the river center; $80.
■ Endangered waterfowl breeding sanctuary — 11 a.m. and 3 p.m.; $30.
This licensed facility managed by Arnold and Debbie Schouten near Port Angeles raises waterfowl. It is generally not open to the public.
■ Photography workshop — 12:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.; for intermediate and advanced photographers; $40.
Award-winning wildlife photographer Hal Everett will teach ways to improve nature photography. Registration limited to 12.
■ Birding Sequim Bay and John Wayne Marina — 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.; $25.
This is a tour of Sequim Bay, a protected bay that attracts a variety of shorebirds, alcids, gulls and waterfowl.
■ Dungeness Bay and Three Crabs — 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.; $25.
■ Banquet, live auction, raffle — 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., Jamestown S’Klallam Tribal Center; $45.
Sunday
■ San Juan Islands cruise — Sunday through Tuesday; $850-per-person double occupancy, $925 single occupancy.
Boekelheide will serve as guide on this three-day, two-night nature cruise to the San Juan archipelago on the MV Glacier Spirit.
■ “I’ve Been Eagle-Eyezed” — 1 p.m., river center, followed by a 1:30 p.m. eagle presentation and creative writing at 2:30 p.m.; free.
A two-day Neah Bay birding trip ended Thursday.
BirdFest is a collaboration of the river center, the Olympic Peninsula Audubon Society and the Jamestown S’Klallam tribe, which owns Railroad Bridge Park.
The river center is switching to its spring-summer hours this weekend. It will be open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays and from noon to 4 p.m. Sundays.
To learn more about the center’s activities throughout the spring season, visit www.DungenessRiverCenter.org.
________
Features Editor Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5062, or at diane.urbani@peninsuladailynews.com.
Managing Editor/News Leah Leach contributed to this report.
