Expect tourists flocking to Maple Hall for bird talk

Heather Carter, La Conner Chamber of Commerce director, has worked hard to establish a new migration pattern: a last Saturday in January Birding Showcase event in Maple Hall. Carter has a full day and full slate of vendors set for Jan. 26. She is hoping for a repeat of the full hall for last year’s keynote talk.

Dr. Kaeli Swift, this year’s speaker, starts at 4 pm. Her research at the University of Washington is studying the foraging behaviors of Canada jays in Denali National Park. She studies corvids: crows, ravens, jays and magpies.

Carter has scheduled 16 educational and artistic vendors that will display from 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Artists Becky Fletcher and Todd Horton and photographer Nancy Crowell will be showing their work and the Pacific Northwest Quilt & Fiber Arts Museum will have a space. Airstrike Bird Control, which employs raptors to control bird “pests” and Bob Hamblin, of Avian Spectrum, will be back. Environmental groups include Northwest Swan Conservation Association, Skagit Audubon, Wolf Hollow, WSU Skagit County Extension Master Gardeners and Skagit Land Trust. Local businesses are Fine Feathered Friends and Jennings Yarn and Needlecrafts

“We tend to be the first of the actual indoor events and festivals,” Carter said. “It is perfect for us. It gives us a few weeks leading into March’s Daffodil Festival.”

A $5 donation is requested. For more information: https://lovelaconner.com/la-conner-birding-showcase-2019/.