Godwit Days returns to Arcata with 75 birding events

Godwit Days marked its 30th year in Arcata with more than 75 field trips and workshops, turning the Arcata Community Center into a hub for birders, families, guides and conservation groups while sending visitors out to hotels, restaurants and local businesses across Humboldt County.

Founded in 1996 by the City of Arcata, the festival was built to showcase the bird diversity of the Arcata Marsh and Wildlife Sanctuary and to create an eco-tourism niche around Humboldt Bay. That purpose still defines the event. The Marbled Godwit, which gives the festival its name, gathers in Humboldt Bay by the thousands during the spring migration before heading to nesting grounds in the central United States and Canadian prairies.

The 2026 festival runs April 16-19 and brings together field trips, workshops, a banquet, keynote lectures and a silent auction. Godwit Days says it is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, which makes the auction, registration fees, banquet tickets and keynote sales a key part of the organization’s funding. Online registration closed April 14 at 6 p.m., while onsite registration opened Friday at 3 p.m. General one-day registration is $20, a community pass for free trips is $10 and keynote tickets are $10. Children 12 and under do not pay registration fees, though field trip costs may still apply.

One of the festival’s marquee outings sends participants with local research ornithologist and board member Dr. CJ Ralph to the Bald Hills to photograph California Condors, a trip that pairs one of the North Coast’s best-known raptors with one of its most experienced bird scientists. Another draw is the Friday evening announcement of the 2025 Humboldt County Bird of the Year Award winner, which comes before the keynote by Krisztina Scheeff.

The festival’s busiest public-facing piece is the Bird Fair, free and open throughout the weekend, with artists, optics vendors, book sellers and nonprofit and government booths filling the hall. A silent auction featuring bird- and nature-themed donations from local businesses ran from 3 p.m. Friday through 6:30 p.m. Saturday, adding another local fundraising layer to the event.

Children’s activities also stayed front and center. Student bird art and student nature writing contests were on display at the Arcata Community Center from April 17-19, giving the festival a family presence alongside the serious birding. Godwit Days describes the Arcata Marsh as the best birding location in northwestern California, with 345 species recorded there, a figure that helps explain why this spring weekend continues to pull people into Arcata, Humboldt Bay and the Redwood Coast year after year.