Festival Passes are sold out, but Field Trips and Documentary Film screenings passes are still available for those who have already purchased a festival pass.
Oaklawn Hot Springs has become the presenting sponsor and the official festival host hotel for the inaugural Birding Festival of the South, which will be held October 8 through 10 in Hot Springs. The festival will include field trips, live music, keynote speakers, workshops, panels, kids’ activities, arts and crafts, vendors, and more.
Held at the Hot Springs Convention Center, the Birding Festival is designed around the interests of beginner, novice, and serious birders alongside cultural arts events inspired by birding. The timing of the event will coincide with the annual Fall Migration, opening the exciting opportunity to see birds not native to Hot Springs.
The festival will open at 6:30 PM Thursday, October 8, with a free public concert by nationally acclaimed country singer Melissa Carper in the Bridge Street Entertainment District.
Festival Passes are sold out, but Field Trips and Documentary Film screenings passes are still available for those who have already purchased a festival pass. Some trips are free, and some require a fee separate from the weekend festival pass, but all require that participants sign up for the field trips.
The Birding Festival of the South and the Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival have teamed up to present three documentary film screenings focused on birds. Here’s your opportunity to see Wild Inside, a sneak peek at the Jackie and Shadow film, and a very special (and secret) documentary film screening. We’d love to tell you the name of the film, but we have been sworn to secrecy!
The full schedule and pass information are available at hotsprings.org/events/birding-festival-of-the-south/. For more information, call 501-321-2027.
Thursday, October 8
6:30 PM – Melissa Carper concert – Bridge Street Entertainment District
Friday, October 9
7:25 AM – 10:25 AM – Birds on the Brain Meditation and Bird Walk with Bonner Black – Garvan Woodland Gardens
7:30 AM – 11 AM – Birding with Secretary Shea Lewis
Middle Fork Barrens Natural Area
8 AM – 10 AM – Birding without Barriers: Birdability Car Birding
Andrew H. Hulsey State Fish Hatchery
9:15 AM – 12:30 PM – Birding by Boat: Eagle and Winter Waterfowl Watch Tour – Lake Ouachita State Park
7 PM – Wild Inside Screening – HSDFF (Birding in Film Pass Required)
Oaklawn Hot Springs
Saturday, October 10
6 AM – 1 PM – Bird Banding Up Close: A Morning at Little Rock Audubon Center
2:30 PM – 8:30 PM – Red-cockaded Woodpecker Tour Ouachita National Forest
5 PM – Little Rock Zoo Live Raptor Demonstration & Work in Progress of Jackie & Shadow: A Love Story – HSDFF. (Birding in Film Pass Required) Arlington Hotel
7:15 PM – Secret Screening – HSDFF (Birding in Film Pass Required)
Arlington Hotel
*Schedule subject to change
