Residents will be flocking to the 10th annual Sedona Hummingbird Festival at the Sedona Performing Arts Center from Friday through Sunday, July 26 through 28.
The festival is sponsored by the International Hummingbird Society, a nonprofit organization headquartered in Sedona that was established by the late H. Ross Hawkins, Ph.D., in 1996 to promote “education and conservation on behalf of hummingbirds.”
The main exhibition space at the SPAC will be open to the public at no charge. Food trucks will be on site on Friday and Saturday from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and on Sunday from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The show will include exhibits, kids’ activities and more.
New for 2024 will be Kids’ Day on Saturday, July 27. That day’s events will begin at 9:30 a.m. with a performance by the Sedona Dance Academy titled “Dance of the Hummingbirds” and will be followed by live animal demonstrations and crafts from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. SDA founder Jessica Phillips described the choreography as resembling “the way we perceive hummingbirds flying around in nature, so it’s very quick and sporadic.”
Following the performance, Moonlight the screech owl will make an appearance on the hand of Red Rock State Park Ranger Victoria Marshall and Sonoran Reptiles will be supplying snakes and lizards. Madam Eileen’s Balloon Creations will also be pumping up the crowd, and visitors will also have the opportunity to help paint a pollinator mural that will be on display at future Hummingbird Festivals.
“The more you learn about hummingbirds, the more amazing they become,” International Hummingbird Society Executive Director Alice Madar said. “That’s what the Hummingbird Festival is all about. It’s deepening the knowledge of people who come to the festival, but also celebrating hummingbirds and their beauty and unique physiology. They are amazing because they’re birds but they’re also pollinators.”
Additional fee-based hummingbird-related activities and opportunities to socialize with other bird lovers take place over the weekend with 14 guest speakers covering hummingbirds and pollinators, field trips, bird banding demonstrations and dining.
“At the heart of the Sedona Hummingbird Festival are three days of presentations offered by experts with a wide range of hummingbird knowledge: Biologists, gardeners, hummingbird banders, artists, photographers, conservationists — and people who just love hummingbirds,” the festival explained in a press release. “Speakers will include Stan Tekiela, a naturalist and wildlife photographer who has written more than 200 books about wildlife. His very favorite birds are hummingbirds because of their ‘giant personalities, amazing colors, and mind-boggling abilities of flight.’ He will offer talks on ‘What Makes Hummingbirds Unique’ and ‘The Amazing World of Wildflowers.’”
This year’s educational talks will also cover other pollinator species, such as Becky Hardy’s 11 a.m. presentation on monarch butterflies on Friday, July 26.
“Monarch butterflies are probably the most recognized butterfly species in the United States, due mostly to their approximately 3,000-mile migration to central Mexico each fall,” the program description stated. “Each year, as the monarchs return to Mexico, they bring with them an enduring cultural myth. Aside from this myth, monarchs are fascinating creatures. Join Becky Hardy to learn more about monarch butterflies, their behavior and the most incredible insect migration.”
Tickets for the speaker series are $150 for all three days, $60 each for Friday or Saturday and $50 for Sunday. Tickets for the complete series may only be purchased in advance through the festival’s website at sedonahummingbirdfestival.com.
“Another very important feature of the Sedona Hummingbird Festival that is new this year [is] hummingbird photography,” Madar said. “We are offering pre-and post-festival photography workshops led by professional wildlife photography instructor Lisa Langell, and we are presenting a Hummingbird Print Photo Contest, with all the photos entered on display throughout the festival.”
There is a $5 entry fee for each photograph entered with a maximum of three entries per person. The winning photographs will be featured on the society’s website for the next year and the first-place winners in the People’s Choice and Judges’ Choice categories will receive two VIP tickets for next year’s festival.
The festival’s events include tours and banding demonstrations throughout Sedona at private residences and public sites. Returning for 2024 will be the morning hummingbird garden tours, which are docent-led experiences through some of Sedona’s most attractive private gardens.
These will take place Saturday and Sunday morning and afternoon at 7:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. Tickets for the tours are $55 per person and are good for both days.
Tickets for the banding demonstrations are $30 per person per day for the experience; banding will take place on all three days of the festival from 7 to 11 a.m. The process involves hummingbirds being gently captured and fitted with numbered bands to aid in tracking. The data gathered as a result of banding is submitted to the Arizona Game and Fish Department and the U.S. Geological Survey Bird Banding Laboratory.
The Sedona Elks Lodge will be hosting the Saturday, July 27, dinner from 5:45 to 8 p.m. with the theme “Down Home with the Hummingbirds.” Tickets are $55 per person and include one cocktail. Attendees are encouraged to wear hummingbird-themed clothing to receive door prizes; for every article of clothing displaying hummingbird flair, attendees receive one raffle ticket.
“Because this dinner is ‘Down Home with the Hummingbirds,’ we need photos of you in your hummingbird garden or with your hummingbird feeders — or if you really don’t want to be in the photo, you can send a picture of just your garden,” the festival’s website states. “Photos 2,000 pixels across are best, but we can make anything work — just email your pics to festival@hummingbirdsociety.org.”
For more information about the 10th annual Sedona Hummingbird Festival and to purchase tickets, visit sedonahummingbirdfestival.com. Remaining tickets will be available for purchase at the door; festival dinner tickets must be purchased in advance. Questions can be directed to festival@hummingbirdsociety.org or (928) 284-2251.