Bird Fest Storytime with Student Conservation Association Intern Amanda Evans. USFWS photo.

Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge celebrated South Bay Bird Fest "where San Jose meets the Bay" at the Refuge's Environmental Education Center in Alviso, Calif., on Saturday, April 12, 2008. More than 400 people attended the free, fun, family festivities which included live bird shows, face painting, crafts, story time, and guided bird walks.

South Bay Bird Fest was sponsored jointly by: the City of San Jose through the Slow the Flow program, the Santa Clara Valley Urban Runoff Pollution Prevention Program through the Watershed Watchers program, San Francisco Bay Wildlife Society, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. It is our way of celebrating International Migratory Bird Day (IMBD) while helping connect people to nature locally.

"Tundra to Tropics: Connecting Birds, Habitats, and People" is this year's IMBD theme. Migratory birds travel long distances between breeding and non-breeding sites along north-south flyways throughout the Western hemisphere. Don Edwards San Francisco Bay NWR is a major stopover along the Pacific Flyway and annually hosts millions of shorebirds and waterfowl who stop to rest and refuel during spring and fall migration. In addition to its seasonal visitors, the Refuge provides critical habitat for resident species such as the endangered California clapper rail.