Stanwood Camano Snow Goose & Birding Festival

The Stanwood Camano Snow Goose & Birding Festival returns to The Floyd on Saturday, February 27, 2027, 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM, hosted by the Stanwood Area Historical Society.

Every winter the Pacific Flyway brings snow geese, swans and other migratory birds down into the fields and waterways around Stanwood and Camano Island. The festival is a day built around that migration — talks, shuttle bus tours out to the birds, displays, local vendors, art and children’s activities.

Getting in

$10 entry, with lunch available 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM for a further $10. Cash is preferred. Check in at the ramp entrance or the front door of The Floyd.

Tickets for the bus tours and the talks are free, but there is a limited supply — ask for them when you check in. They are collected by the drivers and the programme attendants.

Shuttle bus tours

Twelve one-hour tours run out to Leque Island and Big Ditch with local birding experts, leaving on the hour from 9:00 AM, with room for eleven or twelve people each. Two-hour tours leave from in front of The Floyd at 9:30 AM and 1:00 PM, with room for about ten. Dress for the weather.

The 2027 tour schedule is still being confirmed.

Talks

Talks are held at the Stanwood Methodist Church across the parking lot, and seating is included in the entry fee — pick up your ticket when you check in. The 2027 schedule is still being set. The talks the Historical Society has listed so far:

• Living with Bald Eagles — Pat Holmes, photographer and storyteller, who has been monitoring the state park bald eagles since 2014.
• All About Owls — Brian Zinke, Executive Director of the Pilchuck Audubon Society, on the fifteen owl species that share Washington with us.
• Washington’s White Birds of Winter: Swans and Snow Geese — Martha Jordan, swan biologist and Executive Director of the Northwest Swan Conservation Association, on the changing landscape our swans and snow geese meet on migration.
• Lights Out for Birds — Brian Zinke, on how reducing night-time light helps the millions of birds that migrate across our region in the dark.

Finding it

Festival headquarters is the Floyd Norgaard Cultural Center, 27130 102nd Ave NW, Stanwood. Park in the lot behind The Floyd. Phone 360.629.6110.

Full details and updates are on the Stanwood Area Historical Society’s festival page and the festival’s Facebook page.