Alabama Audubon’s Black Belt Birding Festival saw much success over the last weekend. Attendees enjoyed entertainment from Debbie Bond and Radiator Rick, as well as a welcoming address from Alabama Audubon’s executive director, Scot Duncan. There, Duncan revealed that this year’s birding festival has been the largest the organization has seen since the festival’s inception four years prior.
Over 400 birders signed up for birdwatching events throughout the Black Belt, including Hale, Perry, Sumter, and Dallas counties. Audubon officials attributed much of the event’s continued growth and success to organizer Tim Higgins of Greensboro.
On Saturday, participants gathered throughout various counties to enjoy the array of avian species throughout the region. A particular highlight for birdwatchers was the Joe Farm in Hale County. There, onlookers watched the farm’s owner cut hay, which stirred the grasshoppers and attracted Swallowtail Kites to the grassland.
Artist Aaron Sanders Head saw the soft opening of his Sumac Cottage studio on South Street with an artists market. There 11 vendors sold a variety of handmade goods, including goat milk soap, jewelry, metalwork, and embroidery. Head offered indigo dye vats for attendees to dye souvenir handkerchiefs and other textiles. Artist Doug Baulos created a moveable mural for visitors and artists to contribute to that featured a grouping of native birds. In all, the event had an estimated 150 attendees to the South Street studio.
The Engle Gallery, which also houses Emerald City Studios, also opened its doors to the public on Main Street, and offered a raffle for a painting by Dr. Bethany Windham Engle. The winner was Odette Yeager. Many birders also gathered at the Greensboro Opera House for a keynote address from Dr. Dwayne Estes of the Southeastern Grasslands Institute on grasslands.
Many restaurants on Main Street touted much traffic and success during the weekend festivities. Abadir’s opened its doors for lunch services, while offering its many pantry staples and kitchen wares. Overall, it was a successful festival that brought many visitors to this part of the state.
