The coquina walls of Fort Matanzas cast long shadows along the water of the Matanzas Inlet in Northeast Florida, the sun setting in bursts of red and gold. Along the sandy shores of the waterway, multi-species flocks of sea and shorebirds are settling down for the night, chicks and parents lying directly on the warm sand. It’s nesting season on Florida’s coast.

Looking for a birding festival in the National Park System? You can add the woods and shorelines of Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, which is hosting its very first birding festival this May.

It’s not much of a secret among my birding companions that I am quite fond of woodpeckers. From their unique physiology allowing them to safely bang their head into wood for hours on end to the common theme of stark black, white, and red coloration, woodpeckers are fantastic birds.

Spring is an exciting time for both birds and birders across North America. The colorful songbirds are on their way back to their northern nesting grounds after spending a lazy winter in the tropics. Warblers, with a rainbow of plumages and equally diverse collection of songs, are the most sought-after birds during migration.