The United States Fish and Wildlife Service and Friends of Alaska National Wildlife Refuges are the recipients of a 2017 Mindful Birding Award for their efforts to promote ethical birding guidelines and bird conservation through their 25th annual Kachemak Bay Shorebird Festival that will be held in and around Homer, Alaska from May 4th-7th, 2017.

Kachemak Bay Shorebird Festival has demonstrated a commitment to ethical birdwatching behavior by adopting and adhering to a code of birding ethics marked by clarity, specificity, and restraint. The festival plans to distribute its code of ethics to field trip leaders and attendees to provide guidance on how birders can achieve safe and gratifying birdwatching experiences without altering the ability of birds to behave naturally. Additionally, the event publishes its ethics online for a wide distribution.

Kachemak Bay Shorebird Festival offers a variety of birdwatching field trips that will connect participants to nature through the splendor of birds. By strengthening participants’ connections to nature, and by providing guidance on ethical birding and nature conservation, the Kachemak Bay Shorebird Festival is serving as a model for other birding festivals and helping attendees become even stronger messengers for and supporters of conservation for birds and people.

Mindful Birding is a charitable project of the Morrissey Family Foundation that presents ethical birding guidelines from around the world, and offers awards to birding festivals that demonstrate improved or superior ethics. The project has three goals: (1) increase awareness among birders of ethical birding guidelines, (2) increase the conservation contributions from America’s birdwatchers, and (3) encourage a practice of mindfulness among birders. To learn more, view past award recipients, and browse ethical birding guidelines, visit the website: www.mindfulbirding.org [xyz-ihs snippet=”Adsense-responsive”]

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