Contributed article
WILLCOX — Spaces are filling fast for guided tours during the 31st annual Wings Over Willcox Birding & Nature Festival, with many tours already sold out.
The annual event takes place Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday weekend, Jan. 11-14, 2024, with a full slate of tours, activities, free seminars, and the Saturday-night banquet and silent auction at the Elks Lodge.
Online registration closes Dec. 31, but any remaining spaces on tours can be purchased in person during the festival.
– Diane Drobka Photo/Contributed
Tours begin Thursday afternoon, followed by a welcome reception with music and hors d’oeuvres from 5:50 to 7:30 p.m. at the Willcox Community Center.
The banquet keynote presenter will be naturalist, artist, and writer Julie Zickefoose who will share tales of her adventures rescuing injured wildlife. Her painting of a sandhill crane family will be featured on festival shirts that can be ordered in advance online.
The Nature Expo will be back in full swing Friday and Saturday, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day.
Wings Over Willcox’s longtime Associate Sponsor, the Arizona Game and Fish Department, will bring live raptors and other rehabilitated wildlife on the stage, joined by Liberty Wildlife. Entry is free.
Regional artists will sell photos, painting, jewelry, and nature-inspired gifts. Regular exhibitors, such as Tucson Audubon and Jay’s Bird Barn from Prescott, will be selling books, birding gear and clothing. There will also be displays by the National Park Service, Forest Service, Fish and Wildlife Service and Bureau of Land Management.
The Wings Over Willcox website has additional event details. However, for questions, call Jeri Higgins at WOW Events Registration at 928-274-4808.
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