Wildlife films to premiere at Rookery Bay’s Festival of Birds

Rookery Bay Research Reserve celebrates its 20th Annual Festival of Birds this month by adding a four-day Wildlife Conservation Film Festival to the event offerings. The festival runs January 12 – 21, 2024 and features eco-tour field trips to a dozen wildlife hot spots, art and photography classes, a guided forest bathing experience, and the Florida premiere of more than 40 wildlife documentaries, including four making their world premiere.

“We are excited to showcase the work of award-winning filmmakers as part of Rookery Bay’s Festival of Birds this year,” says Athan Barkoukis, Friend of Rookery Bay’s executive director. “The popularity of film festivals in Southwest Florida makes partnering with the long-established Wildlife Conservation Film Festival a natural fit.”

Held in New York City since 2010 but moving now to Naples, the Wildlife Conservation Film Festival informs, engages, and inspires audiences about the importance of protecting global biodiversity.

The 40 films are divided into 8 series featuring these regions: Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, North America, Oceans, Polar, and South and Central America.

Topics include cockatoos, elephants, gorillas, jaguars, koalas, killer whales, manatees, monkeys, ocelots and more. The documentaries range from 5 minutes to 74 minutes, averaging about 30 minutes.

The films will be shown from 12 to 3 p.m. and 4 to 7 p.m. on January 17 – 21 in the Rookery Bay Environmental Learning Center’s 130-seat theater-style auditorium with cushioned seats. Tickets are available to each series individually.

A dozen filmmakers will attend the festival and discuss their works. Actress Holly Marie Combs, a Wildlife Conservation Film Festival board member best known for her roles of Kimberly Brock in Picket Fences and Piper Halliwell in Charmed, will give the keynote welcome during the awards presentation on January 18 from 4 to 7 p.m.

Field Trips

The Festival of Birds kicks off on January 12 with its popular field trips to see birds and experience nature. There are birding walks in Big Cypress National Preserve, Bunche Beach Preserve, Clam Pass Park, Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary, Donna Fiala Eagle Lakes Community Park, Harns Marsh, Marco Island, Rookery Bay Research Reserve, Ten Thousand Islands National Wildlife Refuge and Tigertail Beach.

Participants can go bike riding in Big Cypress or at Corkscrew. Other activities include a swamp walk, swamp buggy tour, and boat cruises at sunrise and sunset to watch hundreds of birds fly in and out of roosting islands.

Related Events

Rookery Bay celebrates birds and nature throughout January. Guided kayak and boat tours are held daily all month, led by biologists who are experts in the local plants and animals. Trips go through shallow waters to mangrove tunnels and barrier islands.

Forest Bathing, an alternative wellness practice focused on the senses, will be led by a certified guide on January 6 from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m.

Artist Jan Deswick conducts two watercolors and wildlife painting classes, one on January 9 and another January 11, both from 9:30 a.m. to noon.

Instructor Sonny Saunders teaches how to get the best digital photographs of nature and other subjects on January 20 at 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

The Lunch & Learn lecture on January 24 at noon features a hot meal from Carrabba’s Italian Grill.

Bella Reyes from the Tropical Research and Education Center at the University of Florida will discuss how mangroves provide important functions to South Florida.

20th Annual Festival of Birds Hosted by Rookery Bay Research Reserve

January 12–21
Field trips to wildlife hotspots
Wildlife Conservation Film Festival

January 18 from 4-7 p.m.
Keynote welcome and awards ceremony
featuring actress Holly Marie Combs
Rookery Bay Environmental Learning Center,
300 Tower Road, Naples

$15 for each film series
Field trips start at $10
All tickets include admission to the Rookery
Bay Environmental Learning Center during
normal operating hours from January 12-20.

Registration is required for all activities at
rookerybay.org/events/festival-of-birds

Visit RookeryBay.org to learn more about upcoming events and programs at the Rookery Bay Environmental Learning Center. Also, Naturalist-led boat and kayak eco-tours are available
all summer long!