The wildflowers are blooming and the waterfalls look beautiful. Everything is ready for the 39th Annual Birding and Wildflower Festival at Silver Falls State Park Mother’s Day weekend, May 13-14, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the South Falls Historic District.
Saturday activities
Visitors can enjoy guided wildflower walks, ranging from a ½-mile walk to a more intensive two-mile, two-hour “Walk through the Mist Zone.” Pets are not allowed.
Birders can tag along with a professional. Stephen Shunk, owner of Paradise Birding & Tour Co., will be leading the bird tours. Highlights include a daily family walk, a popular “early bird” walk, a serene afternoon birding walk, and a 7 p.m. evening presentation at the Old Ranch. Guided tours and presentations are free.
Turtle Ridge Wildlife Center will host a Raptor Meet-and-Greet in the historic CCC Combination Building in the afternoon along with their other rehabilitated animals.
Native wildflowers will be on display in the South Falls Lodge. Native plants will be for sale starting at 10 a.m. on the lawn next to the Nature Store (log cabin). Local experts will be available and happy to provide help and recommendations. Plant sales will run until 4 p.m.
The variety of events at the festival is part of its draw. Families can enjoy walks, lessons, and crafts on nature topics. For the cost of materials ($5), visitors also can assemble a bird-nesting box with the Salem Audubon Society on the front porch of the Lodge.
Bird and wildflower sketching classes will be offered on the hour by professional illustrator, Christine Elder, in the Lodge Courtyard Theater starting at noon. The day ends with a free, live owl presentation “Feathered Hunters, Flying Mothers: Oregon’s Birds of Prey,” by Susan LaFontaine of the Oregon Raptor Center.
Sunday activities
Sunday’s activities include the wildflower display in the lodge and the native plant sale by the Nature Store. Shunk will lead bird walks and there will be additional guided plant and nature walks. Elder will offer her sketching classes starting at noon in the Lodge Courtyard Theater.
Silver Falls State Park is located on OR-214 S about 15 miles northeast of Stayton. For a schedule, visit Silver Falls’ blog under “Events/ Birding and Wildflower Festival” at silverfallsstatepark.wordpress.com. For information, call 503-874-0201 or e-mail Matt.Palmquist@oregon.gov. A permit is required to park at Silver Falls; a one-day permit is $5, an annual permit is $30.
