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Celebrate Spring Migration at Godwit Days: Birding, Workshops, and Nature in Redwood Coast.
Join Godwit Days in Arcata, CA, April 17-20, for birding trips, lectures, and workshops. Register now and book your stay to immerse in nature and birdwatching.
Event details
Godwit Days is Arcata’s spring migration deep-dive, and in 2026 the festival runs April 16–19, marking its 30th year of guided birding, workshops, and community events. The home base energy centers on Arcata and Humboldt Bay, where mudflats, marsh, redwood edges, and rocky coastlines sit close enough that you can sample several habitats in a single day.
For 2026, the program is unusually rich: more than 75 field trips, including 58 birding outings, plus a slate of free events and a batch of new trips designed to push beyond the usual hotspots. Expect excursions that highlight places like Trinidad Head, Flatiron Rock, the McKinleyville Community Forest, South Humboldt Bay, and Ma’lel Dunes, each with its own mix of shorebirds, raptors, and coastal surprises.
The festival’s uncommon-knowledge value is learning how locals read the landscape. Guides will talk tide timing, wind direction, and where a slight shift in light can turn a distant sandbar into a bird-filled stage. Even casual families benefit, because the “why here, why now” explanations make every stop feel purposeful instead of random.
Build your weekend around comfort and optics. Waterproof footwear is a quiet superpower on Humboldt Bay mornings, and a simple thermos-and-snack kit keeps kids happy between stops. Leave a half day for a redwood add-on, either a mellow forest walk or a scenic drive into the parklands north of town, and you will get the full North Coast contrast: ocean, wetland, and cathedral trees in the same trip.
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