(St. George, UT) - From January 26-28, 2012, the public will have endless, eye-opening opportunities to learn more about the region’s vast species of birds during the three-day St. George Winter Bird Festival. In its’ ninth year, the festival will host activities, field trips and lectures including a Junior Birder Program for youth, a bird feeder building tutorial course, and field trips to regional birding hot spots such as Zion National Park, Quail Creek, Sand Hollow and Hurricane fields, and the Lytle Ranch, among a host of others. Rick Fridell’s Thursday evening presentation, “Wintering Birds of Washington County,” kicks off the festival at the Best Western Abbey Inn in St. George from 6-8pm on January 26, 2012. Festival lecture topics include species identification, banding, predators, and photography. The majority of festival events will begin at the Tonaquint Nature Center at Tonaquint Park in St. George, at 1851 South Dixie Drive.

For passionate birders like Festival Chairwoman Marilyn Davis, birding is a sport—one that provides outdoor enthusiasts with a big picture perspective not only in regards to the birds, but in terms of the environment and ecosystems. “It’s a whole new way to look at the outdoors,” Davis said. “It’s a means of putting together the big picture in the environment,” she said. But Davis also enjoys birding for entertainment as well.

Federal and State agencies partner with local groups including the Audubon Chapter to promote educational resource events. “Birding is just one of many outdoor recreational activities that give people ample opportunities to venture out and enjoy valuable natural resources available to everyone on their public lands,” said Arizona Strip District Public Affairs Officer Rachel Tueller.

Event sponsors include: the St. George Chapter of the Red Cliffs Audubon Society, Bureau of Land Management, Arizona Strip District and St. George Field Offices, the City of St. George, the Dixie Arizona Strip Interpretive Association (D/ASIA), Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, Dixie State College and the Zion Natural History Association.

For more information regarding all activities, field trips and lectures included in the 2011, Eighth Annual St. George Winter Bird Festival please call Festival Chairwoman Marilyn Davis at (435) 673-0996 or go to www.redcliffsaudubon.org or www.sgcity.org/birdfestival.