Shorebird Festival 2026
We are pleased to offer various events at this year's Shorebird Festival including Birds of the West Coast Weekend Field Course: (Fri, April 24 – Sun, April 26) and daily Birding Events (Mon, April 27 – Sun, May 3). Join us for bird talks, walks & kayaking.
Shorebird Festival Events
April 2026
The Coast with the Most: the Birds of Western Vancouver Island Presentation
Birds of the West Coast – Weekend Field Course
Birding on the Mudflats
Birding on the Mudflats
Birding on the Mudflats
Birding by Kayak with Paddle West Kayaking
Birding by Kayak with Paddle West Kayaking
Birding on the Mudflats
Sandpipers’ Last Supper: Film Screening in Tofino
May 2026
Birding on the Mudflats
Birding by Kayak with Paddle West Kayaking
Sandpipers’ Last Supper: Film Screening in Ucluelet
Our Bird Experts
Liam Ragan - our birder in Residence at Hotel Zed
Liam Ragan is an enthusiastic lover of, and authority on, all things BIRDS and he will share his infectious enthusiasm and immense knowledge with us over the week. Liam is the Provincial Coordinator for Important Bird Areas in B.C. and an avid conservation photographer with a passion for everything from owls to arthropods.
Ian Cruikshank with PRNPR
Ian has been a birder from an early age, growing up in Victoria, BC, where he has guided birding walks for Swan Lake Nature Sanctuary and the Victoria Natural History Society for the past 10 years. He has done bird and biology fieldwork across Western Canada, including with Bird Studies Canada, the Rocky Point Bird Observatory, and Parks Canada, and currently works at Pacific Rim National Park Reserve. His knowledge of bird vocalizations is widely appreciated, and with his keen interest in all of the natural world, you’ll be able to learn about plants and butterflies and amphibians and seaweeds, too, while you’re birding! If you ask him what his favourite bird is, he just might answer with Bushtit, Raven, or Nelson’s Sparrow. Ian has led some of our private tours on Vancouver Island and he has also guided for us in Newfoundland.
Mark Maftei
Mark Maftei serves as Executive Director of the RES and he draws on nearly 20 years of experience as a field biologist specializing in the ecology of birds. From the Arctic to the Antarctic to the open ocean, Mark has traveled the world studying birds. His research has included work on migration ecology, population biology and the census of poorly known species. His work in BC (including several years spent working with the Wildife Research Division of Environment and Climate Change Canada) was focused on colonial seabirds and migratory shorebirds. One of Mark's greatest pleasures is sharing his passion for birds with like-minded nature lovers, and there is nowhere he'd rather doing that than his home on the West Coast of Vancouver Island.
Isabelle Groc
Isabelle Groc is an award-winning photojournalist, author, documentary filmmaker, and public speaker specializing in wildlife conservation, marine ecosystems, and the relationships between people and the natural world. She holds master’s degrees in Journalism from Columbia University and Urban Planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which together inform her multidisciplinary approach to environmental storytelling.
Her work has taken her to some of the world’s most remote and uncharted destinations — from following seabirds on isolated South Pacific atolls to documenting narwhals in the Arctic, tracking coastal wolves in the Pacific Northwest, and filming tiny shorebirds on their extreme migrations along the Pacific and Atlantic Flyways. More about Isabelle Groc here.
Ken Wright
Ken's fascination with the bird world goes back as long as he can remember. He has an insatiable curiosity for the natural world and gets out birding pretty much on a daily basis. He has worked as a wildlife biologist and seabird research technician in many parts of British Columbia, Yukon and Alaska. Ken has collaborated in a study on the migration ecology of the rare Yellow-billed Loon which has taken him to many remote parts of the Arctic which is one of his favourite biomes. He also works as a polar expedition guide, primarily in the Antarctic, Greenland, Iceland and other parts of the High Arctic. He also has led numerous birding trips in the aforementioned places. When not guiding and researching birds, he enjoys kayaking and hiking on the amazingly diverse and biologically rich BC coast. He documents his observations on eBird and other citizen-science platforms and looks forward to seeing you on the Raincoast Education Society's annual bird ecology course!
What to watch
Whimbrels, Sandpipers, Dunlin and more!
Every year from late April through May, flocks of sandpipers, plovers, whimbrels, and many other shorebirds pass through the Tofino area. Thousands stop here to feed and rest as they make their impressive journey from South and Central America northward to their Arctic breeding grounds.
The protected forests, expansive mudflats, long sandy beaches, and rocky shorelines of the region create the right combination of habitats to draw over 40 species of shorebirds to the area, including the largest migratory concentrations of whimbrels anywhere in British Columbia, and impressive flocks of western sandpipers, dunlin and more.
Tofino Mudflats Wildlife Management Area
The Tofino Mudflats Wildlife Management Area (WMA) is 21 square kilometers of rich, diverse habitats for numerous wildlife species. It was established in 1997 to conserve wildlife habitat in Clayoquot Sound and is part of the UNESCO Biosphere Reserve.
The Tofino Mudflats WMA is comprised of tidal flats, shallow to deep subtidal areas, rock and gravel beaches, marshes, tidal channels, streams, riparian areas, and dense coastal temperate rainforest. More sheltered than most intertidal environments, and richer in nutrients, the mudflats are a fascinating place to explore.
Sponsors
A huge thank you to our festival partners, in alphabetical order:
Roar Tofino • Hotel Zed • Ucluelet Brewing Co. • Cap N’ Hook • Gaia Grocery • Jamie’s Whaling Station • Pacific Sands Resort • Nova Harvest • Pioneer Boat Works • Reservas Tequila • • Sacred Stone . • Tofino Distillery • Tofino Time • Tofitian • Co0p Tofino • Coop Ucluelet • Jeremy Koreski • Mint Cleaning • Sea Wench • Tofino Sea Kayaking • Tofino Fishing & Trading • Coastal Bliss • Jeju • Mermaid Tales • OverZealous Ink • Paddle West Kayaking • Middle Beach Lodge • Ucluelet Aquarium • Tofino Breath and Meditation • Ucluelet Aquarium • Atleo Air • Bonzai Sea Adventures • Saltspring Centre for Yoga • The Den • Pluvio • The Pointe Restaurant • TRM
Thank you to Hotel Zed for providing the accommodation for Liam to be the Birder in Residence, for the viewing platform on the beautiful mudflats, and for all the support you have shown to the Raincoast Education Society! So very appreciated.