Grays Harbor Shorebird Festival

Each spring, hundreds of thousands of shorebirds stop to rest and feed in Grays Harbor estuary on their migration northward. Coming from as far south as Argentina, these Arctic-bound shorebirds are among the world’s greatest migrants. Some birds travel over 15,000 miles round trip! Tens of thousands of shorebirds feed on the open mudflats in the estuary. This concentration of birds offers people a great chance to view a number of shorebird species, and with luck, to see the birds fly together in beautiful formations while trying to escape the fastest creature on earth, the Peregrine Falcon. For full information about festival events, see www.shorebirdfestival.com.
At Grays Harbor National Wildlife Refuge, shorebirds can be viewed best during the period about two hours before to two hours after high tide. See the Grays Harbor Shorebird Festival website for tide times during the festival.