The Oklahoma Lesser Prairie-Chicken Festival
Has Been Discontinued
(But Kansas Has A New Festival!)
Updated Sept. 27, 2021
I am very sad to report that the Tulsa Audubon Society and the Oklahoma Audubon Council have made the difficult decision discontinue our annual Lesser Prairie-Chicken Festival. I will explain why and then share some good news.
The reason we are discontinuing the Festival is that Lesser Prairie-Chicken numbers in that part of northwest Oklahoma are in serious decline. All of the birds on ranches that welcome birders are no longer present. The last few years of the festival had been touch and go on whether we would have birds to show participants, and now we just have no options left.
We have had a great eleven year run of the Festival and were happy to share our birds with people from around the world. We will miss welcoming our visitors to Oklahoma each April. We had a great series of keynote speakers, hosting some of the top birders from North America.
I want to thank all our past participants, our rancher-hosts, volunteers, speakers and artists who made the festival such a success for over a decade!!!
The good news is that Audubon Of Kansas (AOK) is making plans to start a similar festival in northwest Kansas, and I have been offering them my assistance. The dates will be April 7-10, 2022 in Hays, KS. They are planning to offer a variety of field trips and activities, and best of all you can see both Greater and Lesser Prairie-Chickens, since their populations overlap in a few counties in western Kansas. And they may offer a post-festival trip to see Sharp-tailed Grouse!!
If you are interested in attending, please visit the following link to sign up for updates from AOK:
https://www.audubonofkansas.org/calendar.cfm?t=events&i=720
Please pass this along to any birding friends who want to see Lesser Prairie-Chickens!
Again, thanks to every one of you for making our Oklahoma Festival the success it was and I am sure Kansas will follow that tradition and offer a great experience.
Thanks,
John Kennington
Festival Organizer
President, Tulsa Audubon Society
The 2021 Lesser Prairie-Chicken Festival has been cancelled
I am very sorry to announce we’ve made the difficult decision to cancel the 2021 Lesser Prairie-Chicken Festival.
The pandemic clearly is not going to be over by April 2021, and even if a vaccine becomes available early next year it will take a long time for everyone to get vaccinated, and from all the expert guidance we’re reading we will need to continue practicing social distancing, mask wearing, etc. through most of next year.
Unlike other outdoor birding activities where folks can stay socially distant and be in your own car we really have no alternative to viewing the Lesser Prairie-Chickens from vans. This means 15 to 20 participants in close proximity to one another for almost 5 hours, and it is not economically viable to reduce the number of people in the van.
All 2020 registrants who rolled over their registration to 2021 should have received an email with instructions on requesting a refund. If you have not received that email, please contact johnkennington@gmail.com ASAP.
We definitely hope to be back in 2022!!
John Kennington
Festival Organizer
The 2020 Lesser Prairie-Chicken Festival has been cancelled
The 2020 Lesser Prairie-Chicken Festival
Featuring keynote speaker Nate Swick
Registration is now open!
Treks that are sold out or getting close to capacity:
Wednesday Greater Prairie-Chicken Viewing – SOLD OUT
Friday Photographer’s Package – SOLD OUT
Friday Salt Plains – 3 spots left
Saturday Lesser Prairie-Chicken Viewing – SOLD OUT
Saturday Photographer’s Package – SOLD OUT
Sunday Harper/Woodward County Birding – 3 spots left
All other treks still have room
Prairie-Chicken Festival. The 2020 festival will feature keynote speaker Nate Swick. Besides seeing the Lesser Prairie-Chickens (and so far 99% of participants have had close looks!) and birding around northwest Oklahoma, we are again offering these special features for 2020:
- An opportunity to view Greater Prairie-Chickens Osage County, Oklahoma!
- Packages designed specifically for photographers!
If you have any question, feel free to contact John Kennington at 918-809-6325 or johnkennington@gmail.com
Keynote Speaker Nate Swick
Nate Swick is the editor of The American Birding Association (ABA) blog as well as the popular host of the ABA’s American Birding Podcast. He is a frequent contributor to a wide variety of birding magazines, as well as author of two books – The ABA Field Guide to Birds of the Carolinas and The Beginner’s Guide to Birding. He is chair of the North Carolina Bird Records Committee and leads birding excursions all over the world for ABA events. Nate has been a birder for more than 20 years and lives in Greensboro, North Carolina with his wife and two small children.
Featured Artist Rusty Johnson
This year’s featured artist is Rusty Johnson, a Tulsa resident who has won national and international woodcarving awards. His style is an eclectic blend of subjects influenced by a range of artists, including famed sculptor Michelangelo, cartoonist Jack Davis and painter Frederic Remington.
