SeeCalifornia.com

On the same weekend that Marysville hosts the California Swan Festival, Lodi is holding its annual Sandhill Crane Festival. Practically equal distance from Sacramento (Lodi is 35 miles south and Marysville is 40 miles north,) you can easily visit both festivals within a weekend or possibly one day. At the annual Sandhill Crane Festival the tours are similarly priced to the Swan Festival, but there are 52 tours and sight-seeing options such as Beginning Birding, Raptors by Boat and Crane Fly-in where you may see vocalizing, feeding, dancing, flying or resting. Often cranes “bounce” from one feeding field to another, offering good opportunity to observe behaviors not seen in the evening fly-in. Bright sunshine makes it easier to view their mud-stained wings and bright red forehead, . The festival takes place November 7-9, 2014, with free admission to the art show, workshops and presentations centered around Hutchins Street Square.

If you capture spectacular images from this event or other birding, Sebastopol Center for the Arts is calling for artwork related to “wetlands”. Submission deadline is December 1, 2014. You can find the prospectus here: sebarts.org