2021 Crane Festival – Brief Summary

Check out this blog post about the Yampa Valley Crane Festival from one of our festival attendees: My Greater Sandhill Crane Escape by Jeff Sambur.

2021 Festival Activities

Daily guided sunrise crane viewings with crane expert Paul Tebbel
Hummingbird & Hummingbird Moth walk at Yampa River Botanic Park led by Ted and Andrew Floyd
Guided bird walks with Ted Floyd, editor of Birding magazine, Andrew Floyd, Tim Abt, Arvind Panjabi of Bird Conservancy of the Rockies, Noah Brinkman, Grey Barbier, Forrest Luke, Alan Reishus, and Yampa Valley Birding Club
Guided bird walk and history tour at Mt Harris with Lisa and Paul Williams and Laurel Watson
Butterfly/Dragonfly/Critter walk led by Ted, Andrew, and Hannah Floyd
Crane-friendly Ranch Tour at TS Jost Ranch with Sharon and Terry Jost
Scenic Excursion by Pontoon Boat at Steamboat Lake, led by Kirsten Miller of Colorado Parks and Wildlife
Picnic dinner at The Yampavian Ranch in Hayden including a talk by Birding editor, Ted Floyd and his children Hannah and Andrew Floyd
Nature’s Educator’s Live Raptor and other Colorado Natives Booth on the Library Lawn
Nature’s Educator’s Live Raptor Photo Shoot with wildlife and pet photographer Chris Becea of Morning Light Photography
The Nature Makers film presented by Bud Werner Library with showings in both Steamboat Springs and Craig, Colorado
Children and family activities led by Yampatika and Colorado Parks & Wildlife
Spirit Wind Aerial Arts – Heidi Miller’s crane-inspired flying dancers
Nature-journaling workshop with author Ellen Bonnifield and artist Cindy Wither
Tour de Cranes bike tour of crane art led by Karen Whitney, Cindy Kinnear, and Barry Kaplan
Guided walking tour of Cranes & Other Crawford Critters with Marianne Capra
Story-telling in Children’s Story Time Room presented by Spellbinders
Sketch-A-Bird workshop taught by artist Leslie Lovejoy
Crane Yoga with Liz Leipold
The Naturals band at First Friday Artwalk
Guided nature walk at Rotary Park led by botanist Karen Vail
Crane yard art display and silent auction for First Friday Artwalk featuring yard art cranes and crane quilt
Coloring Contest Awards Ceremony
Photography Contest Award Ceremony
Educational crane displays

2021 Festival Speakers

Keynote Speaker: Dr. Richard Beilfuss, President and CEO of the International Crane Foundation, presented “Cranes: Ambassadors for Conservation“
Paul Tebbel, crane expert and retired Executive Director of the Effie Yeaw Nature Center in Sacramento, CA, presented “Why We Love Cranes”
Arvind Panjabi, avian conservation scientist for Bird Conservancy of the Rockies, presented “Canaries in the Mine: 3 Billion Birds Lost. Can we get them back?”
Steve Burrows, birder murder mystery author, presented “From Birder to Birder Murder”
Erin Gelling, wildlife biologist and CCCC Program Director, presented “The Secrets of Nesting Sandhill Cranes Discovered Through a Live-stream Camera”
Ted Floyd, author, birder extraordinaire, and editor of the American Birding Association’s Birding magazine, and his children Hannah and Andrew Floyd presented at the Yampavian Ranch near Hayden
Nature’s Educators, 501c3 wildlife education and rehabilitation organization, presented “Colorado Natives”

2021 Workshop Leaders

Chris Becea – wildlife and pet photographer of Morning Light Photography
Ellen Bonnifield – Writer
Marianne Capra – Historian, researcher, story-teller
Liz Leipold – Occupational Therapist, yoga teacher and ski instructor
Leslie Lovejoy – Artist
Kirsten Miller – Colorado Parks and Wildlife
Tresa and David Moulton – Yampa Valley Birding Club leaders
Nature’s Educators – 501c3 wildlife education and rehabilitation organization
Karen Vail – Botanist, Master Gardener
Laurel Watson – Hayden Museum
Cindy Wither – Artist

2021 Featured Film

The Nature Makers – In a world increasingly dominated by humans, three teams of wildlife conservationists go to extraordinary and seemingly unnatural lengths to try to save three threatened species in the American heartland.

2021 Festival Sponsors

Enjoy these pictures from our 10^th annual 2021 Yampa Valley Crane Festival:

We hope you can join us in 2022 for our 11^th annual Yampa Valley Crane Festival in beautiful Northwest Colorado!