Bird & Nature Festival 2026 — Family Event

Madison Parks will hold its Bird & Nature Festival on Sunday, April 26, with free admission from noon to 4 p.m. at Warner Park Community Recreation Center. (cityofmadison.com) The event is scheduled at 1625 Northport Drive, and the city says most visits take 30 to 45 minutes during the four-hour open-house format. Restrooms and free parking will be available. (cityofmadison.com) City listings say visitors can see live birds from Open Door Bird Sanctuary, meet local nature groups, and take part in talks, displays and hands-on activities for children and adults. Some festival programming will be inside the recreation center and some will be outside near Warner Park’s rainbow shelter. (cityofmadison.com) Madison is framing the festival as part of a larger Earth Day and Arbor Day weekend. The city’s parks department is also running its Earth Day Challenge on Saturday, April 25, at more than 50 parks across Madison. (cityofmadison.com) The city is also tying the festival to Madison Bird City, a local designation used in event notices and promotions for bird-focused programming. District blog posts across the Common Council site repeated the same description of the festival in updates published between April 17 and April 20. (cityofmadison.com) The festival appears on the citywide Parks events calendar and on the Warner Park Community Recreation Center events page, placing it among the department’s public spring programs. The parks homepage is promoting the event with “exhibits, talks, walks” and hands-on activities. (cityofmadison.com 1) (cityofmadison.com 2) (cityofmadison.com 3) For families, the practical details are simple: show up Sunday afternoon, plan less than an hour if you want a quick visit, and expect a mix of live-animal viewing and nature education. For the city, it is one of the public-facing events anchoring Madison’s Earth Day weekend. (cityofmadison.com 1) (cityofmadison.com 2)