Bird & Nature Festival 2026 — Family Day

Madison’s Bird & Nature Festival returns Sunday, April 26, with four free hours of live-animal exhibits, talks, walks and kids activities at Warner Park. (cityofmadison.com) The event runs from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. at Warner Park Community Recreation Center, 1625 Northport Drive, with additional outdoor activities near the rainbow shelter in Warner Park at 2930 North Sherman Avenue. (cityofmadison.com) City of Madison Parks says visitors can drop in anytime and plan on a 30- to 45-minute visit. Admission, parking and restrooms are all listed as free, and the event is open to all ages. (cityofmadison.com) The festival is tied to three spring observances at once: Madison Bird City, Arbor Day and Earth Day. Madison Parks is also promoting it alongside the city’s Earth Day Challenge cleanup on Saturday, April 25. (cityofmadison.com 1) (cityofmadison.com 2) The setup is part indoor expo and part park outing. The city says families can see birds of prey from Open Door Bird Sanctuary, join short guided bird and nature walks, try free canoe paddling and kids fishing, and use a telescope for eagle’s nest viewing. (cityofmadison.com) The activity list also includes face painting, free kites for the first 200 kids, native wildflower seed bombs, live snakes and reptiles, music by local artists and food carts. (cityofmadison.com) The speaker lineup runs through the afternoon in two rooms at the recreation center. Scheduled talks include bird counting and citizen science by Alicia King of the Wisconsin Society for Ornithology, crane conservation by Akiko Nakagawa of the International Crane Foundation, and Wisconsin bats by Mike Smith of Bat Ambassadors. (cityofmadison.com) Madison Parks lists more than a dozen participating groups, including the Nature Conservancy, Southern Wisconsin Bird Alliance, Friends of Cherokee Marsh, the Madison Parks Ecology Team and the University of Wisconsin Geology program. (cityofmadison.com) For families, the pitch is simple: show up Sunday afternoon, spend half an hour or more moving between exhibits and outdoor stations, and leave without paying for admission. (cityofmadison.com)