The Semilleros de Alas Campeche organization of the Urban Birds Program (PAU) in Mexico, organized a beautiful festival in the lmí community. The festival was called “The First Community Festival, to Celebrate the Birds of Campeche“! This organization is dedicated to bird conservation as well as environmental conservation through educational activities for the community. These workshops were filled with amazing ideas for how the community can come up with actions to take care of the environment and birds of the region.
Many participants attended the festival including children from local schools accompanied by their teachers and students from higher education centers in the area. The schools included Juan Escutia, Benito Juárez Primary and Telesecundaria No. 122. The higher education institutions represented included, Mundo Maya University, Internacional Iberoamericana University, Technological Institute of China (Instituto Tecnológico de Chiná), Technological Institute of Lerma (Instituto Tecnológico de Lerma) and Autonomous University of Campeche (Universidad Autónoma de Campeche). Also present were organizations such as the Independent Scouts Association of Mexico (Asociación de Scouts Independientes de México), the Sak-Xikín Biodiversity Promotion Club (Club de Promoción de la Biodiversidad Sak-Xikín), members of rural groups and the community theater, Club Plantando Campeche, Yax-Ha Ecotourism, Magic Xpicob, Fofuchas Artesidades Campeche, Reading Collective for Children, Semarnatcam, and many more! Because so many different schools, institutions, and local organizations participated, it was possible to have many different perspectives, ideas, and thoughts. This helped the festival become a total success!
During the festival, there was art, gardening, bird watching, photo exhibitions, and many more activities! In the artistic activity’s participants learned how to make bird origami and draw their favorite birds. The participants also heard emotional stories, beautiful poems and interesting talks about birds and their conservation. In addition, participants enjoyed watching a play involving birds, and building colorful bird masks for fun! In the end, the youth drew an amazing mural dedicated to their beautiful local birds. It was inspiring to see everyone working together to draw and paint the birds of their community. Look at the following gallery with the photographs of the artistic activities. They are marvelous!
The festival also spoke to the importance of the environment in providing habitat for birds. The participants planted native trees in a green area near the Benito Juarez elementary school. The students committed to take care of the trees water them and help them grow. Garbage was cleaned up in one of the main avenues in the area and around the primary and preschool buildings. Seven brigades of volunteers helped with these activities. It was fantastic! In addition, native seeds, plants and trees were donated, raffled and exchanged so that the participants of the festival could take them homes and plant them in their patios and balconies. Thus, both attracting and helping the birds in their neighborhoods and beautifying their homes. The students realized the importance of maintaining their green community! Look at the photos of the gardening activities. They are inspiring!
The participants also made bird observations! Leaders from PAU Campeche, Semilleros de Alas Campeche, and Club of Promotion of Biodiversity Sak-Xikín, led birding tours through the community’s wetland. The participants, especially the younger ones, enjoyed discovering and observing the birds of their community. Here are some pictures of the bird observations during the festival:
At the end of the event, a photo exhibit was held. Three different exhibitions of photographs of birds from the region of Semilleros De Alas Campeche, Club Sak-Xikín and Semarnatcam were displayed. The participants were so excited to recognize and see in detail in the photos, the birds that they observed during the tour! In addition, the participants were able to talk about how to identify birds more easily. Here, we share some photos of the photo exhibitions with you:
