OK: Birding and Heritage Festival offers outdoor fun in Alfalfa County

April 15 – 16 marks the annual Cherokee Birding and Heritage
Festival

held throughout Alfalfa County in northwest Oklahoma. The event
features

activities in multiple locations with one common goal – enjoying
what

nature has to offer.

The Salt Plains National Wildlife Refuge near Jet is hosting a
full

weekend of family fun at this year’s Birding & Crystal
Festival. For

more than 11 years, this event has drawn crowds of people, and this
year

it will serve as an exciting rendezvous point for the Birding
and

Heritage Festival. Activities will range from archery and
casting

contests to crystal digging contests, birding tours and much more.
The

refuge’s visitor center will be open all weekend, featuring a
number of

crystal exhibits detailing this unique natural gem in
northwest

Oklahoma.

Star-gazing, nature tours and opportunities for wildlife
photography,

plus a wealth of outdoor activities like trapshooting with the
Oklahoma

Department of Wildlife Conservation, reptile rehabilitation with
live

snakes and lizards, and birdwatching around the Salt Plains
National

Wildlife Refuge will be available with a family atmosphere.

As part of the weekend event, families can learn about the
lesser

prairie chicken at the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife
Conservation’s

Byron Watchable Wildlife Area. They can also go on a prairie
chicken

scavenger hunt and have the opportunity to make a bluebird house to
take

home with them. In the evening, they can look for bats with
Alabaster

Caverns State Park and listen to their echolocation around the
nature

center.

For directions to Byron Hatchery WWA, log on to the Wildlife

Department’s website at www.wildlifedepartment.com/byron.htm

or call (405) 990-4977.

For more information about the Festival, call (580) 626-4794 or log
on

to travelok.com.