Summer Pollinator Fiesta
August 15, 2026
Join us for a morning of learning about pollinators at Bosque del Apache. Folks can visit the new pollinator project on the refuge and learn about different species of hummingbirds and how to identify them.
Photo by John Olson
Photo by John Olson
Hummingbird ID in the Field with Sharon Fullingim
8:00 am – 9:00 am
Bosque del Apache Visitor Center Plaza
Registration Not Required
Whether you’re a novice or experienced birder, join Sharon Fullingim for a fun morning building and honing your hummingbird identification skills. Learn how to pick out distinctive features of our local adult and juvenile hummingbirds in the field — watching feeder stations and flowering plants will help us get up close and personal with these tiny energetic dynamos.
Pollinator Habitat Enhancement Project Site Stroll with Tom Hyden
8:30 am – 10:30 am
Pollinator Habitat Enhancement Trail at the Observation Blind Trail*
Registration Not Required
Photo by John Olson
Photo by Erv Nichols
Hummingbird Feeder Challenge with USFWS
Crafting time: 9:00 am – 10:45 am
Contest: 11:00 am – 11:10 am
Bosque del Apache Visitor Center
Registration Not Required
Create your most colorful, flower-filled, hummingbird feeder and put it to the test! From 9:00am to 10:45am, there will be supplies available to create and dress up your own feeder. The challenge will be held at 11:00am.
During this 10-minute challenge, feeders will be placed on a table outside of the Visitor Center while hummingbirds explore the area. The goal is to have feeder get the most visits!
Prizes will be awarded to the participant receiving the most hummingbird landings and the most creative feeder.
Fast, Feisty and Flamboyant – Hummingbird Basics with Sandra Noll
9:15 am – 10:45 am
Bosque del Apache Visitor Center
Registration Not Required
This delightful program invites you into the secret world of these unique little birds, whose high-speed lives are largely invisible to us. Details of hummingbird biology and behavior are revealed through slow-motion video and beautiful photographs, along with the human-hummingbird connection and tips on attracting and identifying these tiny gems.
Photo by Larry Kimball
Nature Journaling with Nancy Meyers and Cindy Robbins
9:30 am – 11:30 am
Bosque del Apache Visitor Center Plaza
Registration Required
Learn the fundamentals of nature journaling and discover a personal practice for recording your experience in nature through pictures, drawings, words, maps and numbers, while honing your observational skills and appreciation of the natural world. No prior skill or experience is required, and you do not need to be an artist.
A kit with all the supplies you need is included with your registration. After a presentation and technique demonstration, participants disperse to find a spot to observe and create their own nature journal page, then regroup at the end to share their experiences.
This is an outdoor workshop — please dress appropriately and bring water, sunscreen and a hat.
New Mexico Bumblebee Atlas with Emily Rees
10:00 am – 11:30 am
Pollinator Habitat Enhancement Trail at the Observation Blind Trail*
Registration Required
Bumblebee Atlas is a Xerces Society community science project focused on gathering data to inform bumblebee conservation through large-scale community action. Emily Rees, Restoration Ecologist with the Institute for Applied Ecology, will lead a bumblebee survey at the Pollinator Habitat Enhancement Project site along the Observation Blind Trail. Participants will learn non-lethal netting skills and practice macro photography to capture key identification features, contributing to statewide bumblebee conservation data.
*Shuttles will run between the refuge Visitor Center and the Pollinator site every 20 minutes throughout the morning. Arrive early, or choose the 9:40 am shuttle to arrive on time. If you choose the shuttle, we’ll bring you back at 11:30 am. Visitors may also drive themselves to the site located at the Observation Blind on the north loop – this drive takes approximately 30 minutes.
Photo by Friends of Bosque del Apache
Photo by John Olson
River for Pollinators with Emily Rees
1:00 pm – 2:00 pm
Bosque del Apache Visitor Center
Registration Not Required
The Rio Grande is a lifeline running down the middle of New Mexico, much like an artery in a body. This corridor provides resources and habitat for plants and animals, and supports human communities and cultures spanning centuries. As a major riparian network in the arid Southwest, it is a hotspot for pollinator species, with over 3,000 species documented, and it serves as a migratory pathway for beloved species like the monarch butterfly and migratory hummingbirds. The river and its wooded habitat, or bosque, have been extensively altered by land use changes, herbicide and pesticide use, flood management, and introduced species.
River for Pollinators is a project led by the Institute for Applied Ecology in collaboration with federal, state, local, tribal and private land managers, focused on restoring pollinator habitat along the Rio Grande corridor in a stepping-stone pattern. Restoration ecologist Emily Rees will give an overview of what’s been accomplished, current restoration work, and future goals.