Wings Over Water Wildlife Festival
October 14-19, 2025
& WOW Encore December 5-7, 2025
Registration opens the first week of June
Register NowAbout Wings Over Water Wildlife Festival
Wings Over Water Wildlife Festival began in 1997 to connect the public with wildlife and wildland experiences in regional national wildlife refuges. Hosted across six refuges in northeastern North Carolina, the festival features about 60 programs, including birding, paddling, photography, and natural history, making it one of the premier East Coast wildlife festivals.
It also supports refuge conservation and education through the Coastal Wildlife Refuge Society.
2025 Keynote Speaker
Brian Patteson
A native of Virginia, Captain Brian Patteson has been organizing pelagic birding trips since 1986, eventually moving full-time to the Outer Banks in 1995. In addition to his fieldwork, Patteson has played a crucial role in educating people about seabirds and their offshore ecosystems.
‘Pelagic Seabirds off Cape Hatteras’
Brian will present an overview of the diversity of seabirds that occur in the ocean off the Cape. His talk will be illustrated with images from his many trips offshore. Brian’s vast knowledge of local pelagic avifauna is unparalleled. And his photographic skill at capturing these unusual birds amazing.
More About Our Keynote SpeakerBirds of the Outer Banks, NC – checklist
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