They migrate from throughout Oregon, Washington and even come from as far away as Florida.

Shorebirds?

Nope.

They're birdwatchers - and they are converging at Charleston for the annual Oregon Shorebird Festival scheduled Friday, Aug. 31, through Sunday, Sept. 2. The event, in its 21st year, promises sandpipers, turnstones and maybe even black-footed albatross to the binocularly inclined. Oh, there will be thousands of other shorebirds, too, from this year's youngsters to molting adults.

Tours are planned Saturday and Sunday. But this gathering of the ornithology-minded isn't just for the experts.

“What is the level of birder? It definitely ranges from brand new ... to ‘I already know birds pretty well but I need help with juvenile nuances for shorebirds,'” said Dawn Grafe.

Grafe is public use specialist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Newport. She's also been the organizer behind the Shorebird Festival the last few years.

“The ladies who did it for 17 years, they were tired,” she said.

The festival boasts indoor and outdoor thrills.

Friday night, there's a guest speaker, Benjamin Grupe, at 7:30 p.m. at the Oregon Institute of Marine Biology Boathouse out at the end of Boat Basin Drive. He's a biomonitoring assistant at the South Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve. He'll talk about black oystercatchers, sharing research results from a study of the birds at Simpson Reef. It's sort of a prey/predator talk, Grafe said, how it all played out between the oystercatchers and the sea urchins they gobbled.

Birders will be up early Saturday. Some will be climbing aboard a Betty Kay charter boat in the wee hours to chug out onto the Pacific for a pelagic trip hoping to catch sight of shearwaters, petrels and other gliding seabirds. It's the ultimate birdwatching trip.

“That's already sold out,” Grafe said.

Better luck next year. Or better yet, sign up early next year.

But wait, there are other field trips. At 7:45 a.m., birders will gather at the OIMB's parking lot to carpool to spots in Bandon and Coos Bay to scope out the marshes. Tours are led by local and out-of-town expert birders.

“We start about 7:45 and we go until were exhausted, which is usually until about 4 o'clock,” she said.

Bring lunch. Bring clothes and shoes for all kinds of weather.

At 6 p.m. Saturday, there's a buffet albacore tuna dinner at OIMB's cafeteria. That leads up to the keynote speaker, Ron LeValley, at 7:30 p.m., down the road in the Boathouse. LeValley, a Californian employed by Mad River Biologists, actually is best known as a nature photographer. He'll be showing his photos blended into “Conversations with a Snowy Plover and other shorebird writings of William Leon Dawson.”

Dawson was a well-known ornithologist, and apparently a much-enjoyed poet, in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

Sunday starting at 7:45 a.m., the Shorebird Festival features a repeat of the tours to Bandon and Coos Bay birding hotspots. Also both days, Shoreline Education for Awareness docents will be at the Simpson Reef overlook from noon to 4 p.m., helping people learn about the ocean and spot wildlife.

The festival brought in 109 visitors last year, and Grafe said 35 to 40 percent are repeat birders. Part of that is likely due to the friendly conversation and nature of the event.

“I've never had anyone say ‘You know, I felt shunned or out of place or timid,” Grafe said.

The festival attracts mostly adults. Kids likely would find it a little boring. Even the field trips likely won't appeal to youngsters unless they're avid birders, Grafe said. Organizers have tried in past years, without much success, to schedule events for children. They've found that the young couples, who have children, tend to favor the festival as a parents' weekend away.

For registration information, those interested can call Grafe at (541) 867-4550 or e-mail her at dawn_grafe@fws.gov. Or, people can register Friday, Aug. 31, at the OIMB cafeteria from 5 to 7:30 p.m.

If you go to the Shorebird Festival, guaranteed are a couple thousand Western sandpipers and likely semi-palmated plovers - and maybe even a hungry peregrine falcon.