Los Cabos, Baja California Sur, is internationally renowned for its beaches, its desert landscape dotted with lush cacti, the extraordinary marine wealth surrounding the peninsula’s southern tip, exquisite cuisine, and some of the world’s most exclusive luxury hotels and Los Cabos villas. Yet, there is another natural treasure often overlooked in the skies above us: the birds.
The first Los Cabos event International Bird Festival took place from September 25 to 27, 2025, bringing together specialists, academics, civil society organizations, government officials, tourism industry representatives, and the general public. They shared a common goal: to learn about, value, and conserve the extraordinary diversity of birds that find refuge in this region of Baja California Sur.
Over three days, dozens of participants took part in a program that combined lectures, workshops, science outreach, cultural activities, and birdwatching excursions—making it the largest event of its kind ever held in Baja California Sur.
Yet, beneath the celebration lies a much deeper message: to conserve the birds, we must first conserve the habitats that sustain their existence.
Baja California Sur is, without a doubt, a privileged territory for birds.
Los Cabos’ geography creates an extraordinary mosaic of natural ecosystems. Deserts, xeric scrublands, streams, oases, estuaries, coastlines, beaches, and mountain environments provide diverse refuges where birds find food, water, rest, and breeding grounds.
According to data released by the Los Cabos Municipal Government—based on research by the Autonomous University of Baja California Sur—more than 360 bird species have been identified in the municipality. This is particularly significant, considering that around 1,200 species are recorded across Mexico.
This richness makes Los Cabos far more than just a tourist destination known for sun, beaches, luxury villas Los Cabos, and fine dining; it also positions the region as a strategic area for bird conservation and birdwatching. Here, resident and endemic species coexist with birds that undertake extraordinary migratory journeys. Some stay year-round, deeply connected to the peninsula’s ecosystems; others arrive temporarily to feed, rest, or spend a season before continuing along their routes.
Each one is part of a vast ecological network that transcends borders.
Protecting a bird means protecting its habitat and the surrounding environment.
Bird conservation is not merely about preventing capture or protecting specific individuals. True conservation begins much earlier: by protecting the territory where they live and taking actions that sustain their environment.
A bird needs trees, shrubs, seeds, insects, water, and suitable spaces to feed, find shelter, and reproduce. Migratory species also need safe stopover points after traveling hundreds or even thousands of kilometers. This is one of the most important natural phenomena for maintaining ecological balance on our planet.
Consequently, losing or fragmenting a wetland, estuary, oasis, stream, scrubland, or coastal ecosystem can have consequences that extend far beyond that space; when a habitat disappears, birds lose food sources, resting spots, and breeding grounds.
And when birds disappear, ecological processes vital to survival also weaken. The food chain is disrupted, and that is where major environmental crises begin.
Many species help disperse seeds, pollinate plants, and naturally control insect populations.
Others serve as indicators of environmental health; observing which species remain, which decline, and which stop arriving can help us understand the changes occurring in our ecosystems.
Conserving birds means preserving the landscape’s balance.
Residents, endemics, and great travelers.
One of Baja California Sur’s greatest assets is the diversity of natural histories found within a single landscape.
Birds closely linked to the peninsula and its ecosystems, along with numerous resident species, can be observed for much of the year. Joining them are migratory birds—true travelers connecting Baja California Sur to regions thousands of kilometers away.
For these migrants, Los Cabos villas can serve as a stopover on a much longer journey.
An estuary, an oasis, or a seemingly small coastal area can become a vital refueling point before the journey continues. Our region boasts many such locations, including La Ribera, Miraflores, and San José del Cabo.
The International Bird Festival also held historic significance.
During the event, Los Cabos officially received the international “Bird City” designation, becoming the second city in Mexico to earn this recognition. The initiative honors communities working on habitat conservation, reducing threats to birds, environmental education, civic engagement, and sustainability.
This recognition is significant, but it also carries great responsibility.
Being a Bird City means understanding that tourism and urban growth must coexist with the biodiversity that makes the destination extraordinary.
The real challenge lies right there: ensuring that conservation and development advance hand in hand.
Birding: observation as a form of conservation.
The festival also highlighted another opportunity for Baja California Sur within the context of the tourism industry that sustains the destination: birding.
Responsible birdwatching allows people to connect with nature with relatively low impact and can create new opportunities for local guides, rural communities, photographers, researchers, service providers, and environmental education projects.
The “Baja California Sur Birding Guide” was unveiled during the festival, which also featured panels on conservation and sustainable tourism.
Los Cabos villa rentals welcomes travelers from around the world and boasts ecosystems that offer nature-based experiences practically year-round. Incorporating birdwatching into tourism offerings allows a destination to diversify while assigning economic value to conserving the natural landscape.
When a community discovers that maintaining an oasis, an estuary, or an area of native vegetation in good condition can also generate knowledge, a sense of identity, and economic opportunities, conservation ceases to be viewed merely as a restriction and becomes an investment in the future.
Understanding in order to conserve…
One of the greatest achievements of cabo san lucas events like the International Bird Festival is the effect they have on those previously unconnected to the activity: awakening curiosity and fostering a more reflective perspective on birds.
It may simply be a matter of pausing for a few minutes, looking up, and listening…
Recognizing that the song we hear each morning belongs to a specific species. Discovering that a bird appearing for only a few months has traveled vast distances to reach Baja California Sur. Understanding that other species are part of our peninsula’s unique biological identity and are essential to ecological balance and the survival of life on our planet.
Nature photography, birdwatching, scientific research, and environmental education possess precisely this capacity: to turn biodiversity into knowledge, and knowledge into awareness. For the reality is that we cannot protect what we do not know.
The First Los Cabos International Bird Festival thus left behind something more significant than just its three days of activities.
It left an invitation to view our territory in a new light—to understand that protecting a bird also means conserving the tree where it rests, the insect it feeds on, the oasis where it finds water, the estuary where it regains its strength, and the entire landscape that allows its story to continue.
In Baja California Sur, some birds remain year-round. Others visit us only during a portion of their extraordinary journey.
Yet, all of them depend on finding a territory capable of welcoming and sustaining them. And conserving that territory is a shared responsibility.
For protecting their wings begins with protecting the places where they can fly and rest.
Author: Laura Valdemoros.