SPANISH FORT, Ala.—Gabby Lawley liked the “big birds.”

Hunter Bonner preferred the skunk.

Garland Thrasher gravitated toward photography exhibit of birds he’s never even heard of.

All three children — age 4, 7 and 11, respectively — were among the roughly 2,000 visitors who turned out Saturday for the Bird and Conservation Expo on the Fairhope campus of Faulkner State Community College.

The event, considered the biggest draw of the seventh annual John L. Borom Alabama Coastal BirdFest, was only one of 23 slated for the four-day festival attracting visitors from at least 15 states and Canada.

“It’s just been absolutely perfect weather, and I am amazed by what I’m seeing,” said Margaret Slocomb, a snowbird from Wisconsin and avid birder who has participated in the avian extravaganza for the past four years.

Keri McMurray of Spanish Fort said although she did venture into Fairhope Saturday to take part in the simultaneous “Fall into Fairhope” celebration — complete with the conservation expo, the 28th Grand Festival of Art, the 5-K Mullet Run and a free bluff-top concert by the Baldwin Pops — she said the boat tour she took was the definite highlight.

“It’s one thing to take your binoculars into the woods and wander around, but it’s an entirely different experience to see them on the water. It’s almost surreal, like they’re a realty show on TV or something,” said McMurray, who took a Middle Mobile-Tensaw Delta pontoon boat trips new to the 2010 line-up.

Although it was not clear by press time how much money the four-day event netted, the festival has attracted participants from 18 states and Canada since 2004 and donated nearly $65,000 toward habitat protection and preservation in Baldwin and Mobile counties.