LA GRANDE â A popular bird watching event, which the COVID-19 pandemic grounded in 2020, takes flight again at the Ladd Marsh Wildlife Area. The annual Ladd Marsh Bird Festival returns May 15-16. The event, which has drawn an average of 300 participants in recent years, will be a scaled down version of those in the past to allow for COVID-19 social distancing rules to be followed. "It will not be traditional," said the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlifeâs Kyle Martin, manager of the Ladd Marsh Wildlife Area. Past festivals included meals, field trips and presentations from experts. All of that will be missing this year, but there still is plenty to offer for birders. Much of Ladd Marsh again will be open to the public during the two-day event, giving bird watchers the opportunity to see some of the more than 200 species of birds that live at Ladd Marsh year-round, nest there or make migration stops annually.