Archives: Festival Events

Difficulty: Moderate. Steeper slopes, high elevation, and possibly some short portions on rocky/rooted trails. Bathrooms available. Drive time to final location approximately 75 minutes.

Rising over 6,000 feet above Tucson, Mount Lemmon is the highest peak in the Santa Catalina Mountains at 9,157 feet, and a popular escape from urban life and the Arizona’s dry early-summer heat (before the relief of the cooling monsoon rains). It is also an incredible birding experience and biology lesson. Traversing six life zones, from the Sonoran Desert at the base to mixed conifer forests at the highest elevations, the 25-mile drive up the wide, paved, two-lane Catalina Highway is equivalent biologically to traveling from Mexico to Canada. Our efforts will be concentrated on the higher elevations far above the desert below. We’ll look for typical mountain species like Steller’s Jay, Acorn Woodpecker, Spotted Towhee, and Plumbeous Vireo. We’ll make a special effort to track down a variety of warblers; Painted Redstart and Olive, Red-faced, and Grace’s Warblers all breed in these mountains and by August they are beginning to form mixed-species foraging flocks. A few hummingbird feeders are scattered about our route as well. Combine the birds with temperatures nearly 30 degrees cooler at the top and unparalleled scenery, it is hard to beat the Catalinas in August! Lunch included. Limited to 8 participants.

Steller’s Jay, Shawn Cooper

Difficulty: Moderate. May include some walking on steeper slopes or rocky/rooted trails, but not for long lengths. Fast-paced and may include lots of jumping in and out of the van. Will have a short time for lunch and bathroom stops.

Have you ever experienced the thrill of a “Big Day?” This is a fun, and somewhat competitive, way to see a wide variety of species and locations throughout the Tucson and Southeast Arizona area in a short amount of time! Exact route will be up to the discretion of the leader, to maximize the numbers of species seen/heard. Lunch included. Limited to 8 participants.

Verdin, Mick Thompson

Difficulty: Moderate. May include some walking on steeper slopes or rocky/rooted trails, but not for long lengths. Fast-paced and may include lots of jumping in and out of the van. Will have a short time for lunch and bathroom stops.

Have you ever experienced the thrill of a “Big Day?” This is a fun, and somewhat competitive, way to see a wide variety of species and locations throughout the Tucson and Southeast Arizona area in a short amount of time! Exact route will be up to the discretion of the leader, to maximize the numbers of species seen/heard. Lunch included. Limited to 8 participants.

Black-throated Sparrow, Martin Molina

Difficulty: Hard. Will include walking along some graded roads as well as some dirt or somewhat undefined trails at the lake with some slopes. Bathroom is available at the lake. Please bring 2 liters of water. Drive time to location about 75 minutes)

This tour will focus on Arivaca Lake, which is an interesting 90 acre impoundment built by the Arizona Game & Fish Department that attracts some interesting species, especially in fall migration. We’ll be on the forefront of migration so we’ll look for all sorts of possible rarities as well as more likely such as Mexican Duck, Common Ground-Dove, Spotted Sandpiper, Black Vulture, Cassin’s Kingbird, Lark Sparrow, and Lazuli Bunting. This can be a good spot to find a wayward Painted Bunting in migration. We’ll also visit areas around Arivaca, before or after, for many riparian birds such as Thick-billed Kingbird and Gray Hawk. Lunch provided, limited to 8 participants.

Gray Hawk, bryanjsmith

Difficulty: Moderate. Some steeper slopes and possibly some rocky/rooted trails in Madera or muddy/sandy trails along the river. Drive time to final location approximately 55 minutes to first location.)

This tour combines the best of the riparian habitat and cottonwoods along the Santa Cruz River and the madrean-oak habitat of Madera Canyons and its beautiful sycamores. We’ll start early in the morning by birding the De Anza trail along the Santa Cruz River looking for Lucy’s Warblers, Yellow-billed Cuckoos, and Tropical Kingbirds. We’ll cross our fingers for rarities like Green Kingfisher! From here we’ll head to higher elevation and Madera Canyon where we’ll look for species such as Arizona Woodpecker, Wild Turkey, Mexican Jay, and Painted Redstart. We’ll have lunch under the shade of the sycamores. Lunch included. Limited to 8 participants.

Painted Redstart, Matthew Studebaker

Difficulty: Moderate. Steeper slopes or more rocky/rooted trails at Ramsey Canyon, for about one mile total. Drive time to locations approximately 2 hours on mostly paved road. Bathroom on-site at Ramsey.

We’ll get an early start from Tucson to explore the east flank of the Huachuca Mountains. We’ll start by visiting the Nature Conservancy’s beautiful Ramsey Canyon and walk underneath the towering sycamores which offers a wide variety of Arizona specialty birds such as Sulphur-bellied Flycatcher and Hepatic Tanager, along with many hummingbirds. After our picnic lunch we’ll head over to nearby Ash Canyon, where a bank of hummingbird feeders at the Ash Canyon Bird Sanctuary should be buzzing with activity, including perhaps the range-restricted and very attractive Lucifer Hummingbird. Fees for the Nature Preserve and Ash Canyon Bird Sanctuary included as well as lunch. Limited to 8 participants.

Lucifer Hummingbird, Peter Hawrylyshyn