Archives: Festival Events

Difficulty: Easy (Flat walking trails. Drive time to location approximately one hour.)

A stroll through this lush riparian corridor along the Santa Cruz provides many opportunities for migrants, Gray Hawks, flycatchers, and hordes of Yellow-breasted Chats. Rose-throated Becard, whose nests look like a large football hanging from the end of a branch, have nested along this trail the past few years. Monsoon rains will dictate the portions of the trail we walk. Urban Habitat Restoration Program Manager Kari Hackney will also share how Tucson Bird Alliance and the Tubac Nature Center are partnering together to preserve this beautiful area. Limited to 9 participants.

Gray Hawk by Axel Elfner

Difficulty: Moderate (some walking on mild slopes, drive time to location about 50 minutes on paved roads)

Enjoy birding where Tucson residents escape the summer heat in the small mountain hamlet of Summerhaven.  We’ll look for mixed warbler flocks which may include Red-faced, Orange-crowned, Virginia’s, Townsend’s, Hermit, Wilson’s, and Grace’s Warblers. Birding in the conifer forests of Mt. Lemmon can also produce species like Hairy Woodpecker, Steller’s Jay, Mountain Chickadee, and Western Flycatcher. Limited to 9 participants.

Steller’s Jay by Shawn Cooper

Difficulty: Hard (Steeper slopes or more rocky/rooted trails. Drive time to location approximately one hour with some gravel roads.)

While Madera Canyon has long been the most visited spot in the Santa Rita Mountains, this adjacent canyon to the south is deserving of more birders’ attention. Join us on a half-day exploration of Montosa Canyon, which supports some hackberry thornscrub habitat as well as a nice drainage with scattered oaks and mesquites. Some more common species we can expect to encounter include Bell’s Vireo, Rufous-crowned Sparrow, Canyon Wren, and Ladder-backed Woodpecker. We’ll also target rare species which have nested in the canyon in past years, including Five-striped Sparrow and Black-capped Gnatcatcher. We’ll also keep our eyes out for dazzling Varied Buntings on territory. Limited to 9 participants.

Varied Bunting by Martin Molina

Difficulty: Moderate (mostly flat walking trails on some uneven and rocky terrain. Drive time to Arivaca is about 75 minutes.)

Just outside of the small town of Arivaca is the Buenos Aires Wildlife Refuge, known for its grasslands and cienegas, along with being a place where efforts to re-introduce Masked Bobwhites are being undertaken. We’ll focus our birding efforts at the Arivaca Cienega and along the Arivaca Creek where we’ll look for Black Vultures, Gray and Zone-tailed Hawks, Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Tropical Kingbird, and buntings. Limited to 9 participants.

Yellow-billed Cuckoo by Martin Molina

Difficulty: Moderate (Some mild hiking on fairly flat and rolling trails or gravel roads. About 50 minutes to destinations)

We’ll head to beautiful Oracle State Park, located at 3,700’ to 4,600’, with landscape dominated by rolling hills and panoramic vistas as it transitions from desert grassland to oak-woodland. There, we’ll likely encounter common desert species, such as Harris’s Hawk, Gila Woodpecker, Say’s Phoebe, Curve-billed Thrasher, Canyon Towhee and summer visitors such as Summer Tanager, Lucy’s Warbler and Brown-crested Flycatcher, among others.  Then we’ll move onto Peppersauce Canyon, an oasis mostly shaded by huge sycamores, where Bell’s and other vireos, plus Acorn Woodpeckers and Western Wood-Pewees are common, amongst a variety of lovely summer surprises. Limited to 9 participants.

Summer Tanager by Lois Manowitz

Difficulty: Moderate (Some walking on mild slopes, and possibly rocky/uneven surfaces.)

We’ll explore the oaks to pines of the Catalina Mountains starting with Molino Basin’s scrub oak woodlands which is good habitat for species such as Woodhouse’s Scrub Jay, Bushtit, and Scott’s Oriole. After searching for birds here and at nearby Gordon Hirabayashi Campground we’ll head up to higher elevations and new habitats. A stop in Bear Canyon puts us in a beautiful canyon where we’ll search for Mexican Jay, Plumbeous Vireo, and Grace’s Warbler among others in the sycamores and pines. Depending on timing and activity we may visit other locations. Limited to 8 participants.

Grace’s Warbler by Shawn Cooper

Difficulty: Easy (Most of the time will be spent in photography blind. Drive time to final location approximately 90 minutes)

Join Sabrewing Nature Photographer Jamie Cunningham to experience the photography blind at Ramsey Canyon Inn B&B! This exciting new opportunity gives photographers the chance to photograph up to 10 hummingbird species and a variety of songbirds, all from the comfort of the newly designed photo blind. This blind was designed by the Sabrewing photography team and puts special focus on backgrounds, light angle and the ability to switch out perches easily! Limited to 6 participants.

Rivoli’s Hummingbird by Fred Mitchell

Difficulty: Easy (Birding from vehicles and the road but very hot by mid-morning. Drive time to flats area approximately one hour. Will include driving on gravel roads.)

This flat area of agricultural fields, mesquite bosques, pecan groves and desert scrub is rarely birded in the summer, but it can hold many surprises. Tropical Kingbirds should be fledging their young at this time, and we can expect to see them in the rows of pecan trees along the road. Raptors such as Black Vultures, Swainson’s Hawks, and Burrowing Owls and if we are lucky, an early Crested Caracara, are possible. Sludge ponds and flooded fields at this time of year have yielded a variety of shorebirds, waders and blackbirds, while swallows and flycatchers catch our attention in the air. It will be very hot by 10 am so put on sunblock, bring a water bottle and wear a hat. Limited to 8 participants.

Crested Caracara by Michele Wiesz

Difficulty: Moderate to Hard (Walking a narrow trail with uneven surfaces and some increase in grade.  Drive time to location about 1 hour)

These two canyons are just north of the more famous Madera Canyon and offer fabulous birding in riparian areas flanked by upland desert and grassland. From the Florida Canyon parking lot we’ll keep our eyes open and ears alert for Northern Beardless-Tyrannulet, Black-chinned and Rufous-crowned Sparrows, along with Varied Bunting.  Depending on water levels we could work our way up higher along the creek, we’ll look for Gray Hawk, three species of Myiarchus flycatchers, Bell’s and Hutton’s Vireo’s, Hooded Oriole, and perhaps even catching a glimpse of the soaring resident Golden Eagles. Next we will drive through Box Canyon hoping to find a rare Five-striped Sparrow or singing Scott’s Orioles. Limited to 9 participants.

Scott’s Oriole by Matthew Studebaker