Archives: Festival Events

Difficulty: Easy (Mostly birding around vehicle, possible short walks over dirt trail or on road)

We’ll travel up towards the small town of Marana just northwest of Tucson with hopes of finding Burrowing Owls. Once we find them, we’ll spend some time at a respectful distance admiring these unique long-legged owls. The surrounding agricultural fields and nearby water treatment facility will offer us the opportunity for a variety of other birds, including possible Lesser Nighthawks at dusk. Leaves from festival venue in 15-passenger van. Limited to 9 participants.

Burrowing Owl by Ned Harris

Difficulty: Easy (Very short walks from vehicle)

For a different kind of ‘birding’, take a tour of a number of beautiful outdoor tile murals depicting hummingbirds, created by artists of the Pascua Yaqui Tribe. According to Louis D. Valenzuela, an accomplished Yaqui artist, the hummingbird “represents the Yoeme culture. The hummingbird is considered to be a spiritual bird that comes from the ‘Sewa Ania’ Flower World and is a messenger with powerful blessing and protection.” Limited to 9 participants.

Difficulty: Easy (Flat walking on groomed trails or roads. Drive time to location approximately 80 minutes.)

This half-day trip to the Willcox area and Cochise Lake will add a wide variety of shorebirds to your Arizona and festival species list. Likely species include Black-necked Stilt, American Avocet, Wilson’s Phalarope, Long-billed Dowitcher, Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs, Western, and Least Sandpipers. The lakes also play host to an array of migrant swallow species, as well as birds of the open grassland like Scaled Quail and Lark Sparrow. With sometimes hourly turnover nearly every visit during migration has a good chance of turning up something unusual. This will be a very relaxed paced half-day trip with limited walking on level surfaces. Limited to 9 participants.

Black-necked Stilt by Shawn Cooper

Difficulty: Easy (Flat walking trails. Drive time to location approximately 75 minutes.)

The famous Paton Center for Hummingbirds is known for its backyard birds and scenic location dating back to 1973. Wally and Marion Paton first began inviting birders into their yard shortly after moving to Patagonia, and after their passing, the center was acquired by the Tucson Audubon Society. Since then we’ve worked to improve the habitat by removing invasive plants, installing native gardens, and much more. Explore the area with Community Habitat Restoration Coordinator, Ivy Ilkay, and Paton Center Site Manager, Tom Brown, for a first-hand tour of how the center is being re-invigorated by Tucson Bird Alliance. You’re also sure to find Violet-crowned Hummingbirds amidst the array of riparian specialty birds! Limited to 9 participants.

Violet-crowned Hummingbird by Nick Beauregard

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: Moderate (steeper slopes or more rocky/rooted trails)

We’ll start in grassland habitat around Proctor Road looking and listening for singing sparrows first thing in the morning. Along with sparrows we will be looking for birds of upland riparian habitat including Bell’s Vireo, Blue Grosbeak, Summer Tanager, and Varied Bunting. Next we’ll head into the mid-elevation oak-juniper habitat, looking for desirable southeast Arizona species like Arizona Woodpecker, Painted Redstart, and Sulphur-bellied Flycatcher. After this we’ll spend some time walking along the nature trail and investigating the hummingbird feeders at the Santa Rita Lodge that make Madera one of the best spots for hummingbird diversity in the country. Maybe we’ll find an Elegant Trogon! Limited to 9 participants.

Painted Redstart by Matthew Studebaker

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