The Spark Bird Project at Lakeside Park


Difficulty: Easy (Mostly flat, groomed trails at a city park)
One of the most common themes in spark bird stories isn’t birds at all – it is other people! Spark people help draw others into a shared love of birds! Do you know someone who you think would love birds but who just hasn’t quite found their way to becoming a birder yet or who is definitely a birder but doesn’t see themselves in that way? This is the outing for them! Bring them along as we create a joyful entry-level celebration of birds! Welcome all ages, interests, and abilities! Drive time to the meeting location from the festival venue is about 15 minutes, specific meeting instructions will be emailed beforehand. Limited to 10 participants. 

Osprey by David Kreidler

Bird and Bike with Matt Griffiths and Wesley Homoya of Natural Selections Tours

Difficulty: Easy

Join us for a leisurely bike ride on a dedicated path around Reid Park in search of its varied bird life. Located right across from the DoubleTree hotel Festival site, the park is one of the best places in Tucson to see Vermilion Flycatchers! We’ll check the lakes of the park for any lingering ducks, cormorants, herons and egrets, and maybe even a Mexican Duck. The many species of large, native and exotic trees are good places to find early migrating warblers, vireos, orioles, and grosbeaks. We’ll take a trip to the nearby Hardesty pond for more marshy conditions and the chance at seeing Black Phoebe, Spotted Sandpiper, Song Sparrow, Abert’s Towhee, and other desert riparian species. PLEASE LET US KNOW IF YOU NEED A BIKE RENTAL. Limited to 8 participants.

Vermilion Flycatcher

Birding with a Purpose: Cactus, Cottonwoods & Birds with Tony Figueroa and Tiffany Kersten

Difficulty: Moderate/Difficult ~3 miles (Some mild slopes/wash crossings–mostly flat ground and good surfaces)

Join Tony Figueroa, Director of the Invasive Plant Program, to hear how Tucson Bird Alliance is constantly working to restore and preserve these places for future generations of people and birds to enjoy. The Sonoran Desert is amazingly dense with vegetation compared to other deserts, but this sensitive habitat is at risk due to invasive species such as buffelgrass. We’ll discuss the ecology of the area and find some great birds, too, as we explore the desert and riparian areas around Colossal Cave. Limited to 9 participants.

Summer Tanager by Hemant Kishan

Easy Digiscoping with Jeff Bouton of Kowa Optics at Reid Park

Learn about simple ways to use spotting scopes to take beautiful images of the natural word! Today, birders have a wealth of excellent spotting scopes available to them, and the state-of-the-art in smartphone computational photography means that birders can take photographs that are near-DSLR quality in a portable, easily shareable format. Meet at Reid Park, which is close to the festival headquarters for a field workshop designed for hands-on work and problem solving for anyone just getting started. Drive time to meeting location from festival venue is less than 5 minutes, specific meeting instructions will be emailed beforehand. Limited to 12 participants.

Black-headed Grosbeak by Dan Weisz

Tohono Chul with Ray Deeney and Carol Massanari

Difficulty: Easy (some mild slopes–mostly flat ground and good surfaces)

For visitors and those new to the Sonoran Desert, Tohono Chul’s easy-walking trails and gardens provide close-up looks at many of the desert specialties. Of the more than 500 bird species that spend time in Arizona during the year, 140 are known to have visited Tohono Chul, and on any given morning you might see up to 15 species here. All year long you can watch our state bird, the Cactus Wren, flit from cactus to tree and back again, chattering as he goes. Observe the Curved-billed Thrasher, with its saucy two-part whistle, scrabbling on the ground or nesting in cholla cactus. Enjoy our two year-round resident hummingbird species, Anna’s and Costa’s, as they dart about, feeding among the many colorful flowers. And be sure to look upward for a glance of our majestic Cooper’s Hawks, a pair of which has nested in the gardens for each of the last four years. Meet at the Tohono Chul Admission Window. Limited to 10 participants.

Costa’s Hummingbird by Mick Thompson

Dragonflies at Sweetwater Wetlands with Rich Bailowitz and Alex Patia

Difficulty: Easy (Just over a mile walking on excellent surfaces.)

Join Rich Bailowitz, author of the “Field Guide to the Damselflies and Dragonflies of Arizona and Sonora” at this artificial wetland perfectly situated for a wide variety of dragonflies and damselflies. We’ll also come across some great birds too! Drive time to meeting location from festival venue is about 20 minutes, specific meeting instructions will be emailed beforehand. Limited to 12 participants.

Image by Kendall Kroesen

Patagonia-Sonoita Creek Preserve with Nature Conservancy Volunteers Peggy and Marc Faucher

Difficulty: Moderate (mostly flat walking trails on some uneven and rocky terrain)

One of the best known U.S. birding hotspots with tall cottonwoods and willows lining a perennial stream. Open fields, mesquite bosque and a cienega compound the habitat diversity that make it a birding paradise. Listen for the Gray Hawk’s whistle in the cottonwoods while looking for Common Ground Dove, Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Thick-billed Kingbird, and more. Please bring $8 per person for Nature Conservancy fees. Be prepared to wear chigger protection. Drive time to the meeting location from the festival venue is about 70 minutes, specific meeting instructions will be emailed beforehand.  Limited to 10 participants.

Thick-billed Kingbird by Martin Molina

Beginning Birding at Lakeside Park with Christina Klock

Difficulty: Easy (Flat walking surfaces, with less than two miles covered)

Lakeside Park in southeast Tucson is a great place to get to know your urban birds and it’s possible to get some early fall migrants as well. Join Tucson Bird Alliance volunteer field trip leader, Christina Klock, on an outing designed for those just getting into birding. We’ll explore the lake and the adjacent lawns and ball fields with likely sightings including Black-crowned Night-heron, hummingbirds, Vermilion Flycatcher, Cooper’s Hawk, and swallows. Drive time to park and meeting location is about 15 minutes, specific meeting instructions will be emailed beforehand. Limited to 10 participants.

Black-crowned Night Heron by David Kreidler

The Gentle Gaze Photo Workshop at Sweetwater Wetlands with Susan Preston

Abert's Towhee by Lois Manowitz

Have you ever “woken up” in the middle of a bird photography outing only to realize your internal dialogue is louder than the symphony of birdsong around you? Between the pressure to capture competition-worthy images and the uncontrollable movements of our feathered friends, bird photography can feel more stressful than soothing. With all the gear and technical settings, and the unique challenges of fast-paced bird photography, is a mindful approach even…possible?

During our Gentle Gaze photography excursions, your guide, Susan J. Preston (often in partnership with mindful birding network facilitator, Dr. Holly Thomas) will create a supportive, non-judgmental environment with a focus on embodied presence and wonder as antidotes to fear and artistic (and birding) perfectionism. Please join us for a chance to explore the gifts of paying attention with a reverent and creative approach to bird photography that can be applied to any area of your life!

Please note that this is not a technical workshop, so be sure to bring a camera that you are familiar with to prevent equipment-related distractions during our time together. We encourage both advanced and amateurs to join us. All that is really required is an open heart. If you have any questions please be in touch with Susan on Instagram: @susanprestonstudio or BosqueWinterWings.com.

Abert’s Towhee by Lois Manowitz

Birding in the Buff with Rick Wright

Difficulty: Easy (Flat walking trails in the city park)

Have you ever experienced the joy of birding without binoculars hanging around your neck or packing a camera? Join Rick Wright at Fort Lowell Park, one of the locals’ favorite birding destinations in Tucson, to experience birding in a new way. Optics, including cameras, are absolutely prohibited, on pain of possible mockery. Instead, let’s test our ears and eyes and memories by getting to know some of our commonest desert birds without technology, focusing instead on all the little clues that can help us identify birds without the need to see fine details. Drive time to the meeting location from the festival venue is about 10 minutes, specific meeting instructions will be emailed beforehand. Limited to 10 participants.

Vermilion Flycatcher by David Quanrud