Archives: Festival Events

Moderate. Mostly easy with paved trail and overlook, but some steep grade when walking down to sandy trails. Bathroom on-site.

Explore this nature preserve area just northwest of Tucson in Marana along the Santa Cruz River which is also part of the historic Juan Bautista de Anza Trail. You’ll enjoy the view from the overlook where you’ll be able to scan for a variety of birds including waterfowl, shorebirds, and flycatchers. A walk around the lake trail should turn up a good variety of species including Lazuli Bunting, Hooded Oriole, Green Heron, and Cinnamon Teal. Drive time to the meeting location from the festival venue is about 30 minutes, specific meeting instructions will be emailed beforehand. Limited to 10 participants.

Lazuli Bunting, Mick Thompson

Difficulty: Moderate. Around 1 ½ miles of mostly flat walking on some sandy/gravel trails and road. No bathroom on-site. Bring water.

We’ll walk in the shaded riparian forest along the Santa Cruz River which is a fantastic location for three types of kingbirds (Cassin’s, Tropical, and noisy Thick-billed) along with a wide variety of other desert riparian species like Inca Dove, Gray Hawk, Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Bell’s Vireo, and Blue Grosbeak. Drive time to the meeting location from the festival venue is about 50 minutes, specific meeting instructions will be emailed beforehand. Limited to 10 participants.

Thick-billed Kingbird, Martin Molina

Difficulty: Easy. Just over a mile walking on flat paved and hard packed surfaces, with some shaded benches along route. Bathrooms on-site.

This artificial wetland is the premier birding hotspot in the Tucson Valley, offering a stunning variety of species that can be found here at any time during the season. Green Heron, Common Gallinule, Tropical Kingbird, Common Yellowthroat, and Abert’s Towhees are some of our prime targets. Drive time to meeting location from festival venue is about 20 minutes, specific meeting instructions will be emailed beforehand. Limited to 15 participants.

Green Heron, Hemant Kishan

Difficulty: Moderate. Will involve some walking on mild slopes with some elevation and possibly on some rocky/uneven surfaces. Bathrooms available. Drive time to first location about 45 minutes.

We’ll explore the oaks to pines of the Catalina Mountains starting at the Gordon Hirabayashi Campground scrub oak woodlands which is good habitat for species such as Woodhouse’s Scrub Jay, Bushtit, and Scott’s Oriole. We’ll then head up into Bear Canyon which puts us in a beautiful canyon with sycamores and pines where we’ll search for Mexican Jay, Plumbeous Vireo, and Grace’s Warbler among others. Depending on timing and activity we may visit other locations as well. Drive time to initial meeting location from festival venue is about 40 minutes, specific meeting instructions will be emailed beforehand.  Limited to 10 participants.

Scott’s Oriole, Matthew Studebaker

Difficulty: Hard. Trail that has some inclines and uneven slopes with soft, rocky or uneven terrain for about one mile total. Bring 1-2 liters of water.

We’ll spend the early morning exploring the Florida Canyon area on the west slopes of the Santa Rita Mountains. There, we will hike along the local Florida Canyon Trail as well as birding at local areas in the canyon as well as in the adjacent Santa Rita Experimental Range grassland operated by University of Arizona, with some sites not usually accessible by birders. Birds more likely to be encountered in Florida Canyon include Gray Hawk, Acorn Woodpecker, Bridled Titmouse, Rufous-crowned Sparrow, Northern Beardless-Tyrannulet, Black-headed Grosbeak, and Varied Bunting. This canyon has also had several rare birds in the past such as Nutting’s Flycatcher and Rufous-capped Warbler, and while we should not expect to see these birds, it’s always fun to dream. Afterwards, we are planning on exploring some of the adjacent grassland areas of the Santa Rita Experimental Range on our way out. Species that we might expect to see in these grasslands include Botteri’s and Cassin’s Sparrows, Crissal Thrasher, Scaled Quail, and Chihuahuan Meadowlark. Drive time to initial meeting location from festival venue is about 60 minutes, specific meeting instructions will be emailed beforehand.  Limited to 8 participants.

Bridled Titmouse, John Hoffman

The McNew Lab studies disease ecology of birds and their parasites and pathogens, and this will be your chance to see this work in action. This research specifically investigates associations between birds in ticks in the region, so we will be mist-netting and banding birds, checking them for attached ticks, and taking small blood samples to test for tick-borne diseases. The working group will demonstrate the techniques that are being used and discuss the research. We’ll meet at the Paton Center for Hummingbirds and specific meeting instructions will be emailed beforehand. Drive time to the meeting location from the festival venue is about 70 minutes. Limited to 10 participants.

Summer Tanager, Hemant Kishan

Difficulty: Moderate. Some mild slopes, and soft, rocky or uneven terrain for about one mile total. Bring 1-2 liters of water.

Come for a hike to see and hear many songbirds unique to the Southwest in the cactus forests of Saguaro National Park East which is designated an Important Bird Area. Likely species include: Verdin, Black-tailed Gnatcatcher, Cactus Wren, Curve-billed Thrasher, Phainopepla, Rufous-winged Sparrow, Pyrrhuloxia, and maybe even a nomadic Greater Roadrunner.  We will walk about one mile on scenic trails that are sometimes soft, rocky, or uneven, with some slopes. Meet at the Broadway Trailhead for Saguaro NP East. Specific meeting instructions will be emailed beforehand. Limited to 10 participants.

Phainopepla, Shawn Cooper