Archives: Festival Events

Difficulty: Moderate. May involve some walking mild slopes and dirt/gravel trails with some incline. Bathrooms along route. Drive to location about 60 minutes.

Join award-winning photographer Paul Bannick to explore Madera Canyon in search of woodpeckers. Author of “Woodpecker: A Year in the Life of North American Woodpeckers”, Paul will share the natural history of the woodpeckers we see and we’ll try to get some good photos too. We’ll especially look for Gila, Ladder-backed, Arizona, and Acorn Woodpeckers along with Northern Flicker. Limited to 9 participants.

Acorn Woodpecker, Dan Weisz

Difficulty: Moderate. Some walking on mild slopes on dirt trails or gravel roads. Dirt trails may be muddy. Bathroom at Empire Ranch. Drive time to location approximately one hour plus driving on gravel/dirt roads.

Las Cienegas is a 45,000-acre national conservation area with high desert grasslands, riparian strips and perennial streams, marshes, and juniper-oak woodlands. Here we can find grassland breeders such as Cassin’s, Botteri’s and Grasshopper Sparrows, Chihuahuan Meadowlark, and Loggerhead Shrike, as well as riparian-associated species including Gray and Zone-tailed Hawks, Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Blue Grosbeak, Yellow Warbler, and Summer Tanager. Las Cienegas is great for mammals, too — we’ll visit a colony of Black-tailed Prairie Dogs (road condition permitting) and keep an eye out for Pronghorn Antelope. Join Joshua Covill of Hillstar Nature to explore this beautiful habitat. Limited to 9 participants.

Chihuahuan Meadowlark, Alan Schmierer

Difficulty: Moderate. Some steeper slopes with portions that may have rocky/rooted trails. Most walking is on groomed gravel road in shorter spurts. Drive time to location approximately one hour with some gravel roads. Bathroom available at mouth of canyon.

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 Wesley Homoya of Natural Selections Tours 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 keep our eyes out for dazzling Varied Buntings on territory. Limited to 9 participants.

Varied Bunting, Martin Molina

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

Join Sabrewing Nature Photographer Jamie Cunningham to experience the photography blind at Battiste’s Bird Garden! This exciting new opportunity gives photographers the chance to photograph up to 8 species of hummingbirds and a variety of songbirds, all from the comfort of a newly designed photo blind. Limited to 6 participants.

Rivoli’s Hummingbird, Roger van Gelder

Difficulty: Hard. Will include walking through desert with uneven surfaces for about 2-3 mile roundtrip. No bathroom on-site but we’ll stop beforehand at a gas station. Bring 2 liters of water. Drive time to location is about 75 minutes.

This area just southwest of Tucson has some of the highest biological diversity in the state but is little visited by birders. Amidst the amazing rolling landscape of Sonoran Desert and grassland we’ll hope to find numerous species characteristic of this rich desert habitat including Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl, Gilded Flicker, Black-tailed Gnatcatcher, Black-throated and Rufous-winged Sparrow, Pyrrhuloxia, and Varied Bunting. Crested Caracara are known to nest in this area as well. Limited to 9 participants.

Cactus Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl, Stephen Vaughan

Difficulty: Moderate. About two miles walking on good gravel/dirt surfaces, although it may be muddy depending on monsoon conditions. Prepare for possibility of chiggers. Bathroom on-site. Drive time to location approximately 90 minutes.

The San Pedro River is one of the single most important biological features in the arid Southwest and serves as a migratory corridor for an estimated 4 million migrating birds each year. Riparian specialties like Common Ground-Dove, Gray Hawk, and Blue Grosbeak are expected along with a good mixture of flycatchers like Western Wood Pewee, Cassin’s Kingbird, Willow Flycatcher, and plenty of Vermilion Flycatchers. Limited to 9 participants.

Blue Grosbeak, Matthew Studebaker

Difficulty:  Hard. Total round trip hiking distance about 3 miles. We will be away from the vehicle for around 3 hours. The trail is hot, of uneven tread, and steep. Bring at least 2 liters of water. No bathroom on-site, prepare for backcountry experience. Drive time to final location approximately 75 minutes.

Located south of Tucson on the west side of the scenic Santa Rita Mountains, the habitat of Agua Caliente Canyon is typical of mid-elevation canyons in the Sky Island mountain ranges of southeastern Arizona. Species seen in previous years include Arizona Woodpecker, Coppery-tailed Trogon, Bushtit, Virginia’s Warbler, and Varied Bunting. Limited to 9 participants.

Arizona Woodpecker, Mick Thompson