Festival Fun
A recap from the annual Southeast Arizona Birding Festival
Tour leaders Ethan Kistler, Jake Mohlmann, Scott Olmstead, and Brent Stephenson were on hand along with our Tucson-based office crew. In the field, we shared some memorable birding moments, including a few lifers! At the Nature Expo, we made some great connections, mingling with tour operator colleagues, community conservation organizations, optics partners and other vendors. We enjoyed visiting with birder friends old and new! Special thanks to our past and future participants who stopped by the booth to chat.
Jake Mohlmann reports from his 'River to Mountains' full-day on Friday:
“As is customary on any festival trip a quick survey was conducted in the morning with the participants as to see why everyone signed up for the trip. It was unanimous that Coppery-tailed Trogon was #1 on everyone’s list. As a result, we allotted most of our time searching for it in Madera Canyon. It took us about 30 minutes to hear the first ‘barks’ of a trogon, which then led us up close and personal with a male that we watched for quite some time as it searched for large insects to ingest.“
Here's the eBird list from the trip: https://ebird.org/checklist/S383372931
Festival-goers on Scott Olmstead's Cochise Lake field trip enjoyed an opportunity to study shorebirds, including the first Arizona record of Common Ringed Plover(!) which was a surprise highlight for many birders visiting the lake that day.
A top target for our outing was Scaled Quail, so we were delighted to spot a cooperative group of 'cottontops' at one of our first stops. A detour through the lush grasslands around Sonoita on the way back added the endemic subspecies Sonoran pronghorn to the festival mammal sightings list.
Here's the eBird checklist from our Sunday morning at Willcox: https://ebird.org/checklist/S384234627
Shoutout to the great team at Tucson Bird Alliance, whose hardworking staff and volunteers put on another fabulous event celebrating birds and community. See you next year!
Learn about the event here: https://tucsonbirds.org/festival/