As I write this, it is a cold and dreary late February day . . . Our bird walk at Gilsland Farm this morning had only a dozen species (a few Gadwall were a nice surprise) . . . But looking at the calendar, it warmed my spirits to see that it’s only a couple of months until our Arizona birding trip in May. Join me! We’ll be looking for ~150 species, including some very elusive owls, in one of the best birding locations in the country! You could be like the birder in the photo above, watching an Elegant Trogon up close.
We’ve still got space on our Arizona Nightbirds and More tour with Field Guides on 1–5 May. This trip will be well timed to see some western migrants returning north, while targeting the ‘nightbirds’ like owls and nightjars. I’m especially looking forward to tracking down an Elf Owl (one of the few U.S. owls I still haven’t seen), a tiny owl that is only half an inch longer than a chickadee. Here is a photo our guide, Cory Gregory, took on a past trip:
This short tour is dedicated to the pursuit and observation of owls and nightjars in the premier nightbirding destination in North America: Southeast Arizona. Our search will take us from dry, mesquite-lined washes to cottonwood and sycamore riparian woodlands and pine/oak and spruce/fir forests in the mountains as we seek up to eleven species of owls and four of nightjars, including such special birds as Whiskered and Western screech-owls, the elusive Flammulated Owl, the tiny Elf Owl, the rare Buff-collared Nightjar, Mexican Whip-poor-will, and Common Poorwill.
Other species more likely to be seen by the light of day include Barn Owl, Northern (Mountain) Pygmy-Owl, Great Horned, Burrowing, and Spotted owls, and Lesser Nighthawk. But our birding won’t be restricted to the nightbirds! We should see upwards of 160 species, including a fine sampling of the many Southeast Arizona specialties. Since our time here is limited, participants should be prepared for the possibility of irregular hours of sleep.
I’ve birded Arizona a few times before and it is one of the only birding destinations I’ve wanted to keep going back to. It has so much to offer and we’ll be going to some of the best known hotspots in the state, like Madera Canyon, the Huachucas, and the Chiricahua Mountains.
An info packet with a full itinerary and registration information is available here: fieldguides.com/itineraries/azn25p-ITIN.pdf
You can also contact our tour manager, Caroline Lewis, directly, at: 512-532-2857 or clewis@fieldguides.com
