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Archive for April, 2006

Verde Valley Birding Festival: Day IV

April 30th, 2006

I’d slipped out to Tavasci Marsh Friday afternoon for a few minutes, so was really looking forward to this morning’s formal field trip. I wasn’t alone in my excitement, and Rob, the fine leader for this excursion, had his hands full with a couple of dozen eager birders.
The place is simply dazzling, a cattail marsh [...]

Verde Valley Birding Festival: Day III

April 29th, 2006

An early start and a late finish to this, the longest day of the festival. I managed to get a space on the “Condor Caper” trip to the Grand Canyon, co-led by the informative and congenial team of Rob (The Lost Ecologist) and Kathy (from AZGFD). The long drive up was relatively unimpeded by birdiness, [...]

Verde Valley Birding Festival: Day II

April 28th, 2006

Rain, and lots of it, a welcome sight to those of us used to this long Arizona drought; when I got in the car early this morning to head out to Dead Horse, I had forgot how to use my windshield wipers! But I figured that the birds would react at least as enthusiastically as [...]

Verde Valley Birding Festival: Day I

April 27th, 2006

Birding festivals can be a great way to see new birds, get to know new localities, and hang out with new friends (and some old ones, too, sometimes!). I’m delighted to have been invited to this year’s Verde Valley festival, based in Cottonwood, AZ, and everything seems to be off to a great start.
I showed up [...]

Thrasher Family

April 26th, 2006

Curve-billed Thrashers work hard, as they would no doubt tell you themselves if they could speak; every fallen leaf, every rock pile, everything potentially edible or potentially hiding something edible is a task, a challenge to be overcome, and they go about their business with an earnestness and an energy that makes me glad to [...]