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 [...]

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, [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]