Verde Valley Birding Festival: Day I

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 a couple of hours early this morning to wander a bit along the Verde River in the evocatively named Dead Horse Ranch State Park. The river itself was alive with birds, including Wood Ducks overhead and Summer Tanagers chick-chupping in the magnificent cottonwoods. A feeder area has been set up just across the road from the registration tents, and seed and sugar water has already attracted great numbers of Chipping Sparrows and Gambel’s Quail, with good numbers of Black-headed Grosbeaks, Lazuli Buntings, and Black-chinned and Anna’s Hummingbirds dropping in. There is a local pair of Cooper’s Hawks, and I think I glimpsed a Sharp-shinned Hawk at one point, too, so all this feathered plenty is unlikely to go unexploited by the raptors.

For most of the day, I joined a field trip to Agua Fria National Monument, about an hour south of Cottonwood, wonderfully led by John; we were a small group, and everyone enjoyed great views of the birds in this beautiful desert area. Costa’s Hummingbird was easy to find, and I counted, conservatively, five males along our walk. The cottonwoods and willows were full of migrants, mostly Wilson’s Warblers, but the big surprise was the number of Cassin’s Vireos: I think the fourteen (fourteen!) I counted were the most I’d ever seen in a day, and many of them gave spectacularly close, long views. Streamside skulkers graciously let themselves be glimpsed, too, and I think everybody eventually got good looks at Lincoln’s Sparrow and MacGillivray’s Warbler.

Restaurant recommendation: Georgie’s Cafe, in Cottonwood; simple, good-quality food and excellent service.