By Luke Safford, Southeast Arizona Birding Festival and Volunteer Program Manager, Tucson Audubon Society
Most people don’t think about visiting Tucson and Southeast Arizona during the summer months, so you may be surprised to know that people from around the country flock to Tucson every August for a bird festival. A combination of monsoon rains, abundant food sources, early fall migration, post-breeding dispersal, and unique late nesting bird species just up from Sonora creates a combination of birds not found anywhere else in the United States. It is just not birds that love this time of year—butterflies, moths, odonates, herps, flowers, and mammals are most active, vibrant, and noticeable.
In an effort to showcase the place we love, Tucson Audubon started a birding festival that now takes place every second weekend of August, right during the middle of the monsoon season. Last year participants from 35 different states and 5 countries gathered to go out in the field on nature trips around southeast Arizona, attend programs ranging from “Odonate Identification” to “The Owls of Harry Potter,” mingle with conservation organizations, build nestboxes for Lucy’s Warblers, and grow in photography skills, among many other events.
One of Tucson Audubon’s main goals for the festival is to connect people from all over the world with the Sonoran Desert and Sky Islands of Southeast Arizona so that they too want to protect it with us. Something special happens in the hearts and minds of people when they see a Red-faced Warbler high up on Mt. Lemmon or when they hear an Elegant Trogon for the first time in Madera Canyon. Glimpsing a coati in the Patagonia Mountains or finding a gila monster in Sabino Canyon causes people to stop and reflect. The festival helps to capture these reactions for the long-term good of the wildlife in this region.
Beginning this year, every annual Southeast Arizona Birding Festival will have a different Conservation Focus. The 2020 festival will focus on protecting the beautiful Sonoita Creek Watershed in the Patagonia Mountains and surrounding areas. Festival participants will notice “Birding with a Purpose” field trips, programs focused on improving habitat along the creek and conservation needs in the region, and more ways to join in preserving this unique area. We’ll raise awareness, find awesome birds, and make a tangible difference all at the same time with folks across the nation.
Featured speakers for this year’s festival include Alvaro Jaramillo and Tom Stephenson, two outstanding birders who will join us in speaking out on behalf of birds and nature. Alvaro’s presentation on Saturday night on “The Birder’s Brain” is one you won’t want to miss. Tom is an expert on warbler identification and will help us understand bird song and how to identify and remember the songs we hear.
Registration for trips, programs and more for the Southeast Arizona Birding Festival starts on April 1st. Most activities will be August 6th – 9th with an opening reception on Wednesday, August 5th. Festival headquarters is the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel near Reid Park in Tucson, Arizona. Join us in celebrating the uniqueness and beauty of this amazing place we and the birds call home.