2023 Southeast Arizona Birding Festival

Submitted by Franklin Lane, Cohort 1

For the 4th year in a row (except 2020 for Covid) the Pima County Chapter of the Arizona Master Naturalists has directly supported a Partner Organization by participating in the Southeast Arizona Birding Festival.

Once again, the heavy lifting for managing Chapter participation in the festival was done by Kathe Sudano and Peggy Ollerhead both of Cohort 3.  Please express your appreciation for these two Chapter leaders when you see them.  Mujeres fuertes!

Kathe Sudano and Peggy Ollerhead

The Bird Festival is one of our top marketing events of the year and has attracted a number of eventual PCMN members.  Tabling volunteers this year included: Carol Anderson and Jean Loney from C1, Penny Marshal and Sharon Overstreet from C2, Jan Schwartz C4, Kathy Altman and Linda Dugan C5, Summer Marshal, Dana Hook, Diane Taylor, and Kim Girard C6 and from our latest cohort, Tammy Visco, Greg Mishaga, Elena Garcia Ansani and Jan Spell C7.  Thank you all for your participation.  Tabling at community events is a great way to earn your required (5) hours of annual Chapter Service time.  Contact Kathe or Peggy with your future interest.

This year’s event was particularly exciting because of the recent selection of Melissa Fratello as Tucson Audubon Society’s new Executive Director.  Melissa is a member of Cohort 5 and a past President of the PCMN.  Congratulations Melissa!

Melissa Fratello and friend

“I couldn’t be joining TAS at a more exciting time, and with the added bonus of reconnecting with PCMN as a partner, to boot! My network, and my understanding of this region, is so much stronger because of my participation in the PCMN course. I am really looking forward to finding new ways to partner moving forward. The birds need us!”  MF

PCMN volunteers also led a couple festival field trips.  Early Friday morning (8/11) Franklin Lane C1 and Christina Klock C7 teamed up to lead a Desert Ecology Hike in Sabino Canyon. In addition to a general introduction to Sonoran Desert, Christine was able to help the (6) hikers identify (28) different bird species. 

White-winged Dove  5
Mourning Dove  10
Greater Roadrunner  3
Anna’s Hummingbird  4
Broad-billed Hummingbird  2
Gila Woodpecker  6
Western Wood-Pewee  1
Pacific-slope Flycatcher  1
Ash-throated Flycatcher  3
Brown-crested Flycatcher  2
Bell’s Vireo  1     (Heard)
Common Raven  2     
Verdin  5
Purple Martin  4
Black-tailed Gnatcatcher  1    ( Heard)
Cactus Wren  4
Curve-billed Thrasher  2
Phainopepla  2     Flyovers
House Finch  12
Lesser Goldfinch  12
Rufous-winged Sparrow  2
Black-throated Sparrow  4
Canyon Towhee  2
Abert’s Towhee  2
Yellow Warbler  1
Northern Cardinal  2     Fledgling begging to be fed by dad.
Black-headed Grosbeak  1
Blue Grosbeak  1

TAS Festival Hikers from Tennessee, California, Arizona, and Florida

On Saturday morning Christina also led a guided bird walk with three birders at Fort Lowell Park. Fort Lowell Park is second only to Reid Park in the number of bird species seen annually within the Tucson City park system. The “birdy-ness” is due to the number of niche habitats, including a pond, remnants of a pecan orchard, grassy ball fields, and mesquite/creosote desert areas. Our walk on Saturday yielded over 20 species, including an American Kestrel, Green Heron, over-summering American Widgeons, and three juvenile Cooper’s Hawks. The young Cooper’s Hawks have been putting on a daily show with the local Ravens – each trying to out-harass the other. Two of the three birders were not from this area, so we also had a great time identifying mesquite trees and several lizard species. We were surprised by a scorpion that ran across our path down near the Tanque Verde wash. What a nice treat for the out-of-towners! 

Photo credit: Jeffry Scott
He was taking photos the same day as our walk and got this wonderful shot of the juvenile Cooper’s Hawk and Raven.

Birds aside, the following two photographs show the tremendous difference between this monsoon season and last.  The first is Sabino Dam during a similar TAS hike in August last year (2022) and the second depicts a shot standing on the actual dam this year.  Only hyporheic flow sustaining the small downstream pools. 

Sabino Dam August 2022

Sabino Dam August 2023

“Existence in the desert had a simplicity that I found wholly satisfying; there, everything not a necessity was an encumbrance.” Wilfred Thesiger, The Life of My Choice