I spent four days last week in the Verde Valley participating as a vendor, a guide, and a lecturer. I was also interviewed at the festival by Joe Dana with NBC affiliate 12news in Phoenix. And, in my down time I went birding! Go to 12news.com to see the stories he put together to highlight the festival.
I arrived at Dead Horse Ranch State Park on Wednesday to set up our vendor booth. This is one of the biggest festivals we attend each year. Our booth is the go-to place for Swarovski and Vortex binoculars, spotting scopes and optics accessories.
Wednesday evening, I went birdwatching in the park before heading over to Sedona Wetlands, the wastewater treatment facility for the city of Sedona. Sedona Wetlands is like an oasis in the middle of a high desert. Its abundance and variety of birds makes it a birding hot spot.
The next morning, I stopped at the Sedona Wetlands before returning to the park. Species observed included killdeer, spotted sandpiper, least sandpiper, Wilson’s phalarope, western cattle egret, ring-billed gull, cinnamon teal, northern shoveler, American wigeon, canvasback, redhead, common merganser and ruddy ducks.
On Thursday, Friday and Saturday mornings I was the leader for the arm-chair birding field trip hosted by the festival. Only a few hundred yards from the Verde River, the arm-chair birding area has multiple seed feeders, along with suet and hummingbird feeders.
Each day brought an interesting variety of bird species, including osprey, zone-tailed hawk, common black hawk, Cooper’s hawk, American kestrel, and peregrine falcon. The feeders attracted flocks of lark sparrows and lazuli buntings, along with three other sparrow species: white-crowned, chipping, and Brewer’s.
Each day, before and after vendor hours, I went birding. Over the course of four days, I logged 102 different species! I was very pleased with the variety of birds I observed.
One of my favorite places to bird watch in the Verde Valley is at the Page Springs Fish Hatchery and Bubbling Ponds. This area borders Oak Creek and supports a lush forest of deciduous trees. I went there two mornings in a row and saw so many beautiful bird species, including wood ducks, Bullock’s orioles, summer and western tanagers, yellow-breasted chat and northern cardinals.
I brought home a stack of “Save The Date” rack cards for next year’s festival, so come by the store and pick one up. I highly recommend attending. The dates for next year are April 23-26th. Put it in your calendar to register for the festival.
Here in Prescott, we are enjoying the same migration as I witnessed in the Verde Valley last week. Both Watson and Willow Lakes have an amazing variety of bird species that use the lakes as a stopover point to rest and refuel. The variety of birds at both lakes changes every single day.
Since Monday of this week, I’ve seen ibis, gulls, dowitchers, stilts, sandpipers, geese, ducks, and many varieties of swallows, warblers and sparrows. If you think that migration is over, I assure you it is not. This is a great time of year to get outdoors and witness the wonder of migration.
It is also a time of great transition with backyard birds. Dark-eyed juncos are gone, as are ruby-crowned kinglets. Both yellow-rumped warblers and white-crowned sparrows have dwindled to just a few. Be on the lookout this week for green-tailed towhees, lazuli buntings and black-headed grosbeaks.
Until then, Happy Birding!
Eric Moore is the owner of The Lookout, in Prescott, where you will find a Hallmark Gold Crown Store, wild bird products, and Swarovski and Vortex optics. Eric has been an avid birder for over 55 years. Eric can be contacted at eric@thelookoutaz.com.
