Cochise County birding news: first brown back solitaire documented

A birding story on NPR caught my “ear” the other day. Scott Simon talked with a camp counselor who, along with his campers, had a wonderful bird sighting. It was a brown-backed solitaire and they used an iPod to document it. Listen to the story and see what you think!
Happy weekend!

Southwest Wings waives registration fee for select programs

This year the 18th Annual Southwest Wings Birding & Nature Festival’s free programs will be open to the public. The festival will be held in Sierra Vista Aug. 5-9.
Any resident or visitor can attend without paying the $15 festival registration fee. Among the 24 free programs are Cochise County’s National Wildlife Refuges with Bill Radke; [...]

Mother’s Day with your unique Mom

What kind of mom do you have? If she’s not traditional (or even if she is), consider a trip to Cochise County. There are three events that will help you celebrate your unique Mom during Mother’s Day weekend, May 8-10.
Motorcycle Mama
If she’s a biker babe, you and she can motor down to the Border [...]

Recurring events in Cochise County

Want the chance to learn about Arizona’s history or experience some of southern Arizona’s greatest outdoor activities? You can with some of the events in Cochise County that happen on a regular basis.
Tours of Historic Faraway Ranch, Chiricahua National Monument
The Faraway Ranch was one of the earliest cattle and guest ranches in southeast [...]

Blue mockingbird: rare bird spotted in Douglas

Four sightings of the Blue Mockingbird have been documented previously in the U.S.Last week, a fifth sighting was confirmed at the Slaughter Ranch.
Slaughter Ranch is a park adjacent to the San Bernardino National Wildlife Refuge in southeastern Arizona. Richard Webster, a professional guide with Field Guides Birding Tours, identified the bird and notified the Ranch’s [...]

Wings Over Willcox this weekend

Wings Over Willcox begins officially on Wednesday. A few spots are left on the birding and nature tours this weekend. I’m surprised the day long photography workshop is not full yet. A couple of years ago, I took the beginning birdwatching tour (it’s free!), and we saw a Vermillion Flycatcher, among many other species when [...]

Cochise County events in January

If you’re going to be in the Southwest this month, travel to southern Arizona and experience some of Cochise County’s events.
Athletes start the month with the Annual Senior Games. Birding and nature enthusiasts flock to Wings Over Willcox. Then cowboys and cowgirls round out the month with the Cowboy/Cowgirl Roundup at the Singing Wind Bookshop [...]

Birders’ social networking site

I searched for birding on twitter.com the other day and found a social networking site for birders that is in its beginning stages. The site’s developer is @aviatlas and said this in a tweet (that’s twitter talk for an entry on the site):
“This is an emerging, independent project documenting birding hotspots around the world. [...]

Wings Over Willcox birding festival update

Tickets are still available for Wings Over Willcox, Jan. 14-18, 2009.
The Wings Over Willcox site has participant information (what to wear, where to meet, etc.), online registration, a species list of birds seen at previous festivals and more. Early bird registration is Dec. 31, 2008.
If you’re an avid birder or just want to learn, this [...]

Wings Over Willcox: get your tickets now!

If you are a casual backyard birder or a more experienced one, you might want to check out Wings Over Willcox, an annual festival that tracks the migration of Sandhill Cranes. It has evolved into a festival that explores local birding, wildlife, nature, geology and history.
They hold it every year on the Martin Luther King holiday weekend. [...]