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!

Wordless Wednesday: clouds in Cochise County, Arizona

Mountains south of Tombstone, AZ on Hwy 80 (c) Luanne Mattson

Warren Ballpark’s 100-year anniversary

If Mother Nature cooperates, baseball fans can celebrate a piece of history: the 100th birthday of Warren Ballpark, the oldest ballpark in the U.S.

Originally scheduled for July 5, the celebration was rained out. Festivities will begin Saturday, Aug. 1 at 2:30 p.m. and culminate with a game between the Bisbee Copper Kings and the El Paso Sun Kings.

Pete Vucurevich, a member of the 1947 Bisbee Yanks player, will throw out the first pitch. Vucurevich played for the team in 1947 when Charlie Metro was manager. The Yanks werea Class C farm team for the New York Yankees.

Schedule of Events:

2:30 P.M.         Warren Ballpark opens

3:30 P.M.         Barber Shop Quartet

4:30 P.M.         A Taste of the Bisbee Blue’s Festival

5:30 P.M.         Fort Huachuca 36^th Army Band – John Phillip Sousa Marches
6:00 P.M.         Invocation – Reverend Caryl Larkins

First Pitch – Pete Vucurevich – Former Bisbee Kings Player

PLAY BALL! Bisbee Copper Kings vs. El Paso Sun Kings

Tickets are $10 and include a 100^th Anniversary Warren Ball Park 1909 – 2009 Official Souvenir Program.  Pre-school aged children are free.

Commemorative hats and t-shirts will be available along with ballpark favorites, including hotdogs, cracker jacks, sodas, iced-cold beer and other goodies.

Bisbee is 90 miles southeast of Tucson. Check out the city of Bisbee’s tourism website for visitor information.

For baseball information visit www.friendsofwarrenballpark.com and www.bisbeecopperkings.com.

Southwest Wings waives registration fee for select programs

This year the 18^th 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; Nectar Feeding Bats with Ronnie Sidner; Hummingbirds 101 with Tom Wood; and Nest Box Building with Mike Guest.

The free programs are held in the conference room of the Windemere Hotel. Since it has ample capacity, pre-registration is not required for the free programs. Some lectures have an associated field trip for which there is a registration fee and a charge.

The keynote address will feature Kenn Kaufman, who will talk about bird migration from the migrating bird’s point of view. Kaufman has led birding tours on seven continents and has taught birding workshops in 45 of the 50 states. Note: The keynote address is not a free program.

Check the full schedule of the Southwest Wings Birding and Nature Festival for more information and to make reservations for any of the workshops that require a fee.

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Southwest Wings waives registration fee for free programs

This year the 18^th Annual Southwest Wings Birding & Nature Festival’s free programs will be open to the public. 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; Nectar Feeding Bats with Ronnie Sidner; Hummingbird Banding with Sheri Williamson & Tom Wood; and Nest Box Building by Mike Guest. The keynote address will feature Kenn Kaufman, who will talk about bird migration from the migrating bird’s point of view.

Info: www.swwings.org

National Park Service’s free admission July 18 & 19

Fort Bowie National Historic Site. (c) Luanne Mattson

Don’t forget about the free weekend deals offered at our National Parks this weekend, July 18 & 19, 2009. This will be the second of the three free weekends. The third will happen Aug. 15 & 16. You’ll be able to see why documentary filmmaker, Ken Burns, called it one of “America’s Best Ideas.” His homage to the National Parks will begin this fall on PBS.

Cochise County is fortunate to have three National Parks within its boundaries: Coronado National Memorial, which commemorates Coronado’s quest for gold, Chiricahua National Monument, which the Apache called the “land of the standing up rocks” and Fort Bowie National Historic Site, which is the site where the Indian Wars of the 1800s began.

They have some truly spectacular scenery… and remember they are FREE this weekend. Enjoy!