The Verde Valley Birding and Nature Festival invites attendees to celebrate the many birds that call Northern Arizona home or are migrating through the area. “Every bird has a unique call or a whole bunch of calls and songs. And so birding is both listening for them, identifying them by their call or their song and also getting to see them using your binoculars,” says Nancy Steele, executive director of Friends of the Verde River.
The Verde Valley Birding and Nature Festival is hosted by the Friends of the Verde River, a nonprofit that works to preserve the Verde River. The festival will be held from April 27 to 30 at Dead Horse State Ranch Park in Cottonwood. Why is Friends of the Verde River behind this event? “This is a birding hot spot,” says Nancy. “And it’s because we have a flowing, healthy river with healthy vegetation, cottonwoods and willows and the like along the river. So a lot of the birds that come here are migrating through in the springtime. Some of them will stay and build nests and breed. ”
Over four days, attendees can look forward to workshops and daily field trips led by experienced guides. Field trips will take place throughout Northern Arizona and specifically in Upper Red Rock Loop Road in Sedona and Camp Verde’s West Clear Creek. Workshop topics include birding by ear, armchair birding and common and unusual birds in Northern Arizona.
The 2023 event theme is riverside residents. Admission on April 29, Family Fun Day, is free. Expect a variety of vendors in addition to live birds and reptiles. Rick Taylor will give a keynote address on Friday evening. The lifelong Arizona resident founded birding company Borderland Tours back in 1980. He’s also the author of the book “Birds of Arizona.” Rick will also lead some birding field trips. This event is a fundraiser for Friends of the Verde River, but it also encourages others to connect with the natural world. “It’s also important to us because when people know about a place, and then they love it, and then they’re much more inclined to want to save it,” says Nancy. − Teresa K. Traverse
SEDONA CALENDAR: Events, activities, shows, happenings
