Wezil Walraven, professional bird guide extraordinaire—featured in the recently-published book, “ A Supremely Bad Idea: Three Mad Birders and Their Quest to See it All”—will be leading this trip which provides seven nights of owling and birding at its best in Southeastern Arizona. Ken Kauffman still holds the US record for finding the most owls in a 24 hour period (in Arizona, of course), but our trip will focus on finding as many of these owls as possible in a slightly longer period, including Flammulated Owl, Northern Saw-whet Owl, Northern Pygmy-Owl, Western Screech-Owl, Elf Owl, Great Horned Owl, Mexican Spotted Owl, Barn Owl, and Burrowing Owl.

Naturally, there are many other Arizona birds to be seen at the same time—up to 300 resident and neotropical species, many of them found only in this fascinating land of amazing contrasts where the Sonoran Desert, the Sierra Madres, the Rocky Mountains and the Chihuahuan Desert all converge in a startling explosion of biodiversity unmatched in North America. We expect to see about 150 of the possible species, including 10 or more species of hummingbirds found here throughout the year.

We'll spend four nights at the charming Casa de San Pedro Inn on the San Pedro River, and four nights in the Chiricahuas in Portal at the Portal Lodge. These comfortable locations give us easy access to all the premier birding spots of southeastern Arizona without long drives at the end of the day. While our focus will be on birds, we'll also point out the enormous variety of flora and fauna as well as the cultural and historical highlights of southeastern Arizona.