Afternoon: Program check in is after 3:00 PM and program registration will take place between 4:30-5:15 PM adjacent to the hotel lobby.

Dinner: Dinner at a local Wickenburg restaurant.

Evening: Introductions and orientation in the meeting room following dinner. Meet your fellow participants and get ready for a wonderful week birding in the Arizona desert!

Lodging: Los Viajeros Inn

Meals Included: Dinner

Breakfast: Enjoy a full breakfast at a local Wickenburg restaurant. Daily entrees will rotate, but you can look forward to a variety including scrambled eggs, pancakes, oatmeal, fresh fruit, whole grain toast, hot coffee and orange juice.

Morning: Birding field trip. Date Creek Ranch, over 120 years old, is a working cattle ranch managed holistically. Birding at the headquarters area situated in a riparian setting of cottonwoods and willows, and a half-mile walk along the sandy edge of the creek should produce Vermilion Flycatcher, Phainopepla, Gila Woodpecker, Inca Dove, Gilded Flicker, Harris’ Hawk, and other desert species.

Lunch: Sack lunches in the field.

Afternoon: Return in late afternoon.

Dinner: Dinner at a local Wickenburg restaurant.

Evening: Presentation on “Birds of the Sonoran Desert”.

Lodging: Los Viajeros Inn

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Breakfast: Enjoy a full breakfast at a local Wickenburg restaurant adjacent to the hotel.

Morning: Birding field trip. On our drive to today’s site we will pass through the Joshua Tree Scenic Parkway, a “forest” of these unusual yucca plants. At our destination of Burro Creek we will search out birds among mesquites adjacent to the creek, as well as in surrounding desert vegetation (walking about a mile in all), expecting to see Lucy’s Warbler, Bell’s Vireo, and Black-throated Sparrow, among other species. Along the high cliffs bordering the waterway, swallows, raptors, and White-throated Swifts are possible.

Lunch: Sack lunches in the field.

Afternoon: Return from field trip mid-afternoon.

Dinner: Dinner at a local Wickenburg restaurant.

Evening: A video presentation “Spring Comes to the Harcuvars”, filmed in the region's nearby mountains.

Lodging: Los Viajeros Inn

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Birding at Hassayampa River Preserve/Desert Caballeros Museum in Wickenburg

Breakfast: Enjoy a full breakfast at a local Wickenburg restaurant.

Morning: Birding field trip. This morning will be spent at the Nature Conservancy’s Hassayampa River Preserve. For most of its 100-mile course through the desert, this river flows only underground. But within the preserve its crystal clear waters emerge, flowing above ground throughout the year. This lush streamside habitat is home to some of the desert’s most spectacular wildlife, and it hosts 280 species of nesting and migrating birds. Our visit may produce some migrating warblers, vireos, and orioles, as well as the resident Abert’s Towhee, Canyon Wren, Northern Cardinal, Gambel’s Quail, and Anna’s Hummingbird.

Lunch: Sack lunches in the field.

Afternoon: Afternoon docent-led tour of the Desert Caballeros Western Museum (western art and history). Fun Fact: did you know Wickenburg is the birthplace of Arizona's state neckwear, the bola tie?!

Dinner: A popular local restaurant, Tumbleweeds, offers a variety of classic American fare in an upbeat, friendly setting. The beef brisket and pulled pork sandwiches are favorites, the braised ribs are tender and tasty, and their signature oven fried chicken with apples and onions is a standout. Every meal ends with one of their dessert “shots”, just enough to satisfy your sweet tooth. Vegetarian and gluten-free selections are also available.

Evening: Enjoy a free evening in Wickenburg.

Lodging: Los Viajeros Inn

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Breakfast: Enjoy a full breakfast at a local Wickenburg restaurant.

Morning: Birding field trip. On this day we will leave the lower desert and take a scenic drive to a higher elevation (4800’) where granite boulders and chaparral vegetation abound. While walking narrow paved lanes and a creekside trail in the town of Yarnell, Bridled Titmouse, Bushtit, Western Scrub-Jay, Acorn Woodpecker, and Spotted Towhee are possible. Our journey will include travel through semi-desert grassland, where Western Meadowlark and Brewer’s Blackbird may be spotted, and a visit to a higher site on the Hassayampa River. We will also stop to view waterbirds at some ranch ponds.

Lunch: Sack lunches in the field.

Afternoon: Return from field trip in late afternoon.

Dinner: Dinner at a local Wickenburg restaurant.

Evening: Final night of Q. and A. with your naturalists and reflections on the week of birding in the Arizona desert.

Lodging: Los Viajeros Inn

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Breakfast: Enjoy a full breakfast at a local Wickenburg restaurant.

Morning: Birding field trip. Birding in the small community of Congress (a former gold mining town) should yield the sought-after resident Pyrrhuloxia. Easy walking along a neighborhood road and in the local Tenderfoot Hill Park may also produce such species as Verdin, Curve-billed Thrasher, Cactus Wren, and other desert birds. Back in time for farewells and checkout by 11:00 AM. Program ends at checkout.

Meals Included: Breakfast