birding world have spawned a tourism industry in Arizona that draws
bird-watchers from around the world.
"It's one of the two or three best places in the United States to look
for birds," said David Pashley of the American Bird Conservancy.
"Arizona makes a lot of money off of bird-watchers going down to the
southeast corner of the state."
More than 140 bird species are found in southern Arizona, and birding
festivals take place year-round throughout the state, including Yuma
and in northern Arizona's Verde Valley. One of the best-known birding
destinations is the southeastern city of Sierra Vista, which hosts the
annual Southwest Wings Birding and Nature Festival. The Aug. 3-6
festival, in its 20th year, typically draws thousands of participants.
Nearby Tucson will host another major summer event for birders — the
inaugural Tucson Bird & Wildlife Festival, Aug. 17-21. The itinerary
will include the Sky Islands Birding Cup fundraiser, where teams will
compete to observe the most bird species in a 24-hour period.
Sierra Vista is located near several canyons, the San Pedro River and
the Coronado National Memorial, and birds are attracted to the area's
hodgepodge of ecosystems, including mountains and trees along rivers
and lakes, according to Joe Yarchin, an Arizona Game and Fish
Department project coordinator.
"Those are the strongest kind of birding areas in deserts. People
certainly don't think of Arizona as any kind of mecca for birders,"
Yarchin said. "Everyone thinks death and desolation when they think of
desert."
Many out-of-town birders come to see birds that are a rarity where
they live. Sierra Vista, which promotes itself as the "Hummingbird
Capital," has documented more than a dozen species of hummingbirds
that are found nowhere else in the country. With the Huachuca
Mountains' close proximity to the Sierra Madre mountain ranges of
Mexico, birders also get excited at border-crossers.
"A bunch of birds that are Mexican in distribution get into that part
of the country," Pashley said. "There are essentially Mexican birds
that you can see there that you can't see anywhere else."
In Sierra Vista, birders can also get an extraordinary peek at
scientists' effort to record information on hummingbirds. Near the San
Pedro River, researchers set up nets and feeders to catch hummingbirds
in the fall and spring. Once they're caught, scientists weigh them and
measure them. Daggett said they are released, but not before getting a
band around their leg.
"Sometimes they get one that has been coming back year after year,"
Daggett said.
Like most birding events, the Southwest festival offers field
excursions and lectures. "A lot of folks like to do a 45-minute
classroom and then do a carpool and go someplace and put some of the
stuff to use in the field," said Gordon Lewis, one of the festival's
organizers.
Lewis said the June 12 Monument Fire outside Sierra Vista, which
burned 47 square miles and destroyed 57 homes, hasn't affected the
festival's plans or bird-watching in general. They have only had to
close down one planned trip because of U.S. Forest Service road
closures.
Wildfires have also provided fresh fodder for discussion topics,
including talks at the Southwest festival addressing how wildlife and
habitats bounce back from the disasters.
Pashley, who oversees domestic habitat issues at the American Bird
Conservancy, says most fires are good for ecosystems by helping to
clear growth. Displaced birds are resilient enough to adapt and find
new places to get food. In southern Arizona, where summer brings a
monsoon season characterized by increased humidity and rain, burned
areas will "green up really fast."
"My suspicion is those systems will come back and in the long run
they'll be healthier than they were," Pashley said. "It's worse for
bird-watchers than it is for birds."
According to a 2006 U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service survey, birders spent
more than $12 billion nationwide on travel and equipment expenses such
as cameras, binoculars and bird food. That same report states that
about 1.3 million people came to Arizona to observe wild birds,
Yarchin said. Arizona birding generated $838 million in trip-related
spending the same year, bringing about $1.2 billion in revenue into
the state. For tourism offices and communities, that's a lot of heads
and beds, Yarchin added.
"It gets their attention when I go and give my talks to a county board
of supervisors or a chamber of commerce," Yarchin said. "You might
just say wildlife viewing is comparable to the combination of hunting
and fishing."
One reason birding may be such a big draw is its leisurely pace.
"It's a good excuse to go out and get in the fresh air. You don't have
to set a goal of going 10 miles or something. It's better than sitting
in front of the TV," Lewis said.
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