SE ARIZONA IN THE WINTER
January 7-14, 2025 David Bradford/Brandon Percival
Four Participants Only (Two spots remain open)
(This is the correct tour and the correct date, email was incorrect.)
We have led bird tours to SE Arizona numerous times in the Spring/Summer/Fall, and last year we did our first winter tour and found out that winter is a wonderful time to bird this extremely birdy region. This year we will use Sierra Vista as our main base of operations, instead of Tucson, allowing us to make short forays to many of the traditional SE Arizona hotspots. I am leaving out Phoenix this year as the LeConte’s Thrasher habitat in Phoenix is being turned into a solar farm, hence no LeConte’s Thrasher present, but I am making this tour one day longer since there are so many locations to visit south and east of Tucson.
Spending our first two nights in Tucson allows us quick and easy access to Sweetwater Wetlands, Madera Canyon, Desert Meadows Park, and a few other birdy areas. Sweetwater Wetlands should allow a very close study of numerous ducks, Anna’s Hummingbird, Gila and Ladder-backed Woodpecker, Greater Roadrunner, Belted Kingfisher, Vermilion Flycatcher, Black Phoebe, Verdin, Black-tailed Gnatcatcher, Phainopepla, Lesser Goldfinch, Pyrrhuloxia, and possibly some wintering warbler. A quick trip south to Madera Canyon and its many feeders should produce Wild Turkey, White-throated Swift, Rivoli’s Hummingbird, Acorn Woodpecker. Mexican Jay, Bridled Titmouse, Hepatic Tanager, and both Dark-eyed and Yellow-eyed Junco. In the grasslands lower in Madera Canyon and Desert Meadows Park we hope to find Costa’s and Broad-billed Hummingbird, Ladder-backed Woodpecker, Verdin, and Rufous-winged Sparrow. We will also spend time birding the grasslands to the south and east of Tucson as well as other “water holes” within the Sonoran Desert. In the grasslands we will look for raptors including Northern Harrier, Harris’s, Red-tailed, Ferruginous Hawk, American Kestrel, Merlin, and Prairie Falcon. We plan to visit some bodies of water within easy striking distance of Sierra Vista looking shorebirds and numerous ducks.
A visit to world renowned Paton Center for Hummingbirds should produce our only Violet-crowned Hummingbird along with Broad-billed and possibly Anna’s. As we sit quietly or walk a few of the very short trails at the center we hope to see Gambel’s Quail, Inca and Common Ground Dove, Arizona Woodpecker, Say’s Phoebe, Bewick’s Wren, Curve-billed Thrasher, Abert’s, Canyon, and Green-tailed Towhee.
Since we are staying in Sierra Vista this year a quick trip to Portal is probable and here, we hope to find Rivoli’s and Blue-throated Mountain-gem, Red-naped Sapsucker, Northern Flicker, Black Phoebe, Woodhouse’s Scrub-Jay, White-breasted Nuthatch, Cactus Wren, Townsend’s Solitaire, Hermit Thrush, Pine Siskin, Black-throated Sparrow, and Pyrrhuloxia. There is no telling what might appear at Willow Tank, Stateline Road or the small birdy town of Rodeo, NM.
If you are looking for a bird filled tour with hopefully mild temps this is the tour for you. We will be staying in Tucson and Sierra Vista and driving to the nearby necessary bird locations.
The cost of this four person, seven night tour, is $2,150 for double occupancy with an additional $550 for single occupancy. The cost of the tour covers most meals, though meals are no longer a major production, but a more relaxed and casual affair.
We will fly in and out of Tucson.
A deposit of $500 is needed to hold your spot on this winter tour. Please mail your check to David Bradford 18046 Green Hazel Dr., Houston, TX. 77084
RIO GRANDE VALLEY OF TEXAS
2/26/2025 - 3/5/2025 | Bradford & Brandon Percival
Four Participants Only (Four spots remain open)
(This is the correct tour and the correct date, email was incorrect.)
As winter maintains a firm and icy grip on most of the US, the Rio Grande Valley of Texas can be pleasant and loaded with not only resident and winter birds, but possibly a handful of vagrants slipping across the border. While in the Valley we will use Harlingen as our base of operations, staying in just one hotel and making bird excursions to the east and west. We will focus on the lower and middle Valley, not the upper Valley. But here’s the twist, before reaching the Valley we will spend two nights in the Corpus Christi/Rockport area taking a boat trip out to see Whooping Cranes and the many other birds along the Central Texas Coast.
​
This is an extension to our usual Rio Grande Valley tours that focus just on the Lower and Middle Valley. The two nights before the Valley will allow us time to take a boat trip out of Rockport in search of the winter Whooping Cranes that make Aransas NWR their winter home. Along with cranes we hope to find ducks, American Oystercatcher, Willet, gulls, terns, herons including Reddish, Roseate Spoonbill, Osprey, and Belted Kingfisher. After our boat trip we might visit the usually birdy Leonabelle Turnbull Birding Center looking for more ducks up close and personal form the boardwalk, Sora, Common Gallinule, Black-necked Stilt, American Avocet, Greater Yellowlegs, Little Blue Heron and Reddish Egret, sparrows and much more. This can be a lovely way to explore the Central Coast.
​
After our two nights along the Central Coast, we will work our way to the Valley spending five nights in Harlingen and going east and west from there. This tour allows us to focus on areas in a rather close geographical area that might include Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley SP, Edinburg Scenic Wetlands, Resaca de las Palma SP, Estero Llano Grande SP, Frontera Audubon, Oliveira Park, Santa Ana NWR, and Quinta Mazatlan. Bird distribution will determine which of these marvelous birding locales we will visit. Our efforts will be focused on finding Valley specialties like Plain Chachalaca, Least Grebe, White-tipped Dove, Buff-bellied Hummingbird, Harris’s Hawk, Ringed and Green kingfisher, Golden-fronted Woodpecker, Black-crested Titmouse, Great Kiskadee, Tropical Kingbird, Green Jay, Long-billed Thrasher, Clay-colored Thrush, Olive Sparrow, and Altimira Oriole. There are always a few wintering warblers, and usually a vagrant or two present like Rose-throated Becard, Crimson-collared Grosbeak, Golden-crowned Warbler or Blue Bunting. However, the appearance of these rarities varies from year to year and there is no telling which, if any, will be present while we are in the Valley. As we look for Valley specialties, we will also be looking for rarities. If you look at a bird list on my website from last year’s Valley tours you see an unprecedented number of rarities where in the Valley last year, we can only hope for a year like last year.
​
This trip does not include the upper Valley, Santa Margarita Ranch, or Salineno. We will keep our travel distances reasonable and spend a lot of time in the field birding.
​
Fee: The cost of the tour for double occupancy is $2,250 and includes most meals. Single occupancy is an additional $550 per person. See my website for a list of birds seen previously. The cost of the tour covers most meals, though meals are no longer a major production, but a more relaxed and casual affair.
People might choose to fly into Houston and ride to Corpus Christi/Rockport area with me and Brandon or fly into Corpus Christi. We can sort that out once I know where birders are coming from.
​
Deposit: A deposit of $500 is needed to hold a spot on this tour. Deposit checks can be mailed to David Bradford 18046 Green Hazel Dr. Houston, TX. 77084 281 744 6486 leave message or text.
​
Southern California
April 24 – May 3, 2025 Bradford/Percival
Four Participants Only (Two spots remain open)
​
The June 2024 California tour was an incredible tour with the some in the group seeing just under 200 species and other seeing just over 200 species. We also encountered all the California specialties we set out to find. Usually, following a tour we haven’t done in a while I make several changes for the following year, however, there doesn’t seem to be the need to change anything other than the dates allowing us to better witness spring migration. Like the 2024 tour, the 2025 tour will be focused on the many California specialties that California has to offer. We might even find a few winter stragglers reluctant to leave their wintering grounds and of course the many other birds that call southern California home. On this tour we will cover a large area of southern California, experience a wide variety of habitats, enjoy beautiful scenery, and see numerous birds with an emphasis on those with restricted ranges in the state. This is an ideal time to be birding in southern California.
Our route will take us from the coast near San Diego, through the Anza Borrego Desert and state park of the same name, inland to the drying up Salton Sea, up Mt. Pinos, road conditions permitting, to over 8,000 feet in elevation, to the dry San Joaquin Valley and back to the coast near Santa Barbara for a boat trip out to Santa Cruz Island for Island Scrub-Jay.
On our first day we will bird areas in and around San Diego looking for California Quail, White-throated Swift, Anna’s and Allen’s Hummingbird, Ridgeway’s Rail, American Avocet, Black-necked Stilt, Whimbrel, Long-billed Curlew, Western Gull and California Gull, Elegant Tern, Acorn and Nuttall’s Woodpecker, Pacific-slope Flycatcher, Black and Say’s Phoebe, Bell’s and Hutton’s Vireo, California Scrub-Jay, Wrentit, Oak Titmouse, California Gnatcatcher, California Thrasher, Phainopepla, California Towhee, Hooded Oriole, Yellow and Townsend’s Warbler, and Black-headed Grosbeak. This should be a fun day filled with numerous species as we work some of the better hotspots in San Diego County.
As we move inland through the Anza-Borrego Desert to the large Anza-Borrego State Park we will encounter drier scrub like habitat and different species of bird. Here we will look for Greater Roadrunner, Costa’s Hummingbird, Western Wood-Pewee, Ash-throated Flycatcher, Western Kingbird, Verdin, Black-tailed Gnatcatcher, Cactus Wren, Black-throated Sparrow, Nashville Warbler, and Western Tanager.
Eventually we will bird the southern portion of the Salton Sea, a body of water that formed because of the Colorado River breaking through an irrigation dike in 1905 and flowing unchecked out of its banks for two years forming what is now the Salton Sea. Here we will look for ducks, Eared, Western and Clark’s Grebe, Lesser Nighthawk, Red-necked Phalarope, Black Skimmer, Burrowing Owl, Western Kingbird, swallows, Marsh Wren, and Abert’s Towhee. I had my life Abert’s Towhee at Sonny Bono Unit of the Salton Sea NWR in August of 1988.
From the Salton Sea we will work our way north heading toward Mt. Pinos in the Los Padre National Forest where we will look for high elevation birds like Band-tailed Pigeon, Red-breasted Sapsucker, Hairy and White-headed Woodpecker, Dusky Flycatcher, Steller’s Jay, Clark’s Nutcracker, Mountain Chickadee, Violet-green Swallow, Pygmy Nuthatch, Fox Sparrow, Dark-eyed Junco, Lawrence’s Goldfinch, and breeding plumaged Audubon’s Yellow-rumped Warbler.
As we work our way back to the coast, we will make a stop at Petroleum Club Road to look for LeConte’s Thrasher and Bell’s Sparrow, both elusive birds of the desert scrub.
In the Santa Barbara area, we will look for Chestnut-backed Chickadee, Oak Titmouse, Tricolored Blackbird, and time will be spent looking for the small number of Yellow-billed Magpies that remain in the area. As we have done in the past, we will use Island Packers to get us out to Santa Cruz Island and enroute to the island we will look for Pacific Loon, Pigeon Guillemot, Sooty Shearwater, Rhinoceros and Cassin’s Auklet, and more. We will probably get dropped off at Scorpion Bay and from here we have a pretty good chance of locating Island Scrub-Jay in the picnic area and probably Orange-crowned Warbler and Allen’s Hummingbird.
This is a long tour that covers many different habitats, and we will see a wide variety of species. Time will be devoted to finding the many California specialties that Southern California has to offer.
For a detailed description of the 2024 tour please visit my website and go to Past Tours and Birds Seen section and scroll down to California and read the written summary and birds seen list. This will give you a good idea of what the 2025 tour will look like.
Past Bird Tours & Birds Seen | Birdtours
The cost of this four person, ten night tour is $4,350 per person for double occupancy with an additional fee of $850 for a single supplement. The cost of the tour covers most meals. However, meals are no longer a major production, but a more relaxed and casual affair. Sometimes I will place a to go order and we will relax in the hotel lobby as we dine and complete our daily checklists. Everything in California is expensive, from the hotels to the rental vehicle to meals, therefore this is an expensive tour. And as usual, we are going with four clients for a nice small group.
We will fly into San Diego and out of Santa Barbara.
Please let me know if you are interested in this tour that will seek the many species of Southern California.
Michigan and the Kirtland’s Warbler
May 16-20, 2025 / Bradford/Percival
Four Participants Only (Three Spots Remain)
The Kirtland’s Warbler is a handsome, rather large warbler that has a restricted breeding range in North America. Most nesting takes place in Michigan, though the warbler had recently expanded its range into Wisconsin and Ontario, Canada. However, the bulk of breeding birds are found in five to fifteen year-old Jack Pines in Michigan. And it is in Michigan where we plan to see this range restricted warbler. In the early 1970s the number of singing males had dropped 167 and were one of the first species of birds placed on the endangered species list. By 2015, after extensive habitat restoration and cowbird management, their numbers had rebounded to over 2,300 singing males. We will take advantage of the US Forest Services warbler management program and their tours as we look for Kirtland’s Warbler. This will be our third tour to Michigan for Kirtland’s Warbler.
The emphasis of this tour is to see Kirtland’s Warbler and experience spring migration in Michigan, especially at Tawas Point along the coast of Lake Huron.
We will fly into the Tri Cites area of Michigan (MBS) that includes Midland, Saginaw, and Bay City, putting us close to Tawas Point and Mio, where will strike out to locate the Kirtland’s Warbler. Tawas Point is one of Michigan's prime migrant traps and mid May is an ideal time to catch migration along the coast of Lake Huron. But like other migrant traps, the presence of big numbers of birds depends on the weather. The good news is, even if migration is slow there are plenty of birds to see at Tawas Point State Park and the surrounding area.
The Mio Motel that we used in the past is a relatively simple, no frills motel that is clean and comfortable and we will use that as our base of operations while in Mio as we seek the Kirtland’s Warbler and migrants
Fee: The cost of the tour for double occupancy is $1,750 and includes most meals. Single occupancy is an additional $500 per person. Meals are no longer a major production, but more relaxed casual affairs.
Deposit: A deposit of $500 is needed to hold a spot on this tour. Deposit checks can be mailed to David Bradford 18046 Green Hazel Dr. Houston, TX. 77084 281 744 6486 leave message or text.
Atlantic Puffins/Razorbills/Black Guillemots/Common Murres/Maine
June 5-11, 2025 (Dates Are Presently Tentative)
Bradford/Percival
Four Participants Only (One Spot Remains)
Each spring and summer Atlantic Puffins gather in great numbers to breed on Machias Seal Island off the coast of Maine. The plan is to go out with Bold Coast Charter and make a landing on the island to view Atlantic Puffins, Razorbills, Common Murre, Black Guillemots and Arctic Terns up close and personal. On the last three trips to Maine, we were able to land on the island and sit in blinds enjoying the sights and sounds of a nesting seabird colony. An island landing is not guaranteed, weather and sea conditions determine if we land or remain on the boat and circle the island observing birds from the boat.
Before and after our boat trip we will spend time looking for land birds. Early June is a great time to be in Maine as many migrants have recently arrived and are singing to establish territories. A few birds we hope to see include Common Eider, Black Scoter, Great Black-backed Gull, Common Tern, Yellow-bellied and Alder Flycatchers, Winter Wren, Swainson’s Thrush, Ovenbird, Blackburnian, Chestnut-sided, and Black-throated Green Warblers. We will spend time in Bar Harbor, take the drive up Cadillac Mountain, and bird Acadia National Park.
If you want to see Atlantic Puffins and other alcids, this is the tour for you. Keep in mind, when not seeking puffins there will be plenty of other birds to see.
We plan to fly in and out of Bangor, Maine birding woodlands, the coast, and the ocean on the way to and from the island.
Looking at previous past bird lists and written summaries from past tours will not give a good idea on birds to expect on this tour, Previous tours not only covered Maine, but also MA, NH, and VT. This is a condensed tour focusing on Maine and Machias Seal Island for Atlantic Puffin and other species.
Since Bold Coast Charters are the only company that has a license to land on Machias Seal Island, making reservations is difficult. In the past there were two other companies that could land on the island, but that is in the past making getting a particular date in 2025 difficult. Once I have secured our six spots on the boat, I will confirm tour dates. I will know for sure that exact tour dates once Bold Coast Charters opens reservations for the 2025 season.
Fee: The cost of the tour for double occupancy is $2,950 and includes most meals. Single occupancy is an additional $650 per person. Meals are no longer a major production, but more relaxed casual affairs.
​
Deposit: A deposit of $500 is needed to hold a spot on this tour. Deposit checks can be mailed to David Bradford 18046 Green Hazel Dr. Houston, TX. 77084 281 744 6486 leave message or text.