After wrapping up the Grand Circle Tour, we still had two full days left in Arizona — just enough time to shift gears from sightseeing to serious birding. The Verde Valley Birding & Nature Festival was the perfect place to do it. Based at Dead Horse Ranch State Park, the festival offers small‑group tours into the surrounding mountains, canyons, and chaparral. With Sedona as our home base the night before, we were more than ready for two days of focused birding and a fresh wave of year birds and lifers.
Saturday morning, we birded the area adjacent to the Southwest Inn and found Canyon and Spotted Towhees, Gambel’s Quail, Western Scrub-jays, along with several other birds. We arrived at the festival site to check in for our tours and were happy to find that the festival keeps group sizes small to assure the best possible birding experience. We would much rather go out bird watching in a 10-passenger van than on a tour bus that holds 50 or more birders. In these smaller groups, you can actually follow what the guides are seeing and learn so much more about birding in general. Just goes to show that bigger is not always better.
Mingus Mountain
Our group, led by the knowledgeable David Moll, set out for Mingus Mountain with high hopes of finding some unique birds. Our first stop was a scenic one, halfway up the mountain, where we located Painted Redstarts, Grace’s Warblers, and three distinct vireos: Plumbeous, Cassin’s, and Hutton’s.
Just as the weather took a turn for the worse, we headed back to the van and continued our climb toward the summit. We were on the hunt for the elusive Red-Faced Warbler, a bird typically found only in elevations above 6,000 feet. As if on cue, the sun broke through the clouds just as we reached the top, giving us a spectacular view of the valley below.
Stepping out of the van, we were immediately distracted by two of the most unusual squirrels we had ever seen. They were Abert’s squirrels, a species with rabbit-like ears endemic to the Rocky Mountains. The area was also teeming with Acorn Woodpeckers, which our group affectionately calls “clown woodpeckers.” Our luck continued when David spotted one of our main target birds high in the pine trees: the elusive Olive Warbler. While we missed the Red-Faced Warbler this time, we’ll be back for another try!
Old Town Cottonwood and the Jail Trail
After the tour, we checked into the Iron Horse Inn, a perfect blend of historic charm and modern comfort in Old Town Cottonwood. The inn’s courtyard was especially inviting, and we loved that we were just a block away from great restaurants, bars, and shops.
For us, the best part was the inn’s prime location right next to the Jail Trail. This spot is one of the premier birding locations on the Verde Valley Birding Trail. It didn’t take long to find some fantastic birds, including a Gila Woodpecker, an Abert’s Towhee, and a Western Kingbird. The highlight was a somewhat unexpected sighting of an Indigo Bunting.
A Big Day with Rich Armstrong
The next morning, we eagerly boarded our van for a day of birding with our group leader, Rich Armstrong. Rich, a retired Nuclear Chemist, is a straight-shooter who knows his birds inside and out, and his no-nonsense approach was a welcome change.
Our first stop was Chuckwalla Drive, where we quickly spotted Hooded and Bullock’s Orioles, as well as Bushtits, Brewer’s Sparrows, and a vibrant Phainopepla. We ended up seeing over two dozen species in this one spot!
Our trip continued to Ogden Ranch Road and the surrounding area, where the sparrows really stole the show. We counted 30 Lark Sparrows and a massive flock of over 70 Lark Buntings, which was a lifer for us! The area had a wide variety of sparrows, and we also got great views of another lifer: the Rufous-crowned Sparrow.
Sedona’s Birds and an Owl Prowl
Our day was far from over. Our generous guide, Rich, invited us to bird his Sedona property, which has incredible habitat and plenty of feeders. He’d even had a Lewis’s Woodpecker visiting his backyard trees. While we didn’t find the Lewis’s, we did spot Gila, Hairy, and Ladder-backed Woodpeckers, along with Black-Chinned and Anna’s Hummingbirds, and both Lesser and American Goldfinches.
On our way back to Dead Horse, we made a quick stop at the Sedona Wetlands. The sun was starting to set, but we still managed to see Ruddy Ducks, Cinnamon Teal, and Canvasbacks, plus several Grebes and Night Herons.
As darkness fell, we arrived back in Cottonwood for a small-group Owl Prowl. We weren’t promised much, but we got lucky. Our leader, Bob Miller, guided us across the state park to a Great-horned Owl nest with two owlets! Further down the trail, Bob called in two Western Screech-owls, which were a lifer for us. The night kept getting better: we had a fly-over Barn Owl while watching a beaver slap its tail in a nearby pond. It was the perfect ending to an amazing day.
The Grand Finale: A Perfect End to the Day
By the time we left Cottonwood, we were running on equal parts adrenaline and awe. From Painted Redstarts on Mingus Mountain to Lark Buntings on Ogden Ranch Road, from backyard hummingbirds to a Western Screech‑Owl on the prowl, the Verde Valley delivered one unforgettable moment after another. And just when we thought the day couldn’t get any better, a final lifer — the Lesser Nighthawk — swept through the ball‑field lights to close out the night. We began 2015 with 482 Lower 48 life birds, and by the end of this trip, our totals reached 301 year birds and 21 lifers. A glass of wine, a red‑eye flight, and a Monday morning at work later, we were reminded once again: no one ever said a Little Big Year would be easy. But it’s absolutely worth every mile.
Trip Totals: 105 species • 34 year birds • 9 life birds
2015 Totals: 301 year birds • 21 life birds
Next up: Birding the local patches
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