I, too, recently visited SE Arizona for the first time and want to plug
a couple of other options besides paid guides. I much prefer to try to
find and figure out species on my own. Several people on BirdingPal
and SABO (SE Arizona Bird Observatory) were very helpful. (For more
information, you can check their websites or contact me privately.)
BirdingPal folks either went birding with me or shared information on
where to look for birds. I got most of my target birds - not all - but
that wasn't my goal. For tweets who have limited time, have the money
and want to get all the birds on one trip, I heartily agree the folks
Guy mentions in his post are great.

Georgia Conti
a former Seattleite now living in Patzcuaro, Mexico where the birds are
interesting as well

-----Original Message-----
From: Guy McWethy <lguy_mcw at yahoo.com>
To: Tweeters <tweeters at u.washington.edu>
Sent: Thu, 29 May 2008 11:36 am
Subject: [Tweeters] SE Arizona Birding Guide and trip report (long)

Hey Tweets!
Just a (kinda) quick report about our experiences with
birding guides in SE Arizona last week.

I already posted about Stuart Healy dropping us just 2
weeks before the trip, after 6 months of planning. I
can heartily NOT recomend him as a guide ...

Melody Kehl was booked for that entire week. However
she responded promptly, and has a good reputation.

Rick Wright of Wings stepped up for my last minute
request. He was unable to take us out himself, but he
called around to the local guides and hooked us up
with another Wings guide, GAVIN BEIBER. We hired
Gavin to get us into California Gulch, and he went
above and beyond by guiding us to Madera Canyon, and
Rio Rico area before going to CA Gulch! Gavin was
GREAT! Got us on almost every bird on our wish list.
Knew the local areas flawlessly, and was a personable,
agreeable guide. For the only bird we missed with him
(Black-capped Gnatcatcher), he gave us directions to
other sites to try, and we got the Gnatcatcher the
next day, exactly where he told us it would be. And
the knew some GREAT local places to eat! ;)

Jeff Cohen managed to contact DAVE JASPER of Portal
Arizona for a day around the Chiracahua Mountains and
a night of Owling. We lucked into a day with Dave,
after a last minute cancellation made him available.
He normally books his years worth of guiding in
January! Dave was also a great guide, freindly,
personable, knowledgable, and solicitous. I think he
knows the first name of every owl on Cave Creek ....
If you want to get on his good side, start your
birding tour of SE Arizona with him in Portal. He
'complained' that he is always on the tail-end of
everyone's birding trips, by being in Portal. He is
always on 'Clean-up', and trying to get everyone's
tough targets! ;) Give him a thrill and show up
early in your trip, so he can really impress you!

We can heartily recomend either of these guys for
birding guides in SE Arizona! They got us to some
very tough birds, and were friendly and professional.

As for the birds, we saw almost every possible bird we
were looking for that was actually in the state at the
time. The RT Becard and Green Kingfisher were not
reported anywhere in the state, so we obviously missed
them. Dipped on the Flammulated Owl ...

For the AZ specialities, we saw the rest!
Berylline, Lucifer, White-eared Hummingbirds (10
species total!)
Five-stripe, Botteri's, Cassin's, Rufous-winged
Sparrow.
Buff-collared Nightjar, Lesser Nighthawk
Flame-colored Tanager
Elegant Trogon
Buff-breasted Flycatcher
Mexican Chickadee
Gray, Zone-tail, Harris's, Common-Black Hawks
Gray, Bell's Vireos
LeConte's, Crissal, Bendire's, Curve-billed Thrashers
Red-faced, Olive, Grace's, Virginia, Lucy's Warblers
Prothonatary Warbler (Bob only ! ;)
Elf, Whiskered-Screech, Western-Screech Owls
'Mountain' Northern Pygmy-Owl
Crested Caracara
Northern-Beardless Tyranulet
Varied Bunting
Black-capped, Black-tailed Gnatcatcher

209 species total.

Great Trip! Great Company! And Great Guides!
11 Stars out of 10 !!
Highly recomended!

Guy

PS - Feel free to Email me off-list for any more trip
details you may be interested in.

Guy McWethy
Renton, WA
mailto: lguy_mcw at yahoo.com



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