The southern Arizona desert is a place of stunning beauty with elegant Saguaro cacti and rugged hills. These dotted mountain ranges form what are called “sky islands” places of unique ecology that support a wide range of flora and fauna, including 13 species of hummingbirds that call southern Arizona home. This pocket of ecology has the most number of hummingbirds found in the US and it is just inside the US borders from Mexico. While our emphasis will be photographing hummingbirds this area (and our timing) are perfect for many other species of birds, in fact we will keep a keen eye out for the Elegant Trogon which is known to reside in many of the locations where we will be exploring. We will also take opportunities to photograph the beautiful landscapes.
Our week in Arizona will deliver you to the cool heart of stream laced canyons, the vistas of desert solitude. Here landscape photography and birding are like peas and carrots.
Join us for 7 days of amazing photographic adventure as we explore and photograph hummingbirds and stunning desert scenes.
Instruction
This workshop is primarily field shoots , however, on the first day we will have a lectures about hummingbird photography and some of the unique techniques required to capture these challenging birds.
We will teach and coach you in the following areas of photography; how to capture great moments in bird photography, how to set up your camera’s exposure and focus system for birding, and the best tracking for birds in flight. In addition, we will teach you a complete workflow for bird and hummingbird photography.
Instruction will be a combination of field demonstrations and one on one instruction. Instructor, John Gregor, has over 45 years of professional photographic experience. Our goal is to help you get great photographs.
Location
We will start the workshop in Green Valley, AZ, just south of Tucson. From there we will travel into the surrounding desert countryside, we will visit several parks and birding preserves in the area. We will end the workshop in Bisbee Arizona (unless you’ve made arrangements for transportation back to Tucson.
Itinerary
The workshop begins April 16, at 9:00 am and ends April 22, at about 10:00 am.
We will start our tour in Green Valley, Arizona, a short drive from Tucson. As you enjoy the sunrise we will be approaching The Santa Rita Mountain range which reaches heights of over 9000 feet and contains the delightful Madera Canyon – one of the world’s preeminent birding destinations with 13 hummingbird species and over 235 other bird species. Our trip is perfectly timed for the spring warbler migration of which you are likely to see more than a dozen species. While we can walk to our hearts content, there are many places to rest and enjoy the birding while taking in the views both intimate and expansive.
The second day we drive to the true desert experience and the Sonoita Creek Natural area where 329 species of birds call home. This is a great place to see Lucy’s Warbler and the Vermillion Flycatcher, two stunningly beautiful desert birds. We visit the Paton Hummingbird Center.
The morning of the third day is our “clean-up” day for this area. We look for birds on our target list we may have missed.
The afternoon of the fourth day we will relocate to Sierra Vista, the Hummingbird capital of the US. During our stay in this area, we will visit the Ramsey Canyon Preserve. A spring-fed stream, and high canyon walls provide Ramsey Canyon with a moist, cool environment unusual in the desert Southwest. Water-loving plants such as sycamores, maples and columbines line the banks of Ramsey Creek, often growing within a few feet of cacti, yucca and agaves. Southeastern Arizona is an ecological crossroads, where the Sierra Madre of Mexico, the Rocky Mountains, and the Sonoran and Chihuahuan deserts all come together. Against this backdrop we will explore the landscape and ample birding opportunities.
In addition, this area offers us some spectacular landscape opportunities.
Our final night will be in Bisbee, Arizona, where we are stationed perfectly to explore the Chiricahua Mountain National Monument, 12,000 acres of rugged mountains with spectacular rock formations and stunning photographic opportunities.
By the end of this tour you will have filled your camera memory cards, not to mention your memory and heart with so many experiences and images that you’ll be processing them for months!
Payment
Workshop Cost: $1995.00
Transportation from and back to Tucson Airport (or nearby hotel) $500
Non-Refundable Deposit: $500
Your Non-refundable deposit of $500 holds your registration until 90 days prior to the workshop when the balance is due.
Includes instruction, and admission fees to all scheduled locations.
Not included: accommodations, food, tips, airfare, or personal expenses.
Accommodations
Not included in the cost are the hotel fees. We have reserved hotels for the duration of the workshop. Once you register you will receive a list of these hotels. You are responsible for arranging accommodations for days prior or after the beginning and end dates of the workshop. If you have any questions please feel free to contact us.
