News

Because we can't get enough of our wonderful owls, we're offering one more Carr Canyon Owl Prowl this spring. The walk will be this Thursday evening, May 23, under a bright, waxing moon. Register now!

We'd like to wish longtime business members Johnnie and Audrey Eskue of Birders Vista B&B a happy retirement and thank them for their many years of support of SABO's work on behalf of birds and birders.

Look who visited one of SABO's hummingbird banding stations on the San Pedro River this week: A male Calliope! Hummingbird activity is on the rise, with more species and more individuals appearing at feeding stations all over southeastern Arizona. Our banding team is capturing Rufous in record numbers, while the local Black-chinneds are already on their first nests of the season.

If you'd like to join us, check SABO's Calendar of Events for upcoming banding sessions and other hummingbird-focused events.

Tucson PBS affiliate KUAT will feature the San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area and SABO on its news magazine Arizona Illustrated this Wednesday at 6:30 p.m.

Join us in welcoming SABO's newest business members, Mike and Angie Hug of Down By The River Bed and Breakfast in St. David, Arizona. The B&B is located on the west side of the San Pedro River between Benson and Tombstone, near the northern end of the San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area and not far from Kartchner Caverns State Park.

SABO is experiencing an e-mail outage today. Our host assures us that it should be fixed shortly. If you are trying to contact us and getting bounced messages, please bear with us.

The Arizona Game and Fish Department is looking for help from the birding community in monitoring Harris's Hawks. From Research Biologist Scott Blackman:

The AZ Game and Fish Department is about to undertake a Harris's hawk nest location and monitoring project across the range of this species within AZ.  As this raptor is very conspicuous and inhabits many urban areas it is probably likely that many of you have observed nesting activity across the state.  We would appreciate any Harris's hawk suspected nesting activity observations and location data if available.  This information will be used to supplement our current database and guide upcoming surveys and nest monitoring.
 
Due to the potentially sensitive nature of this data please send any information to my AZGFD email account: Sblackman@azgfd.gov
 
Thanks to all that are willing to participate in this request for information.

After 17 years of serving the birds of southeastern Arizona and the people who care about them, SABO has reached a crossroads. We have cut back everywhere we can—cutting staff and programs, liquidating assets—yet we find ourselves facing our own version of the "fiscal cliff."

This is our first major fund drive, which we acknowledge is part of the problem. Like you, we get a lot of requests for help from worthy causes, sometimes several per year from the same organizations. We've always felt that time and resources spent on fundraising would be better spent on science, education, and advocacy and have depended on the work we do to speak for itself.

The hard truth is that it takes money to sustain any organization, and as other sources of funding have diminished or disappeared we've come to depend more on our members and donors to make up the difference. If you think what we are doing is important, please consider becoming a member, renewing your existing membership at a higher level, or making a contribution to help ensure SABO's continued survival as a voice for Arizona's birds and their habitats. We (and the birds) thank you.

As we near the end of SABO's 17th year of operation, we'd like to share with you some of our accomplishments in 2012:

• We banded nearly 600 hummingbirds of eight species at three sites and recaptured 100 birds from past years. Once again, we were able to document amazing longevity in these tiny dynamos and learn even more about their life histories. Perhaps as important as the birds encountered were the approximately 2000 people who watched our banding operations, learned about hummingbirds, conservation, and science, and took away indelible memories. Nearly half of those people attended the High Country Hummers event at Sipe White Mountain Wildlife Area in northern Arizona, sponsored by the Arizona Game and Fish Department. 
  
  
• Our banding studies allowed us to collaborate with a University of Arizona researcher to provide material for mapping the first complete genome of a hummingbird.
  
  
• The spring was filled with morning walks on the San Pedro River and in the Huachuca Mountains as well as our popular "Owl Prowls." Volunteer Erika Wilson continues to lead the year-round walks at the Sierra Vista Environmental Operations Park on behalf of SABO.
  
  
• This spring, we also documented habitat damage in upper Miller Canyon caused by the City of Tombstone and monitored nesting Spotted Owls to prevent them becoming a casualty of the city’s on-going dispute over water rights.
  
  
• We continued to assist Arizona Game and Fish by providing visitor activities at Whitewater Draw Wildlife Area. This year, in addition to our traditional walks and Sandhill Crane Watch programs, AGFD invited us to participate in a Sandhill Crane workshop. The event was tremendously popular, filling the tiny bunkhouse at Whitewater Draw to capacity. AGFD can’t spare the funds to offer it again in 2013, but we’re committed to continuing our usual winter programs and hope to reschedule the next crane workshop for 2014.
  
  
• We also continue to support the Southwest Wings Birding & Nature Festival and Wings Over Willcox, the longest-running birding festivals in Arizona, and to coordinate Christmas bird counts in Elfida and St. David.
  
  
• Our daily activities include serving as a resource for birding travelers and answering hummingbird-related questions from literally around the world. Following last year’s wildfires, we have also been documenting the changing habitats and birds of the Huachuca and Chiricahua mountains and assuring birders that these beloved places are still worth visiting.

These activities are made possible by the generosity of SABO's members and donors, and we need your help to continue. Please take a moment to read about our winter fundraising drive and make a contribution to help ensure that SABO remains a voice for birds and the people who care about them.