Gilbert Water Ranch & Tour of Liberty Wildlife with Kirsten Howe & Robert Mesta

Registration fee: $100/member, $150/non-member

Trip difficulty: Easy. 1.5-2 miles on flat, hard-packed dirt trails at the Water Ranch. Restrooms and drinking water will be available at both stops. Please note, we will ride together in a rented 15-passenger van, no carpooling.

Join Kirsten Howe (Tucson Audubon) and Robert Mesta (Liberty Wildlife) for a day of birds! We’ll travel from Tucson together up to the Riparian Preserve at Gilbert Water Ranch, one of the top birding destinations in the Phoenix metro area, usually yielding 45-50 species in a typical 2-hour walk (check out the eBird hotspot here!). April is a special time to visit this hotspot and it will provide us the opportunity to see many of our breeding-season residents as well as potentially rare migrants passing through! After 2.5-3 hours of birding, we’ll stop to eat packed lunches and then head over to Liberty Wildlife to take a tour of their facilities and to meet their resident birds, including several species of raptors. We’ll head back to Tucson around 1:30-2:00 PM, arriving by 4:00 PM at the latest.

Please plan to bring binoculars, snacks, water, and a pack lunch. It’s recommended that you wear sturdy walking shoes, a hat, and sunscreen. Instructions on where to meet will be sent to participants the week before the trip. Limited to 8 participants.

Leaders: Kirsten Howe & Robert Mesta

Header Image: Yellow Warbler by Shawn Cooper