Southeast Arizona’s Birding Hotspots Express - Spring Edition

Tucson, Arizona

Rt
Reefs to Rockies
  • Email address verified
67 reviews
May 3 - 8, 2025
Group size: 6 - 7
Southeast Arizona’s Birding Hotspots Express - Spring Edition
Tucson, Arizona

Reefs to Rockies
  • Email address verified
67 reviews

May 3 - 8, 2025
Group size: 6 - 7

About this trip

Southeast Arizona offers some of the best birding in the world. The region’s diversity of landscapes, elevational range, and plant communities provide habitat for more than 400 species throughout the year. Montane vegetation extending from the Rockies meets southern flora from the Sierra Madre Occidental. On the east, the Sonoran and Chihuahuan Deserts meet. Cool coniferous forests, oak and pine woodlands, deserts, and grasslands separate the mountain ranges. Birds associated with all of these habitats are easily accessible within a half-day drive from Tucson. 


Join Front Range Birding & Optics + Reefs to Rockies for an immersive 6-day experience at some of Southeast Arizona’s best birding hotspots. This is Arizona spring birding at its best! 


About Your Guide

 Chip Clouse is a long-time bird tour leader and a Reefs to Rockies’ Naturalist Guide. He’s also ProStaff for Opticron Optics and Former Manager of Front Range Birding Company. 


Originally enamored with tooth and claw predators, his fascination with birds started by volunteering with the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission to monitor Peregrine Falcon nest sites. His fascination and love for birds was cemented once he saw his first Western Tanager while working for the Peregrine Fund in Oregon. Chip’s experience includes 20 years of bird research and project management experience in nine states and the Caribbean nation of Grenada, a Masters in Conservation Biology from Colorado State University, five years with the American Birding Association, two years as a rep with Novagrade Digiscoping adapters and stints guiding at 15+ different US birding festivals.


Chip is excited to share his love of Arizona birds and habitats with you.

What’s included

  • Accommodations
    Double occupancy
  • All meals
    Starting with Lunch on Day 1 through Lunch on Day 6
  • Private transportation
    Ford Transit or similar van
  • Driver/Guide
    Chip Clouse
  • Daily birding
    & wildlife viewing with spotting scope available
  • Local guide
    Additional local guide for afternoon and evening birding on Day 2 & half day on Day 4
  • Entrance fees
  • Sugar funds
  • Gratuities
    For your guides and at restaurant meals
  • Conservation donation

What’s not included

  • Flights
  • Travel insurance
  • Optional activities
  • Gratuities
    For hotel staff
  • Personal expenses

Available Packages

Southeast Arizona Birding Hotspots
Deposit:$500
$2,645
Deposit:$500

Available options

Private room
$445
Deposit: $0

Add $445* if you prefer a private, single occupancy room. Please note that private rooms may not be available at Portal Peak Lodge and Casa de San Pedro. If you plan to book a private room, check with us first to confirm availability. 

Itinerary

Day 1 (Sat, May 3)
Tucson to Willcox

Morning arrival to Tucson International Airport (TUS). We’ll hit one or two Tucson area hotspots to start. We’ll then continue to the Willcox Playa and Cochise Lakes IBA (Important Bird Area) hotspots before settling in for the night in Willcox. The heart of this IBA is the massive Willcox Playa, a broad alkaline lakebed fringed with semi-desert grassland, primarily saltgrass and sacaton and mesquite.  The playa is seasonally flooded to a shallow depth. Outlying this playa are the satellite lakes and wetlands of Cochise Lakes and Twin Lakes Golf Course. Get to know fellow travelers this evening during our Welcome Dinner.

Plan to arrive to Tucson International Airport (Airport code TUS) by 9 am today.

Accommodations: Arizona Sunset Inn

Meals: Lunch and Dinner

Your Organizer


Rt
Reefs to Rockies
67 reviews
Our specialty is nature and wildlife travel. We know when and where to go for the best experiences. Travel time is limited. It’s important to choose a travel company that knows how to personalize a trip just for you. Our travel specialists will help you plan a custom trip that matches your travel style, budget, interests, and ideal dates.

Reviews

We had an amazing time with all the different experiences we had in Africa. We experienced the city and food scene in Cape Town, as well as the wildlife and nature. We enjoyed the Rovos Train, but it’s a one and done. We loved visiting the archaeological digs in Johannesburg as well as the knowledgable and humorous guide. We loved the elephant camp in Zimbabwe and our first game drive. Visiting Rwanda, with its museum, varied culture, and gorillas was amazing. The gorilla trek may have been the highlight of our trip. The week of game drives with Sosy was absolutely amazing. Apparently we saw things that are fairly unusual to see. We can see ourselves going back to Tanzania. We enjoyed visiting Kenya, but we would have rather explored Nairobi for a day than to have gone to Ololo. We did not care for the place in more than one aspect., including the awful swinging bridge to enter their facility. We enjoyed Meru. The lodge, the guide, and the overall experience were lovely. We were satisfied with Amboseli, but underwhelmed. We would have preferred to have gone on to Zanzibar instead of this experience. We loved Zanzibar. The resort, the staff, the food, the overall exotic experience were beyond fabulous. It was certainly a once in a lifetime trip until our next adventure.
By Janet M for African Explorer Safari on Nov 01, 2024
Knowledgeable, energetic, fun leader and animal spotter on this amazing trip. Animal highlights for me included the pronghorn, tarantula, and burrowing owls. I loved learning about SPLT and the Forest Service tour of Picket Wire Canyonlands. Everyone should learn more about the American Serengeti!
By Gayle L for Southeast Colorado Wildlife Weekend - Fall Migration and Tarantulas on Oct 01, 2024
The Azores are a beautiful place. The hotels were wonderful and most of the tours were excellent. However, we had several very concerning glitches. The times were were given for tour start times and taxi pick up times were incorrect on several occasions. We nearly lost our taxi to the airport one morning because he was told 9amand we were told 9:10am and he had another pick up to do. We nearly missed one whale watch because we were told 8:30 and we needed to be there at 8. Reef to Rockies said the error was on the part of our Azores tour company but that is hard to confirm. And when asked to re verify all upcoming times, Sheridan did not do that. On our final day our flight off a small island was cancelled. We were not notified by anyone. The taxi that was supposed to pick us up at 8:25 for our 10:25 flight was told to pick us up and 10am. Luckily we were able to reach the taxi driver directly because the "24 hour emergency" phone number were were given was not actually manned 24 hours so we had no support in getting this resolved. My friends have used Sheridan before and had amazing trips to other areas of the world. I would state that if you want to go to the Azores, there might be a company that has better communication with the people on the islands.
By Rebecca G for Azores 2024 on Sep 28, 2024
Thank you for your feedback, Becky. We are disappointed to hear that your recent trip didn’t exceed expectations. That is always our goal at Reefs to Rockies. Our reputation for exceeding expectations is the reason your travel companions have booked multiple trips with us in the past. In your group of 6 travelers, there were 4 different itineraries that had to be planned after the original trip was booked and confirmed. While that’s not an excuse, it does highlight the fact that there were a lot moving parts when scheduling this trip. We do recognize that there were a couple of missteps on pick up times with drivers, as well as an operational change to the whale watching tour start time that was missed when preparing your final travel documents. It’s important to note that no services were missed during your trip. Every service that was booked was delivered unless someone voluntarily opted out of the activity. We were, in fact, regularly in contact with our local partner to make sure details were being taken care of during your trip including a request on Sept 11 when we learned about the change in the whale watching start time. This is the email we sent right away after hearing about this and the response we received: From R2R: “We just received a message from Elena stating that the whale watch center told them they were late when they arrived at 8:30 am which is what is stated on the final documents you sent. In person, they were told they had to be there by 8 am. We need someone from Futurismo to reach out to them with an explanation. They were moved to a Zodiac instead of the larger boat and Marja was not able to join due to back issues and now she isn't able to go snorkeling. They also want to verify what size boat they will be on for the Pico Island tour. Please get with Operations and reconfirm that everything that is scheduled is valid for timing. Here is a link to Elena’s mobile itinerary and Lisa’s mobile itinerary to crosscheck since they have the longest trips. Thank you in advance for clarifying the issue with timing and reconfirming all other details.” From Futurismo: “Hello Sheridan, Thank you for the information. I’ve reviewed the other schedules, and they are all correct. This was my mistake as we had to reschedule some of the boat trips due to logistics, and I missed this one. However, as stated in the description, the type of vessel depends on the number of passengers. So there was always a chance they would go on a zodiac, and I haven’t received any information indicating that any passenger was unable to participate due to the type of vessel. I was informed that our team contacted them, and asked them to arrive earlier, and they arrived on time for the activity. One person chose not to participate, and another opted for a whale-watching activity instead due to the vessel type. The vessel we have at Pico is a 28-seat zodiac. Are they ok with this?” We also followed the possible strike with the local airline closely and suggested the group not change their travel plans based on a “threat” of a strike. That was a good recommendation since an agreement was reached and no changes to your itinerary were needed. When I spoke on the phone with the lead point of contact for your trip about the strike on Sept 12, I mentioned that times had been reconfirmed on our end. We try to limit email communication during a trip so you can enjoy your time away. We now understand this made you feel as though we were not communicative on your behalf. We never received notice about a flight cancellation. When we asked for more information, we were told it was a flight delay, not a cancellation. While airline schedule changes can be incredibly frustrating, they are completely beyond our control. Your driver that day was told to arrive at 8:25. We are glad you were able to connect with him with the contact number provided to you prior to departure for the transfer that day. We reached out again to Futurismo to clarify what happened on your day of departure per your trip review and restated our disappointment with the issues that happened along the way. This is their response to that question and the other issues you mention. “We’ve worked with this partner for a long time and rarely encounter issues. However, in this case, there was indeed a failure—not a delay, as the driver actually arrived early. The itinerary stated 09:10, but the driver arrived at 09:00. What the driver communicated to the clients has already been reported to the partner. He should not have rushed the clients, and there was no risk of missing any connections. We do not support rushed services that compromise the client experience. We also received feedback from one of the clients you sent, and we promptly addressed the issue with our partner, making it clear that such behavior is unacceptable. Regarding the whale watching incident, that was my responsibility. Our front-office team contacted the clients in advance to confirm the correct time for the trip, and fortunately, they were able to attend. I believe the most important thing is that they made it to the trip. As for the final transfer, it was scheduled for 8:25 with our partner, and we had no indication of any issues. We received confirmation that everything went smoothly, and this is the first time we're hearing about this concern. The flight was not cancelled but delayed. As soon as we became aware of the delay, my colleague Rita contacted the clients to inform them and provide guidance on how to proceed. Carlos and I are both part of upper management, and we are committed to resolving these issues. We will continue working closely with our local partners to ensure that the service meets the expected standards in the future.” We sincerely hope that you see that we were checking in on your behalf throughout your trip. We’ve worked with Futurismo for years and have never had issues such as these. We have to trust that our local partners will provide the same level of service we do once the trip starts. We value your feedback and have already connected with all parties involved to make sure missteps like these aren’t repeated. Thank you again for bringing this to our attention.
By Reefs to Rockies on Sep 30, 2024
Rt
This trip was absolutely epic. A wonderful adventure into flora and fauna with the addition of history, geology and local food. I loved learning about the plains habitat and how regenerative ranching can be good for the environment. Of course seeing tarantulas in their natural habitat was super special. I would absolutely do this trip again.
By Whitney H for Southeast Colorado Wildlife Weekend - Fall Migration and Tarantulas on Sep 24, 2024
Well organized and informative. Group enjoyed each other and the different sites. Guides took good care of us and genuinely concerned about enjoying ourselves. Looking forward to future adventures.
By Linda M for Magical Mexico - When Wine Meets Art w/ Denver Botanic Gardens on Aug 25, 2024
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