The Wings Over Willcox Birding and Nature Festival — a celebration of all things avian set amid Southern Arizona sites known for richly diverse bird populations — will take place Wednesday through Sunday, Jan. 13-17.
Scheduled events include a Nature Expo, tours, seminars and plenty of opportunities for bird-watching and taking in area sights. Detailed information about the festival is available at www.wingsoverwillcox.com
The overall focus might be birds, “But people don’t have to be birders to enjoy this festival,” said Terry Rowden, a volunteer special event coordinator for the Willcox Chamber of Commerce who is assisting with festival events.
“There is an Easy Birding Sampler for first-time birders, but there are also tours, seminars and other activities” focusing on topics including photography, ghost towns, geology, astronomy, programs for children and wine-tasting at an area winery, Rowden said.
FESTIVAL TOURS
Rowden noted some of the tours taking place during the festival. They include:
- An overnight tour to the Cave Creek area southeast of Willcox with two days of bird-watching.
- Daylong photography tours including sites where the area’s famous sandhill cranes take off in large groups at sunrise.
- Sunset tours for viewing sandhill cranes coming in to roost.
- Ghost town tours.
- A bird-watching tour to Cochise Stronghold south of Willcox.
- “Hawk stalk” tours to observe hawks in the Sulphur Springs Valley south of Willcox.
Tours require fees to cover costs.
Rowden emphasized that “some tours are sold out and some are not.” Check the festival website to learn about tour availability.
Speakers at the festival include Erv Nichols and Sandra Noll, who travel extensively as guides, lecturers and volunteers for nature.
BIRD-WATCHERS FROM AFAR
“In the past we have had people from Canada and Europe at the festival,” Rowden said. “And from this country, we get a lot of people from the Midwest — Minnesota and that area.”
Approximately 400 people have attended the festival in recent years, Rowden said. But she emphasized that it’s not necessary to be a registered festival participant to come for a day or a few hours to take in the Nature Expo, free programs for children and other festival offerings.
