Trip Guides 2012

       As a volunteer, Kathe has led over one hundred bird walks for the Boyce Thompson Arboretum, Hassayampa River Preserve, Gilbert Water Ranch, and various Audubon societies. As a professional guide, she has led as many walks for clients from several states to a variety of sites in Arizona, New Mexico and California. She has also developed and taught a series of interactive birding classes designed for beginner and intermediate birders to hone their observation and identification skills

       George Andrejko has been a professional photographer for more than 25 years. He’s been 23 years with the Arizona Game and Fish Department, a career that has taken him to many remote corners of the state to photograph wildlife. George has received national and international recognition for his photographic work. You can find his photography on the pages of the Arizona Game and Fish Department’s Arizona Wildlife Views magazine, the state’s official wildlife conservation magazine. George was born in Chicago, Illinois, where he developed an early love for the outdoors and watching wildlife. He moved to New Mexico to attend college and found photography to be his passion. Spending five years working as a photojournalist at a New Mexico newspaper, he then moved to the Phoenix area.

       Born and raised in New York City, Rich has been a resident of Arizona since 1974. He is an entomologist (M.S. in entomology from the University of Arizona, 1985) and author. His most recent book is Finding Butterflies in Arizona, published in 2007, with Hank Brodkin as co-author. Most of his entomological research of late has been on odonata and his current project is A Field Guide to the Dragonflies and Damselflies of Arizona and Sonora, to be co-authored with Sandy Upson and Doug Danforth.

        In my opinion birds are the most awe-inspiring organisms in the natural world that constantly fascinates me. I can trace this love of birds to one individual that I saw high atop a canopy tower in Brazil while studying primates: a Pompadour Cotinga!  It is safe to say that I have been "birding" ever since that moment. After graduating from Antioch College with an Environmental Science degree, I moved here to Arizona. I have decided to follow my passion and focus on birds while working in the environmental field. My definition of conservation is literally "for the birds!" I am very happy to be returning to the Verde Valley Birding and Nature Festival and I look forward to some amazing birding trips.

       Curt has lived in the southwest his entire life and most recently in Northern Arizona. He has been a birder for 20 years and leads field trips for the Audubon Society and other groups. Curt relishes all areas of local and natural history and brings with him a large briefcase of knowledge. His smile and easy going manner makes him one of our more popular guides, especially for the beginner.  

       Dena Greenwood, naturalist and educator, holds a master’s in earth science and is the manager of Jay’s Bird Barn in Sedona. She has taught classes including Natural History of the Southwest, Grand Canyon Perspectives, and Birds of the Region. She also excels in geology, birding, white-water rafting and backcountry hiking programs. Dena has also worked with various private and federal agencies conducting bird research. She illustrated a field guide for NAU's Plants of Northern Arizona Forests. Dena is a Northern Arizona Audubon board member as well as field trip coordinator for this annual festival. She invites you to stop by the "Aviary" to ask a bird question and review current festival bird sightings.

        Adriane is a butterfly gardener whose own garden is certified by the National Wildlife Federation as a Backyard Wildlife Habitat. She currently leads butterfly walks at Boyce Thompson Arboretum and is a butterfly photographer. She has participated in butterfly safaris to Southeastern Arizona and has written various articles on butterflies and butterfly gardening. Adriane is available for consulting on building gardens and will be conducting a workshop and butterfly walks.

       Homer Hansen, the author of the G.I.S.S. Series bird identification guides, has been bird watching in the southwest since 1995. He especially enjoys the challenges and learning posed by the difficult groups of birds and continues to learn about the secrets to bird identification. Homer is a native of Willcox, Arizona and is chairman of the annual Wings Over Willcox Birding & Nature Festival (www.wingsoverwillcox.com).  He feels fortunate to have grown up surrounded by sandhill cranes in winter and Cassin's sparrows in summer. Homer has presented numerous workshops on sparrows, raptors, flycatchers, warblers, and bird ecology and is the course instructor for the Tucson Audubon Society's Moving to Mastery birding workshops. He is also a regular presenter and trip leader for other Arizona birding festivals. Homer earned his B.S. in Ecology & Evolutionary Biology from the University of Arizona and now is the president and owner of Aplomado Environmental LLC (www.aplomado.com) providing services to characterize and remove contaminants from soil and groundwater.

       Since the summer of 1988, Dr. Ross Hawkins has had a passionate interest in hummingbirds. When he learned after studying them that no organization existed to protect any of the thirty endangered species, he founded The Hummingbird Society (1996). Since then he has devoted his life to learning more about hummingbirds, working to protect the ones at risk, and communicating their story. His knowledge of hummingbirds, leavened by his sense of humor, sets him apart as a uniquely qualified professional speaker. Audiences of all types have applauded the entertaining and educational nature of Hawkins’ talks, which feature eye-popping hummingbird images and engaging stories about them. Look for Sedona’s new Hummingbird festival in August of 2012.

       During the first weekend of August 1982 I was cycling past Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge in Queens NY, when I noticed an odd bird flying overhead. I stopped and gawked at my first official "lifer", a glossy ibis. I went into the refuge that day, and the following, and every weekend in August until I moved north to Syracuse. I was completely hooked on birding after a single month in that great wildlife sanctuary, and have been an avid birder since. I moved to Arizona in 1992, and find that I'm no different here than I was back east, still an avid birder. I've been birding the Verde Valley and Flagstaff area for 15 years now and know it to be a wonderful spot where anyone can turn up a real gem at any time.

       With degrees in environmental planning and landscape architecture and a 25-year career designing and building unique solar homes, Randy has been a tireless crusader for environmental education. Educating others about the beauty and importance of the natural world has permeated all aspects of his work. One day finds him leading seniors on a river trip through the Grand Canyon and another surveying birds for the National Park Service. The most rewarding part of his work? Helping others have meaningful experiences in wild country. This year Miller leads two new field trips for the festival.

Bob Miller is a birding guide with Southwest Birders and grew up exploring the desert southwest. He walks several hundred miles a year through the Algodones Dunes of Southern California doing bird surveys and considers the southwest deserts and the Salton Sea his “backyard”. His “never stop learning” attitude and enthusiasm for sharing what he has learned about the region and the wild things we share it with have made him a popular field trip leader for festivals in Arizona and California and with birding guests throughout the region.

       Reverence and enthusiasm for nature resides with David Moll. To his 27 years in Central Arizona, David adds his lowland, east coast roots. Moving from New York, he attended Prescott College and has lived in Prescott ever since. From Arizona's borders with Mexico, New Mexico and California, to the north rim of the Grand Canyon, David has examined the more-and less-traveled areas for learning. Nature study in Hawai'i has been a tactical, yet reverent, diversion.

       While finding Arizona birds is his specialty, Mr. Moll places them within a context of meteorology, geography, topography, botany, entomology and interactions among each other and with other vertebrates. Methods for nature study may be mentioned as well.

Gail is all about Monarch Butterflies and saving their remarkable migration. She is
the Coordinator of the SW Monarch Study and the Conservation Specialist for Monarch Watch. She is also a Trainer for the Monarch Larva Monitoring Project, and Monarch Health. Gail has worked with the Arizona Department of Transportation to add milkweed to roadside seed mixes, promoted the addition of milkweed and monarch friendly nectar plants to riparian areas in Maricopa County, and worked with city parks and libraries to create Monarch Waystations. In addition she is collaborating with the U. S. Forest Service and the Phoenix Zoo to create Monarch Waystations on forest land. Gail organizes events for college, high school and grade school students, scout and nature groups, garden clubs and other organizations around the state.

A life-long gardener, Gail became a Master Gardener in 1995 and completed the Desert Gardening Mastership Program in 2011. To meet the growing demand for regional milkweed varieties across the state she turned to regional County Master Gardeners to propagate milkweed plants to create Monarch Waystations at city libraries, schools and public parks. Since September she has had over 200 monarch caterpillars in her own yard and learned one of the monarch butterflies in November was spotted in Kino Bay, Sonora, Mexico.

In the Phoenix area Gail volunteers and offers monarch educational programs and monitors monarch habitats at the Rio Salado Restoration Habitat, Tres Rios and the Chandler Environmental Center. She is also a Docent at the Desert Botanical Garden and a volunteer with Arizona State Parks, presenting special programs to benefit monarch conservation and habitats.

        Vashti “Tice” Supplee has been an Arizonan since 1973.  She retired from the Arizona Game and Fish Department where she was the Game Branch Chief. Prior to that she was the Habitat Specialist in the AGFD Tucson office and an AGFD Research Assistant Biologist at the Three Bar Wildlife Area. Tice earned her B.S. in Wildlife Ecology from Cornell University in 1973 and her M.S. in Wildlife Management from the University of Arizona in1981. She has been recognized by The Arizona Chapter of The Wildlife Society, the Arizona Game and Fish Commission and the Arizona Wildlife Federation for her contributions during her career in conservation.

       Tice is now the Director of Bird Conservation for Audubon Arizona, the state office for the National Audubon Society. Tice is shepherding the Audubon Important Bird Areas program and working with local chapter members and other volunteers to protect, conserve and enhance birds and their habitats here in Arizona.

     Doug is an expert birder and long-time naturalist in the Verde Valley. He is also a nature recordist and photographer who has catalogued the sounds and images of virtually all the bird species that inhabit the Verde Valley. Doug is an expert "ear birder" and concentrates on helping his trip participants recognize the songs and calls heard on his trips. His web site, devoted to natural sound and animal communication, is Naturesongs.com. He is also the Mayor of Clarkdale, Arizona.

       Photography is Tom’s passion and he believes that Arizona is the place to do it. A native Arizonian, he travels all over the state to seek out unique species of wildlife to photograph. He leads photo tours for three Arizona birding festivals and is a member of several professional organizations including North American Nature Photography Association, Outdoor Writers of American Association, and Western Outdoor Writers.

       I am a recent Ph.D. graduate from Northern Arizona University where I studied the ecological genetics of hybridizing cottonwoods and their dependent communities. I grew up in the Ozarks of Northwest Arkansas where birding was a family pastime and have been chasing birds for as long as I can remember. I really became hooked (obsessed?) on my first trip to southeast Arizona in 1997. After receiving a B.S. in biology from Arkansas State University, I came to Flagstaff to begin a Master’s program at NAU. The first chance I got I took what has become at least one annual pilgrimage to the sky islands of the southeast. While visiting Ramsey Canyon in the Huachuca Mountains, I got eight lifer hummingbirds in a matter of minutes as well as a number of other AZ specialties. At that point, Arizona became my favorite place on the planet. Since that trip (and much to the consternation of my wife) I have turned part of every vacation into a birding trip, and have been fortunate enough to bird in the UK, Costa Rica and Southeast Asia among other places. Still, it’s that annual trip south that always gets me going.

       The only thing I like better than birding by myself is birding with others and I have enjoyed five years of guiding for the Verde Valley Birding and Nature Festival. I look forward to another great experience this year. The above picture was taken at the Grand Canyon and is of me and my son Aiden, another budding birder.

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