AZFO Annual Meetings:

AZFO ANNUAL MEETING – COTTONWOOD

20-22 October 2017 

By Chrissy Kondrat-Smith and Lauren Harter 

The AZFO state meeting for 2017 is heading over to Cottonwood! Our 11^th annual meeting will be held on 20-22 October and based at the Quality Inn, minutes from historic downtown Cottonwood and Clarkdale. The Cottonwood area features a good number of birding hotspots such as Dead Horse Ranch State Park, Tavasci Marsh and Mingus Mountain, not to mention the underexplored areas! The meeting will feature mini-field expeditions to various places on Friday and Sunday. Species plentiful in this area include Bald Eagle, Common Black Hawk, Belted Kingfisher, Bell's Vireo and Yellow-breasted Chat.  

Two special features of this annual meeting will be a kayak birding expedition led by Doug Von Gausig, and an advanced eBird workshop given by Ian Davies, eBird Project Coordinator for the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

The Saturday program will include presentations about ongoing research on the status, behavior, and distribution of Arizona birds; a chance to put your skills to the test with audio and visual identification contests; and opportunities to learn about how you can become more involved with AZFO.

The annual meeting will be here before you know it! A group rate is available at the Quality Inn through the end of August. Further information about the Saturday program, workshop and trips can be found here. If you have any questions contact Chrissy Kondrat-Smith at azdesertbirdATgmail.com. We look forward to seeing you there!