General

Upcoming events

Past Conventions

Past Conferences

Convention Conservation Projects

1999 TUCSON CONVENTION REPORT

19-25 July 1999

More than 600 eager birders migrated to Tucson, Arizona in late July to participate in the ABA's Thirtieth Anniversary Convention. Attendees enjoyed very productive field trips, excellent programs and workshops, and took full advantage of the opportunity to meet and socialize with other ABA members. This special anniversary Convention was the ABA's fifteenth, and the first in what has now become an annual rather than a biennial event.

Field trips are the highlight of any Convention and southeastern Arizona once again proved that its reputation as one of the ABA's best birding areas is well deserved. Field trip Coordinator Will Russell (founder and Managing Director of WINGS), and an outstanding cadre of field trip leaders, did a terrific job of getting people to the best birding locations and the results were impressive! The combined list of species seen during the Convention was a whopping 218 and the highlights read like a "who's who" of the regularly occurring southeastern Arizona specialties. These included Common Black-Hawk; Harris's, Gray, and Zone-tailed Hawks; Montezuma Quail; eight species of owl including Whiskered Screech-Owl, Spotted, and Elf Owls; Lesser Nighthawk; Common Poorwill; 14 hummingbird species including White-eared, Berylline, Violet-crowned, Lucifer, Costa's, Calliope, and Allen's; Elegant Trogan; Strickland's Woodpecker; Gilded Flicker; Northern Beardless-Tyrannulet; Cordilleran, Buff-breasted, Dusky-capped, and Sulphur-bellied Flycatchers; Tropical and Thick-billed Kingbirds; Rose-throated Becard; Mexican Jay; Mexican Chickadee; Bridled Titmouse; Black-tailed Gnatcatcher; Bendire's and Crissal Thrashers; Virginia's, Lucy's, Grace's, Red-faced, and Olive Warblers; Painted Redstart; Hepatic Tanager; Varied Bunting; Botteri's, Cassin's, Rufous-winged, and Five-striped Sparrows; Yellow-eyed Junco; and Scott's Oriole. A couple of truly unusual species made brief but welcome but appearances. One lucky group got great views of a pair of Black-capped Gnatcatchers foraging in California Gulch and another group watched a singing Yellow-green Vireo near the famous Patagonia roadside rest area. Butterflies and botany are of interest to most birders and specialists in those areas contributed their expertise on some of the field trips. Along with a vast array of interesting cacti and other desert plants, 49 species of butterflies were recorded on Convention field trips. Numerous reptiles were observed, including a number of rattlesnakes and mammals of particular interest included a couple of Black Bears and a Coati.

The weather was generally excellent for birding during the Convention. As expected, the monsoon rains of summer began early in July and the desert had already started to green up and some plants were blooming by the time the Convention got underway. Most of the late nesting species responded to the welcome rains with full song. Rain showers and thunderstorms built up virtually every afternoon, but in most cases held off until after the field trip participants were safely on their way back to the Convention hotel. There was one weather related problem that occurred just before the meeting started. More than six inches of rain fell in the Santa Catalina Mountains in a matter of hours, closing the highway to Mount Lemmon. This required overnight rescheduling of the eight field trips to that location to an alternate destination in the Chiricahua Mountains where a similar list of target species could be expected. This caused considerable disruption to our well-planned trip schedule, but in the end worked out very well.

Interesting programs were presented after each evening meal: an introduction to the birds of the region by Rick Taylor, visual essays by Shawn Carey, a birding tour around planet Earth by Arnold Small, a retrospective on the history of the ABA and changes in birding over the years by Stuart Keith, and the keynote - a stirring tribute to Roger Tory Peterson by master storyteller Pete Dunne. Programs and workshops are always an integral part of these meetings and provide attendees with a wealth of information. Dick Walton presented birding by ear, Jon Dunn conducted a sparrow identification program, Bill Calder's program was on hummingbirds, Chris Benesh covered identification of the Myiarchus flycatcher and kingbird complex, David Sibley presented a program on bird topography, John Sill teamed up with Jenny Brumfield and Paul Johnson for a program on field notebooks and journals, and Brian Small lead a workshop on bird photography. In addition to the General Membership meeting, other special programs included birding the Antarctic region by Arnold Small, how to look at and learn more about birds by Jon Dunn, teaming with wildlife by Paul Baicich, big day reports by Blake Maybank, Christmas counts and BirdSource by Geoff Le Baron, Sally Conyne, and Steve Kelling, and finally, Stephen Ingraham and Pete Dunne paired up for a program on birding optics.

The Ludlow Griscom Distinguished Birder Award was presented to Stuart Keith in recognition of his many contributions to birding and ornithology over the years. Stuart was among those instrumental in launching the ABA and served as its first president. His enthusiasm, imprint, and influence have impacted the birding and ornithological scene from North America to Africa. Arnold Small presented the ABA award to Stuart and Bushnell Sports Optics provided him with an Elite Binocular in recognition of his many achievements. Bushnell also donated $1000 to the youth program.

ABA members again made a contribution to a worthy conservation project as part of the Convention. This year's project is headed by Blair Wolf, a research associate at the University of Arizona, and Carlos Martinez del Rio, an associate professor at the University. They are conducting research to determine which portion of each bird species' diet is composed of Saguaro Cactus fruit or nectar by measuring the carbon isotopic composition of the bird's breath. This project has the potential to provide new and useful information about the importance of the Saguaro Cactus to the birds of the Sonoran Desert community. The data should also be useful in demonstrating new ways to follow the movements of nutrients and energy in natural systems. Attendees contributed nearly $ 6100 toward this project. Swarovski Optik, the Convention's lead sponsor, and the National Fish and Wildlife fund each provided enough matching funds to bring the total grant to more than $15000.

Birders' Exchange also hosted a social one afternoon with special guest Ernesto Ruelas Inzunzo from Pronatura in Vera Cruz, Mexico. They collected many binoculars, books, and other optics from Convention attendees during the week. Additionally, Bushnell Sports Optics, Swarovski Optik, Leica, and Pentax all donated new waterproof binoculars to Birders' Exchange at the Convention and Bushnell and Swarovski became official corporate Birders' Exchange sponsors.

Many other activities provided interesting diversions at the Convention. ABA Sales was there with a wide selection of books, optics, and other birding equipment. More than 20 exhibitors and eight bird artists enhanced the meeting with their interesting displays and beautiful art work. Bird sound and photo quizzes were available to test attendees knowledge of bird sounds and identification. Social hours were held daily and included an authors book signing session on Friday. Century Club members were treated to a special field trip and social sponsored by Pentax and the ABA's young birders also enjoyed a special field trip sponsored by Leica.