Fredericksburg.com - 'VERDE BIRDY': A WILD GREEN RIVER RUNS THROUGH IT HOME OF THE ANCIENTS: Northern Arizona's Tavasci Marsh, one element in the Verde River ecosystem, borders hilltop dwellings (circa A.D. 1,000) in Tuzigoot National Monument. The Sinagua people, farmers with a trade network spanning hundreds of miles, built a 110-room, three-story pueblo there. The site is 52 miles south of Flagstaff, and 90 miles north of Phoenix.

MOST OF the plants and creatures that live in the hot, dry lands of the Southwest are highly adapted to that severe climate. But a valley with a year-round river running through it presents an altogether different picture.

The small city of Cottonwood, Ariz., sits in just such a paradise, where a broad emerald ribbon traces the lovely Verde ("green") River as it winds its way south toward the searing Sonoran Desert and Phoenix.

Opposite Cottonwood on the east bank of the tree-lined river lies Dead Horse Ranch State Park, home to the popular Verde Valley Birding & Nature Festival, better known as the Verde Birdy.

If birds flock to this spot on the last weekend in April, so do birders, photographers and lovers of the outdoors.

Which explains why I set my alarm for 3:15 a.m. Sunday in Prescott to allow time to drive over the twisting, winding road that loops up and over Mingus Mountain, down through the funky former ghost town of Jerome and into the valley with the river running through it.

I had signed up for a 6 a.m. outing to a spot on the map called Tavasci Marsh. If the valley is a wildlife magnet, the marsh is its epicenter and I wasn't about to miss it. The trip leader was a Californian named Bob. With his big frame and bigger black cowboy hat, he could have stepped straight out of a Marlboro ad.

But this Bob is a professional birder (southwestbirders.com) who really knows his stuff. He assembled our group of 15 for the mile-long walk to the marsh, and no sooner had we gotten under way than Bob found birds everywhere. The guy had the eyes of a hawk.

In our four-hour outing, Cowboy Bob racked up 46 avian species plus swimming river otters, a pocket gopher and priceless commentary on assorted other wildlife. He even showed us a tiny Anna's hummingbird keeping its palm-size nest of eggs warm!

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