2020 Santa Fe Opera and Birding Festival
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Hello!
We just return from the 2019 Santa Fe Opera and Birding tour and we are already taking reservations for next August. We had a great trip, attended great operas and toured the Santa Fe area for birds and beautiful landscapes.
Every year the Santa Fe opera performs five separate operas and for one week every year in August, the Santa Fe Opera performs all five operas. There will be birding tours and visits to historic areas every day.
The birding locations and tours are all located within a one-hour drive of Santa Fe.
If you are a birder and an opera lover, you will not want to miss this event.
- Dates: August 16 - 22, 2020
- Trip Length: 7 days
- Group Size: 6 travelers plus guides
- Rates per person = $3,950 (based on double occupancy) Single = $5,150
- Rates include: Lodging, breakfast, lunch, dinner, Santa Fe opera tickets for five nights, daily birding tours and airport transfer for Albuquerque Airport.
- Not included: Airfare to Albuquerque
- Adventure level: Easy, please check the "Welcome" page for definition
Special note:
If you are not an opera fan, it is possible to join the tour at a reduced price that does not include opera concerts or dinner: $2
,950 per person (based on double occupancy)
Special offer:
Included with your trip (one per room) is a copy of the field guide “Sibley Birds West: Field Guide to Birds of Western North America” by David Allen Sibley.
Opera and Birding Summary Schedule
2020 Itinerary
Day 1 Sunday August 16: Fly to Albuquerque, New Mexico
- Shuttle transfer from Albuquerque to Santa Fe
- Arrival day: No scheduled activities
- Dinner: TBD
Day 2 Monday August 17
- 6:00am – 8:00am: Randall Davey Audubon Center
- 8:00am – 9:00am: Breakfast
- 9:00am – 12:00pm: Randall Davey Audubon Center
- 12:00pm – 1:00pm: Picnic lunch
- 1:00pm – 3:00pm: Tour Historic Santa Fe Plaza
- 3:00pm – 5:00pm: Afternoon break
- 5:00pm: Leave for opera
- 5:30pm: Pre-view dinner buffet and opera talk
- 8:00pm: The Magic Flute (1791) Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Day 3 Tuesday August 18
- 6:00am – 8:00am: La Cieneguilla Petroglyphs
- 8:00am – 9:00am: Breakfast
- 9:00am – 12:00pm: White Rock and Valles Caldera National Preserve
- 12:00pm – 1:00pm: Picnic lunch
- 1:00pm – 3:00pm: Bandelier National Monument
- 3:00pm – 5:00pm: Afternoon break
- 5:00pm: Leave for opera
- 5:30pm: Tailgate picnic dinner at the opera
- 7:00pm: Opera talk
- 8:00pm: Tristan and Isolde (1865) Richard Wagner
Day 4 Wednesday August 19
- 8:00am – 10:00am: Leonora Curtin Wetland Preserve
- 10:00am – 12:00pm: Echo Amphitheater, Abiquiu
- 12:00pm – 1:00pm: Picnic lunch
- 1:00pm – 3:00pm: Ghost Ranch and Rio Chama Valley
- 3:00pm – 5:00pm: Afternoon break
- 5:00pm: Leave for opera
- 5:30pm: Pre-view dinner buffet and opera talk
- 8:00pm: M. Butterfly (2020 world Premier) by David Henry Hwang
Day 5 Thursday August 20
- 6:00am – 8:00am: Santa Fe Canyon Wetlands
- 8:00am – 9:00am: Breakfast
- 9:00am – 12:00pm: Galisteo Basin Preserve
- 12:00pm – 1:00pm: Picnic lunch
- 1:00pm – 3:00pm: Pecos National Historic Park
- 3:00pm – 5:00pm: Afternoon break
- 5:00pm: Leave for opera
- 5:30pm: Tailgate picnic dinner at the opera
- 7:00pm: Opera talk
- 8:00pm: Rusalka (1901) Antonín Dvořák
Day 6 Friday August 21
- 6:00am – 8:00am: Randall Davey Audubon Center
- 8:00am – 9:00am: Breakfast
- 9:00am – 12:00pm: Hyde Park, Aspen Vista and Black Canyon
- 12:00pm – 1:00pm: Picnic lunch
- 1:00pm – 3:00pm: Santa Fe Botanical Garden
- 3:00pm – 5:00pm: Afternoon break
- 5:00pm: Leave for opera
- 5:30pm: Pre-view dinner buffet and opera talk
- 8:00pm: The Barber of Seville (1816) Gioachino Rossini
Day 7 Saturday August 22
- Departure day: You will be transferred from your hotel in Santa Fe to the Albuquerque airport
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Daily Birding & Nature Tours
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New Mexico has a lot of great birding locations and birds to see and our bird list is up to 138 different species. Click here to see the
Bird List
Everyday there will be a morning and afternoon bird walk and trip to a culturally significant site. There will be free time for you to visit the great city of Santa Fe.
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Beautiful Walks
There will be visits to the La Cieneguilla Petroglyphs, the Rio Charma Valley, Santa Fe National Forest, Valles Caldera National Preserve, Bandelier National Monument, Hyde Memorial State Park, Randall Davey Audubon Center, Georgia O'Keeffe’ s Ghost Ranch in Abiquiu, Pecos National Historic Site and the Santa Fe Botanical Garden.
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Audubon Center
At the edge of Santa Fe is the
Randall Davey Audubon Center & Sanctuary. Birds to see: Steller's Jay, Spotted Towhee, Northern Mocking Bird, Sage Thrasher, Canyon Towhee, Vesper Sparrow, Northern Roughed-winged Swallows and Yellow-headed Blackbirds.
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We will be staying for seven nights at Pueblo Bonita B&B, located just a 10 minute walk for the historic downtown of Santa Fe. Each room is a small suite with a small sitting area, kitchenette and decorated with beautiful southwest design in an historic adobe building.
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Santa Fe Mountains
About 30 minutes outside of Santa Fe are the arid Ponderosa Pine mountains of the Southwest. This is the southern most area of the Southern Rockies. Home to many unique birds that love the arid west:
Juniper Titmouse, Pinyon Jay,
Cordilleran Flycatcher, Clark' Nutcracker, Mountain Chickadee, Cassin's Finch, Western Tanager and Townsend's Solitaire.
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Georgia
O'Keeffe
The Ghost Ranch, just outside Santa Fe was the home, studio and inspiration for many of Georgia O'Keeffe's paintings. The 21,000 acres ranch is and museum is open to the public. We will spend several hours here birding, walking and being inspired by this wonderful landscape. Favorite birds here: Woodhouse's Scrub Jay and the Broad-tailed Hummingbird
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Preview Dinners
The Santa Fe Opera has wonderful pre-opera talks and dinners. For three nights, dinner will be at the opera restaurant and every night we will attend the opera pre-talk discussion.
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Picnic Dinners
The Santa Fe Opera is famous for its "Tailgating" parties before the opera. There will be two nights that we will have a picnic dinner at the opera.
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The Santa Fe Opera is an outdoor pavilion that is completely covered and so no concern for getting rained on during the evening rain showers.
One unique and fun aspect of the Santa Fe opera is people show up early and "tailgate" for dinner. The opera house opens the parking lot 3-hours early to accommodate tailgaters. The opera house is located about 15 minutes north of Santa Fe surrounded by a beautiful arid southwest landscape of mesas, pinyon pines, chamisa and sagebrush. The weather in August is perfect; warm and dry during the day and cool, with occasional showers in the evening.
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Call us at 970-556-6103
email: KaiyoteTours@gmail.com
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International Travel Tours
We are expanding our tours in Asia, Africa and Europe
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International Tours
- Sarawak and Northern Borneo: Birding and wildlife viewing, including orangutans
- Sri Lanka: The best and most relaxing bird tour you will ever experience
- Nepal: Birding the fantastic Himalayas and a great cultural experience
- Mongolia: Birding the high steppes and staying in traditional "Gers" for lodging
- Korea: Winter birding to view cranes and migrants
- India: Birding for vegetarians, great culture and great food
- Cambodia: Birding and cultural tour
- Iceland: Three great tours in May and the best New Year's Eve trip ever
- Sweden: Christmas tour, Southwest Sweden and the Åland Islands for mid-summers'
- Nicaragua: Our all time favorite place for birding and traveling anytime of year
- Taiwan: A very special place for birding and one of our favorites
- Colombia: Birding the Andes and having a lot of fun
- Colombia: Leticia and the Amazon
- Argentina: Birds and butterflies, more than you can count
In the United States
- Santa Fe Birding and Opera Festival
- Chicago Lyric Opera and urban birding
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Your Dedicated Guides
Kaiyote & Ed
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Photo: Here we are atop the Empire State Building in New York City last September.
We look forward to showing you all the great birds and wildlife and adventures that can be found around the world, the United States and in Washington state.
Call us anytime! See you soon!
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