Arizona: A mecca for birders from around the world!
This lens, produced by professional birder and guide Rick Wright, provides practical information and advice for finding the most desirable specialties and rarities in this bird-rich state.
Check back regularly, and visit the links, for the most up-to-date records, reports, and occasionally even a few rumors to make your birding visit to Arizona the best possible: whether it's your first or your fiftieth!
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Great Birding Links
- Aimophila Adventures
- The experience of birding, with personalized guiding and small-group tours in Arizona and beyond.
- Tours: Nebraska, Texas, the East
- Small-group tours to witness the marvels of migration in the midwest, Texas, and the east. They fill up fast each year!
- Birding Workshops
- In-depth study of rarities, specialties, and difficult groups encountered in southeast Arizona. A lecture session one day is followed by a field trip the next to a carefully selected destination, where theory becomes practice--and learning becomes knowledge.
- Print and Online Resources for the Birder
- There's a vast amount of information out there that can help you plan and enjoy a birding trip to Arizona.
- Days in the Life of a Professional Birder
- Want to know what we're doing, where we're going, what we're seeing, reading, thinking? Read the daily b-log from Aimophila Adventures, where birding is always an experience!
- North American Rarities
- From surbirds.com, photos of the latest and greatest rarities continent-wide.
- ID Frontiers
- Sober, informative, and often entertaining discussion of identification problems and challenges around the world.
- The AZ/NM Listserve
- What's around in southeast Arizona and New Mexico? A daily must for the active birder.
- The Weather in Tucson
- Warm and sunny, most of the time.
- Tough Birds and Where to See Them
- Note how often and how prominently Arizona birds and birders figure here!
- American Birding Association
- Lots of great stuff, including Endorsed Tours and the world-famous Institute for Field Ornithology Workshops.
- Birding Northwest Mexico
- An Institute for Field Ornithology Workshop in Alamos, Sonora, in October 2007.
Southeast Arizona's Special Raptors
Hawks, Kites, Eagles, Falcons
Southeast Arizona is a great place for birds of prey, including several species uncommon, rare, or simply nonexistent elsewhere in the US and Canada. Particularly in winter, from October to April, sites such as the Santa Cruz Flats, the San Rafael grasslands, and the Sulphur Springs Valley can produce hundreds of raptors representing a dozen species or more.
Some hints for finding the Arizona specialties:
White-tailed Kite: more frequently observed in the cooler seasons; Marana Pecan Grove, Santa Cruz Flats, and especially the San Rafael.
Bald Eagle: breeds in the White Mountains, but otherwise uncommon in winter at large lakes and in the Sulphur Springs Valley.
Gray Hawk: almost exclusively a summer bird, common at Arivaca, Patagonia, Kino Springs, Pena Blanca Lake. Almost all of the US Gray Hawks breed here.
Common Black-Hawk: easier in central Arizona (Page Springs), but migrates through the southeast in March and September. During breeding season, try Winkelman, Christmas, and Arivaipa.
Harris's Hawk: a familiar urban raptor in Tucson. Sweetwater, Roger Road, Orange Grove Road, Fort Lowell are just some of the productive places to look for this beautiful, sociable raptor.
Short-tailed Hawk: a recent arrival from west Mexico, this lovely little Buteo can be seen at Barfoot Lookout in the Chiricahuas and, less dependably, in Miller and Carr Canyons in the Huachucas.
Zone-tailed Hawk: a rare but often conspicuous high-mountain breeder, often seen over Tucson. In recent years, one or two birds have wintered in suburban Tucson, but late summer is probably the best time to look for this large, vulture-like hawk.
Ferruginous Hawk: impressive concentrations in the winter near Arizona City. The Santa Cruz Flats are one of the best cool-season sites to study this magnificent, and sadly declining, bird.
Golden Eagle: very uncommon, but frequently seen in any of the southeast mountain ranges. In fall and winter, frequently seen in Tucson (try the area around Ina and Oracle Roads).
Crested Caracara: rare and very local. The trick is to get an early start, as they are most readily seen scavenging last night's roadkill around Sells, Sasabe, and even north to Red Rock.
Aplomado Falcon: dream on, my friends! But the recent re-introduction into New Mexico may result in a few birds drifting west.
Some hints for finding the Arizona specialties:
White-tailed Kite: more frequently observed in the cooler seasons; Marana Pecan Grove, Santa Cruz Flats, and especially the San Rafael.
Bald Eagle: breeds in the White Mountains, but otherwise uncommon in winter at large lakes and in the Sulphur Springs Valley.
Gray Hawk: almost exclusively a summer bird, common at Arivaca, Patagonia, Kino Springs, Pena Blanca Lake. Almost all of the US Gray Hawks breed here.
Common Black-Hawk: easier in central Arizona (Page Springs), but migrates through the southeast in March and September. During breeding season, try Winkelman, Christmas, and Arivaipa.
Harris's Hawk: a familiar urban raptor in Tucson. Sweetwater, Roger Road, Orange Grove Road, Fort Lowell are just some of the productive places to look for this beautiful, sociable raptor.
Short-tailed Hawk: a recent arrival from west Mexico, this lovely little Buteo can be seen at Barfoot Lookout in the Chiricahuas and, less dependably, in Miller and Carr Canyons in the Huachucas.
Zone-tailed Hawk: a rare but often conspicuous high-mountain breeder, often seen over Tucson. In recent years, one or two birds have wintered in suburban Tucson, but late summer is probably the best time to look for this large, vulture-like hawk.
Ferruginous Hawk: impressive concentrations in the winter near Arizona City. The Santa Cruz Flats are one of the best cool-season sites to study this magnificent, and sadly declining, bird.
Golden Eagle: very uncommon, but frequently seen in any of the southeast mountain ranges. In fall and winter, frequently seen in Tucson (try the area around Ina and Oracle Roads).
Crested Caracara: rare and very local. The trick is to get an early start, as they are most readily seen scavenging last night's roadkill around Sells, Sasabe, and even north to Red Rock.
Aplomado Falcon: dream on, my friends! But the recent re-introduction into New Mexico may result in a few birds drifting west.
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