Itinerary

Day 1: From the Tucson airport, we’ll drive to the Sweetwater Wetlands (having our lunch along the way), a true desert oasis. Here we will see flycachers, warblers, some ducks, and perhaps a Harris’s hawk. From there, we’ll have a 40 minute drive to our evening’s accommodations, the Amado Territory Inn. We should have time for some late-afternoon birding along the Santa Cruz River, where we may see gray hawks and vermillion flycatchers.

Day 2: After breakfast, we’ll head to Madera Canyon in the Santa Rita Mountains for the morning and early afternoon. We’ll work our way up the canyon, stopping at the feeding stations where we should see some unique hummingbirds, buntings, and grosbeaks, and have a picnic lunch. Later, we’ll head to Patagonia, passing through some open and beautiful habitats. In Patagonia, we should have time to stop at the well known feeding station at the Pattons, before reaching the Duquesne House B&B, where we shall spend the next two nights.

Day 3: After breakfast, we’ll drive to Patagonia Lake State Park, another desert oasis. The hillside rich desert scrub and the cottonwood and willow-lined lake should provide scarlet and summer tanagers, pyrrhuloxia, and black-throated sparrow, as well as a number of warblers. After lunch, we’ll visit the Nature Conservancy’s Patagonia-Sonoita Creek Preserve where we’ll walk along the riparian habitat.

Birding and Natural History of Southeast Arizona
Photo: Len Blumin

Day 4: We leave Patagonia after breakfast, and head toward Sierra Vista, our home for the next three nights, stopping in the grasslands of the Las Cienegas Conservation Area to search for grassland species as well as wildflowers and pronghorn. Afterward we’ll stop off at the home of Mary Jo Ballator near Ash Canyon; she has perhaps the best feeding station in all of southeast Arizona. It is the spot to see Lucifer hummingbird. If time permits, we’ll also visit the feeding stations at the Beattys in Miller Canyon. We’ll then head to Sierra Vista to check in to our hotel and eat a buffet dinner before making an evening trip to Ramsey Canyon to look for whiskered screech owl, elf owl, and whip-poor-will. Before returning to the hotel, we will look for lesser nighthawk.

Day 5: We’ll spend most of the day in Garden Canyon in Ft. Huachuca on the outskirts of Sierra Vista. Our route passes through desert grassland and then enters oak and canyon riparian woodland before eventually reaching pine forest at the higher elevations. In the canyon, we’ll look for elegant trogan, hepatic, and western tanagers, painted redstart and others. In the pine forest, with luck, we should see mixed flocks of warblers as well as buff-breasted flycatcher and yellow-eyed junco. We shall have a picnic lunch in Garden Canyon. If time permits, we’ll make a quick stop at the city's wastewater treatment plant to search for a few wetland species and learn a bit about the challenges of groundwater conservation in the area. We’ll take a short break at our hotel to refresh before a trip to the San Pedro River and the Gray Hawk Nature Center for what will be a very unique experience. Mark’s friend, Sandy Anderson, a local naturalist and educator, will provide an unforgettable lecture and hands-on demonstration on reptiles -- mostly snakes. We’ll have an outdoor dinner at the Nature Center before the lecture.

Day 6: Today, in the suburbs of Sierra Vista, we’ll search for scaled quail in the desert scrub before heading up Carr Canyon Rd. to the mixed conifer forest at 7000'. We’ll look for warblers, including red-faced and olive, Stellar jays, and swifts. In the afternoon, we’ll hike up Ramsey Canyon in a Maderan evergreen woodland and a canyon riparian woodland. We’ll look for a number of small mammals, as well as SE Arizona specialties such as painted redstart and Arizona woodpecker.

Day 7: After breakfast, we’ll visit the San Pedro River, the last free-flowing river in the Southwest that still retains extensive, high quality cottonwood-willow riparian forest. The river serves as a major corridor for migratory birds and has the highest breeding bird density of any habitat type (excluding that of colonial nesting birds) in the U.S. The reptile and mammal diversity within the 56,000-acre conservation area -- 42+ and 80+ species, respectively -- is impressive. Birds we may see include vermillion, ash-throated, and brown-crested flycatchers, Abert’s and canyon towhee, black-throated sparrow, blue grosbeak, ladder-backed woodpecker, lazuli bunting, Swainson’s hawk, yellow-breasted chat, Lucy’s warbler, and many others. We’ll return to check out of our hotel, and head off to the airport where we’ll say our farewells to each other. Fruit and snacks will be available en route, but no full lunch is planned. Anyone needing to get to the airport for an earlier flight can arrange private transportation from Sierra Vista -- expect to pay around $50 per person.

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