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Birding for the elderly in Arizona (1 Viewer)

James Jobling

Well-known member
England
We are planning our first visit to Arizona later this year, mainly to admire scenery, but also to bird-watch. Whistle-stop circular tour; Phoenix- Tucson- Globe- Holbrook- Chinle- Monument Valley (Utah)-Grand Canyon- Sedona- Phoenix. Will not be able to get to the southeast. Can readers recommend a good "Where to watch birds in Arizona" guide (the ones seen on the web seem to concentrate on the southeast only), a good road map (our car will have Satnav, but we also like to see where we are going), and suggest some good sites based around the above itinerary.
 
Critical question is how long do you have? Arizona is huge (1.2x the area of the UK) and covers a multitude of habitats, but hundreds of miles apart. While roads are generally excellent in Arizona, the speed limits and the distances mean you will be spending a lot of vacation time in the car. Your travel map might take a month if you like leisure.
Unless you plan to visit the Pima Air Force museum and boneyards, or go on to the Chiricahua or Huachuca sky islands in the south for Trogons and Red Faced Warblers, you might omit the southern part of the trip and focus on the stunning scenery of northern Arizona and Utah. The desert is a world unto itself, give yourselves time to experience it, with the Grand Canyon a gash in the world. If you have the time and stamina to go down to the river, try to arrange to visit the resident Hopi indians, a wonderful people very hard done by.
 
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True that the birding guides to Arizona focus on the Southeast. But you mention Tucson in your itinerary. Taylor's guide to southeast Arizona has good information on birding in Tucson. From personal experience I recommend Mount Lemon and Saguaro National Park - Rincon Mountains district. In both these locations there is good birding just out of the car with minimal walking. Those two locations are very close to Tucson and each will take a day to explore. You also mention Sedona in your itinerary. There is a very good guide to birding Sedona and the Verde valley published by the Northern Arizona Audubon Society - "Birding Sedona & The Verde Valley" by Virginia Gilmore, it is available through Amazon here in the USA. Finally there is a new birding guide to Arizona (also available through Amazon): "Birding Arizona - What to know, Where to go" by Charles J. Babbitt, Christina Duchesne Morse, et al. Published Jan 14, 2019. I know nothing about this book but notice that it doesn't say Southeast Arizona!
 
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Thank you dacol.
Babbitt's "Birding Arizona" appears to be the book to get. I have created my checklist of birds, based on the Arizona Bird Committee Checklist, and have also researched further, on EBird etc, and found many spots to visit in and around Phoenix (Desert Botanical Gardens), Tucson (Saguaro NP, Arizona Sonora Desert Museum, Sweetwater Wetlands, Ventana Canyon (we are staying near here)), and Sedona (Sedona Wetlands (?=Verde Valley)). Add to that Grand Canyon and Monument Valley and there will always be something to look at! We shall also stay in Globe and Holbrook, but there appears to be a hiatus of bird reports from those areas - so we may be pioneers on EBird. We won't be able to visit all of them in our fortnight (we have to allow some time to gaze upon the scenery), but anticipation always forms a good part of any holiday.
 
Sounds like a plan! It is always exciting to do something not quite by the book. Enjoy your stay!
 
Thanks again, dacol.
Soon after I pressed the send button on my remark "there appears to be a hiatus of bird reports from those areas" (i.e. Globe and Holbrook), I of course found at least two sites near each on eBird (but don't the hybrid maps look forbidding!?) Concentrating now on American sparrows, flycatchers, vireos, thrashers, and "confusing fall warblers."
 
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