Birding in Southeast Arizona

[cabz]

My husband and I are headed to this area next week for 2 weeks.  Any information would be appreciated.  Hopefully visiting the good spots such as Patagoinia, Ramsey Canyon etc.  Any good places to stay, especially B&Bs.  Thank you in advance for any info.

[Anonymous]

There is so much information out there and it would take pages to bring you up to speed on all the best places to vist ( Madera Canyon, Patagonia, Portal, Wilcox )but you may want to try the following sites.

http://www.tucsonaudubon.org/
http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/AZNM.html

and you may want to go to the Open Air Book Store on Adelaide St. at Victoria St. in Toronto and pick up the following

"A Birder's Guide To Southeast Arizona" by Taylor - this is an ABA / Lane Birdfinding Guide and would be a must for anyone visiting that area at any time.

Keep in mind that you may see few Hummingbirds at this time of year but there are some nice rarities there right now as you will see on the mailinglist site above.

Good Luck when you do go.

[GStuart]

My trip to Tucson included the Sonoita Creek Preserve (coveniently by the Paton house for hummingbirds), Madeira Canyon and the Sonora Desert Museum.  I wouldn't have wanted to have missed any of these.

[cabz]

Thanks to all of you who gave advice for Arizona.  It will come in handy for a future trip.

We leave Monday for 2 weeks in Panama, at a resort on the Pacific coast.  It took awhile to decide, but finally know which bird book to take.  Gotta haul out the Costa Rican one.

Any suggestions or advice?  Much appreciated.

Thanks and Merry Christmas and Good Birding to All.

[Tyler]

Good choice on Panama over Arizona this time of year. I use to be a biologist in SE Arizona and found either mid may or mid august to be the best times to bird down there in terms of diversity and numbers. If I had to choose between May or August, I would take august. In mid august many mexican vagrants are showing up, the local specialties (red-faced warbler, etc.) have not left and western north american species from further north are starting to return south. And it is cooler weather in august than mid may.

As for Panama field guides. the Costa Rica one can do. However there are several species in Panama that do not make it to Costa Rica. And this may justify the cost of a new heavy guide to haul around.