Birding Upstate Arizona

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Rolling mesquite-dotted grasslands, lush green strands of cottonwood-dominated riparian riverbanks, plunging red cliffs and a ring of pine-clad slopes. Just ninety minutes north of Phoenix lies some of the 'Other Arizona'; the Verde Valley and rim country. When birders think of Arizona, they usually think of southeastern Arizona. Long known as a mecca for birders seeking  the "mexican specialties", the sky islands and sahauro forests of SE AZ are regularly scoured by droves of national and international birders.

Since Mearns first catalogued the avifauna here in 1889 while stationed at Fort Verde, the Verde has attracted comparatively little attention from birders despite the 340 species of birds recorded in the area. Many of the southern specialties are close to their northern limits here.  Olive Warbler, Painted Redstart, Red-faced Warbler, Hepatic Tanager, Sulphur-bellied Flycatcher and Greater Pewee can all be found breeding locally. Common Black-Hawks are perhaps more easily and frequently seen here than any other region in North America.

 Some other uncommon Arizona breeders to be looked for in the Verde are Belted Kingfisher, Wood Duck and Zone-tailed Hawk. The broad array of habitats hosts  endangered Southern Bald Eagles, Willow Flycatchers and a panply of migrants.

The Verde Valley is a south-facing rift in the Mogollon Rim. Formed by a major river, several powerful streams, and thousands of seasonal rivulets it links the lower Sonoran deserts with the Colorado Plateau.

Hosting great ecological diversity, the Verde Valley and environs sweep up from the 3000' elevation Upper Sonoran Zone semi-desert grassland to the ponderosa pine forests at over 8000' - all in just a few miles as the raven flies. Complementing this mixture is Arizona's largest natural fresh water marsh away from the Colorado watershed, many miles of riparian habitat along the Verde River, Oak Creek, Wet Beaver Creek and the numerous canyons worn into the rim walls by summer monsoons and winter snows . 

These environmental assets combine with a relatively mild and stable continental climate to offer tremendous birding opportunities in an extremely compact area. Over a hundred and thirty species of birds are typically seen on one day excursion in May - and all in a travelling distance of less than fifty miles!

The few bodies of still water in the valley, and the green patches they foster are sufficient to be magnets for migrants or tired vagrants blown far off course during unusually windy weather.

On the long list of accidental vagrants over the years are Brant and Red-billed Tropicbird,  Ruddy Ground-Dove and Scissor-tailed Flycatcher, Groove-billed Ani and Bobolink,  Hooded Warbler  and Orchard Oriole. The combination of topography and latitude, river and desert, produces such a diversity of habitats that almost anything can turn up here!

It should come as no mystery then, why we call this place - "The Verde - the Birdy Valley".

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