March is a great time to go birding in Arizona! I spent a week down there in 2007 from March 17-24 and it was great - saw over 100 species and came home with 38 lifers and I wasn't even traveling much.

Not knowing which end of AZ you will be in, I will say this: If you can get to the Chiricahua mountains and the town of Portal, there are lots of places to bird nearby and get some excellent stuff (Pyrrhuloxia, Magnificent & Blue-throated Hummingbirds, Zone-tailed Hawk, and lots of other goodies, including not being too early for Elegant Trogon if the weather has been right). If you have time, go up to the Southwestern Research Station and look for Mexican & Pinyon Jays, Montezuma's Quail and Painted Redstart.

?The San Pedro River area is a little further west (you would need to go around through Douglas and back up) and you can see Western Bluebirds, Green Kingfisher, and Vermilion Flycatcher and even Verdin in some spots. Continue back up to Tucson and go to the Sonoran Desert Museum and see Gila Woodpecker, Roadrunner, and Tropical Kingbird amongst others.

Lots of good stuff to see in Arizona in March. Good luck and have fun.

Brett A. Wolfe
Seattle, WA
m_lincolnii at yahoo.com

--- On Sat, 2/28/09, Brenda Burnett <beaknbird at hotmail.com> wrote:
From: Brenda Burnett <beaknbird at hotmail.com>
Subject: [Tweeters] Arizona birding RFI
To: tweeters at u.washington.edu
Date: Saturday, February 28, 2009, 6:02 AM




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Hi Tweeters,

My husband and I have a week in mid-March to play with.? Is that a good time to go to birding in Arizona?? My recent Birder's World magazine lists bird festivals all over the place in May, so maybe March is too early...?? Any advice would be welcome.


Brenda Burnett

Seattle

beaknbird at hotmail dot com



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