Birding Arizona
With towering pine forests and iconic saguaro cactus, the Colorado Plateau and the Sonora Desert, Arizona offers habitats unlike anywhere else in North America. It’s home to the Grand Canyon, the Painted Desert, the Petrified Forest, and Monument Valley. Southeastern Arizona is famous among birders for hosting species found nowhere else in the United States, but other areas of the state are good for bird watching, as well. Arizona has tall peaks, mesas, woodlands, grasslands, and most famously, vast areas of desert. The Colorado River watershed encompasses nearly the entire state, and most lakes in the arid state are man-made. The state boasts a whopping 554 bird species on its checklist—impressive for any state, but especially one that doesn’t border an ocean.
