The Park is located in a region prized for bird-watching. As one national guidebook describes it, "Birdwatchers are drawn to southeastern Arizona as golfers are to St. Andrew's in Scotland or baseball fans to the Cooperstown Hall of Fame: it's a pilgrimage. . . . This trip is one of the tops for bird finding, not only in the West but in all of North America." A survey in the October 2002 Birder's World magazine confirmed this, naming southeastern Arizona as the top bird-watching area in the nation. Editor Diane Jolie explains, "The main reasons are the abundance of bird species, the diversity of terrain and the way the community embraces birding."

Anyone interested in birds should bring along their binoculars and favorite field guide the next time they visit the park, and ask your park ranger a bird list .Additional birding information, such as up-to-date sightings of rare birds, can be found at websites maintained by the Tucson Audubon Society (www.tucsonaudubon.org) and the Southeastern Arizona Birding Observatory (www.sabo.org).

- prepared by

Kevin Dahl
Pima County Natural Resources,
Parks & Recreation Department