My favorite quote from biologist E.O. Wilson, a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner known as the “father of biodiversity,” is this: “The highest high is the high of discovery.” Those of us hooked on birds can well relate. The excitement at finding each new species fuels the passion, the research, and the travel. And if that has you thinking about southeast Arizona for the first time, plan on being sky high, both emotionally and physically. Let me explain.
The biggest lament of bird tourists to southeast Arizona is, “I didn’t have enough time. I’ll be back.” Renowned as the premier birding destination in North America, southeast Arizona encompasses only four counties in which 500 species have been recorded. More than 50 of those can be seen only there, and several complete guidebooks have been written covering all the hotspots. Where should a birder begin?
My answer to this question from first-timers has always been to come between mid-April and mid-May and begin in the Sky Islands, capitalized here because they stand alone, above, and apart, quite literally, from all the other wonderful birding locales in the region. Southeast Arizona’s mountain ranges, spectacularly scenic and ranging to elevations over 10,000 feet, like islands in an ocean, are isolated by and from the desert biome surrounding them.
For birders, this means a visit to one of the Sky Islands takes you from cactus to pines through five life zones and gives you access to a tremendous diversity of our bird species, some of the most-sought reliably found only in the higher
