Posted on 02/28/2018 5:30:30 AM PST by SandRat
Each year thousands of people flock to the San Pedro River to experience Southern Arizona’s birding oasis.
The booming industry has brought in the big bucks, much of it in April, when birding really heats up here.
Jennie MacFarland, of the Tucson Audubon Society, said wildlife viewing contributes about $1.4 billion to the state every year.
That number includes money people spend on dining, accommodations and even little things, such as birdseed.
“Southeast Arizona is very rich in bird life,” MacFarland said. “We have a lot of different types of habitats — we have mountains to grasslands to desert — and a lot of different types of birds associated with each one.”
The San Pedro House, off Highway 90 just east of Sierra Vista, is operated mainly by bird-loving volunteers.
Robert Weissler, executive director of Friends of the San Pedro River, said the San Pedro House sees more than 20,000 visitors a year.
From Oct. 1, 2016, to Sept. 30, 2017, the house logged a total of 22,514 documented visitors.
The San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area (SPRNCA) was created in 1988 to protect more than 40 miles of the San Pedro River.
Weissler referred to birding as a low-impact and renewable source of revenue for businesses throughout the San Pedro Valley.
One a day in January, Belinda Brodie, one of nine bird watchers, carried a tattered notebook ready to write down each species she hoped to spot. She and her husband furthered their interest in birding when they moved to Arizona.
That interest is what brought Brodie and the eight other birders to the San Pedro River on a chilly morning.
This 150-mile-long stretch of water is one of the few rivers that flows north from Mexico to southern Arizona.
It serves as a major conservation corridor, and is home to hundreds of birds, native and migratory, throughout the year.
February is known for an increase in Western Grebes and Cinnamon Teal.
March is for the rare bird sightings. Birders could get lucky and catch a glimpse of the endangered Gray and Zone-tailed Hawks.
April is prime time to see specialty warblers and Elegant Trogons.
For first-time visitors to the Southwest, experts recommend bird-watching in mid- or late April for a good representation of Arizona specialties. It is also when spring migration is in full bloom, bringing songbirds to the area as they make their way up north.
Brian Nicholas, a tour guide for Historic Hacienda de la Canoa, said southern Arizona is home to some pretty unique birds, including the Yellow Warbler.
“We get some birds that people come specifically to Arizona just to see,” he said.
Birding is a great way to stay grounded and aware of your surroundings, he said.
“When you are birding you are using all of your senses,” he said. “It really helps you be in the moment.”
Another bird spotter along the river, Peter Johnson, picked up the hobby about 10 years ago, after what he called “an encounter with the creatures at backyard feeders in Minnesota.”
Johnson found friends in fellow birders, and stresses the importance of sharing the activity with the young. He uses the time to bond with his grandson.
“Just having the opportunity to have older and younger generations get together,” Johnson said. “It’s something they can carry on to the next generation as well.”
Florida has the most snow birds in the winter than any other state....
AZ could come close to matching the number of snowbirds. Cannot get a parking place anywhere near the grocery stores these days. The number of ‘foreign’ license plates at the grocery stores outstrips the number of AZ plates, every day.
Because of arthritis I have considered moving to the desert. Thanks for this, I might just retire there.
Ever been to Quartzite in the winter? RV CITY!
Call me skeptical on those numbers. That works out to about $60,000 per year per visitor. Ok, not all of the birders go to that location. Are they off by a factor of 5? That would be $12,000 per visitor per year.
If you’ve got English Sparrows at the grocery store. watch them fly to new vehicles in the parking lot. They’ve learned to pick bugs off the front of.vehicles. RV’s seem especially popular.
When I lived in Phoenix, a few friends and I were driving to LA when her car broke down in Quartzite. It was an overpass and a diner, but that was many moons ago. I had a t-shirt made just for her to commemorate the event...
We have a site just for Humming Birds. We have Red tailed Hawks, some Ravens and a few bald Eagles. Many people put out bird feeders at there home. There are more birds but I don’t remember all the names.
I forgot to mention Wild Turkeys. Do they count?
We have snow this morning!!
We should encourage birdwatching in the young and old. Get away from computers and TV where you don’t exercise anything but your fingers.
Bird watching stimulates all the senses; sight, hearing, brain function and physical abilities (walking, climbing).
Nothing more satisfying than spotting unusual birds,hearing their sounds, finding nests with eggs or hatchlings.
Our children will see and appreciate the miracle of God’s creation.
Read this, it might help you make up your mind. https://sabo.org/birding-guide/birding-hotspots/huachuca-san-pedro/,
Can’t claim to being a bird watcher, per se, but I’ve spent a fair amount of time along the San Pedro and in Ash and Carr Canyons, the latter of which have a pretty spectacular variety of hummingbirds not seen elsewhere in the US.
(Look it up)
You combined 2 largely unrelated sentences. The revenue is for the state, the documented visitors is for one place.
I’m not a birdwatcher, but Arizona is one of my favorite vacation spots. I’ve got kin in Tucson and Phoenix but we love to get out and roam all the state. As for me, I’m in love with the native plant life all the way from Flagstaff to Nogales. Over almost 60 years I’ve taken enough Arizona plant photos to provide a unique postcard to all those tourists. (And have too many trunks of old photos)
Ha! Ha!
Now it has stopped, and melted, but it is still on the mountains where it belongs. ;-)
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