About us
This group offers a non competitive birding environment where people can enjoy the local natural world with others.
Bird walks will be guided and geared toward making everybody in the group feel welcome.
We will bird mostly in and around the Tucson area.
We are open to all ages and abilities. Most of walks will be slow paced with little elevation gain covering at most 3 miles over the course of two hours. Usually less.
There is no charge to join our events, and we are not affiliated with any business.
When the birding gets slow as it often does some days, we will encourage others to share their birding observations, whether it be describing Magpie antics in your back yard, or how you located an Elegant Trogon in Madera canyon Arizona, we want you to share your story.
Upcoming events
2
Bird Watching at 7000' - Rose Canyon Lake
Rose Canyon Campground, Catalina Hwy, Near site 71, Mount Lemmon, AZ, US# Rose Canyon Lake
The Rose Canyon Lake is a six-acre lake. It is small, beautiful and ecologically fragile. The trout fishing lake is tucked away in a picturesque stand of ponderosa pines high on the slopes of the Santa Catalina Mountains. Tall trees and rocky slopes line the shore and are reflected in the lake’s sheltered waters. Rose Canyon Lake Trail #37 leads around the water’s edge and provides access to the lake. It is handicapped-accessible from a lower parking area to a floating dock near the dam.
A paved road through Rose Canyon Campground leads to a small parking area, a short walk from the water. Rainbow trout large enough to catch and take home generally are released in the lake about once a month from early April through the end of August, when water temperatures become a little too warm for these cold-water fish. Brown Trout that are stocked usually once in the late fall as fingerlings or sub-catchable size fish usually under 6 inches.
We will park on the Catalina Highway Rd beside the road entrance to the lake and walk in on the road that leads to the lake. That will offer some good birding before we get to the water. NOTICE the MEET TIME - 7:00 am. That is for meeting at Le Buzz on the corner of E Tanque Verde Rd and Catalina Highway beside a Safeway. We can carpool up the mountain. Please be sure to wear stable shoes or boots, we walk the road down to the lake then get on a trail that goes by the lakes edge.
4 attendees
Madera Canyon Birding Adventure
Madera Canyon Picnic Area, Madera Picnic Area, Green Valley, AZ, USLet's carpool to Madera Canyon for a day of birding in the upper elevations of Mt Wrightson and Mt Hopkins. It's an easy drive south out of Tucson and Madera Canyon Road ends at a parking area where a trail starts for a popular birding - photography area. We'll gather at the Lodge/Visitor Center.
We will definitely see birds that you won't see in the city! All kinds of Sparrows, Warblers, and Wild Turkey for example. This is a day/week fee use area of the Coronado National Forest. Please read through the post carefully. Thank you!
From the Friends of Madera Canyon website:
## Visitor Information About the Canyon
There is no gate or sign indicating you are in the Canyon, except for a sign on a right-hand turn to the Visitor Information Station where volunteers greet visitors and provide information on facilities and safety and direct visitors to features of the canyon that best meet their needs. Bird Checklists, Trail Maps and Brochures (but NOT canyon passes) are available here. Station volunteers:
- answer questions about the Canyon,
- provide literature about the canyon and other important facts,
- act as a link to US Forest Service personnel.
This is also the entrance to the Proctor parking area, (handicap) Accessible trail, and beginning of the Bud Gode Interpretive Nature Trail. Continuing up the paved road will bring you first to the Whitehouse parking and picnic area. The next parking area is the Madera parking area with picnic sites on both sides of the road. Next is the Santa Rita Lodge on the right, where you can park to look at birds at the many feeders, visit the gift shop and make plans to stay overnight.
Further up the road, now at about 5,000 feet elevation, is the Amphitheater parking area on the right with access to the Nature Trail. Above this is the Madera Kubo Cabins on the left, then another bridge and the Chuparosa Inn B & B on the right, and finally the large Mt. Wrightson Picnic Area and Trail Heads with parking, many picnic sites, rest rooms, and trail heads.Be sure to display your National, Recreational, or Golden Age pass, or your Day or Week-use fee receipt on your dashboard. You are subject to a fine for parking in the Canyon if there is no pass evident on your dashboard, or for parking along the road outside of a parking area.
https://friendsofmaderacanyon.org/aboutmc/
## Fees, Passes & Parking
Madera Canyon is in a National Forest Recreation Area where many facilities are provided by the Forest Service, requiring a local Forest Pass or accepted Inter-agency Pass. While parked you must clearly display whichever of these passes you have purchased on your dashboard.
- A $8 Day Fee to the U.S.Forest Service can be purchased at 5 parking area fee stations in the canyon — only with correct cash or check. You must park in a designated area or you will be ticketed, or towed. If you prefer you can purchase online here.
- National Inter-agency passes; Golden Age Passport, Golden Access Passport, Golden Eagle Passport, and the National Parks Pass with a Golden Eagle sticker affixed. Purchase/Info Online
- Coronado Recreation Annual ($40) and Weekly passes ($10) can be purchased in the canyon at the Santa Rita Lodge, the Tumacacori National Historic Park south of Tubac, or a Forest Service office.
A clearly displayed Recreation pass, National pass, or Monthly, Weekly, or Daily pass is all you need to park/visit any location in the Madera Canyon Recreation Area.
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Car Pool Information: TBD but we want to be at the Madera Canyon Parking area by 9:00 am. We'll be at 5,000+ once we are parked at the canyon and it'll be cooler temps so please be prepared. If you want to drive down directly then that is fine too! Let us know please.
We'll take I-19 S to the Continental Road Exit in Green Valley. Turn left or east and continue to White House Canyon Road where there is a stop light and La Posada Retirement Village is on the corner (to your left). Turn right and the road eventually becomes Madera Canyon Road and will guide you into the canyon.
We'll first bird watch at the Visitor Center (Lodge)(where a day pass can be purchased) where they have several bird feeders and benches to watch the bird activity. We'll decide as a group where we want to go and bird watch from the Lodge, there's a couple of choices OR you can stay at the Lodge if you so decide!
Going to Madera Canyon is always a great day of birding and cooler temps too! I hope you can make it!
7 attendees
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