Price Canyon Ranch

BIRDING PRICE CANYON RANCH

An incredible array and abundance of birds call Price Canyon Ranch home. The immediate area is blessed with a rare variety of habitat types: grasslands, Chihuahuan desert scrub, farm ponds, oak woodlands, riparian and pine/oak forests.

In winter, this diversity of habitats houses many of the resident specialties that S.E. Arizona is famous for: Montezuma quail, burrowing owl and northern pygmy owl, Anna's hummingbird, acorn and Arizona woodpecker, Mexican jay, bridled titmouse, Crissal thrasher, Hutton's vireo, Baird's sparrow. At the end of the day birders can compare their lists around a warm fire in the main lodge or listen to screech owls while soaking in the outside hot-tub

In spring and summer the desert comes alive with the colors and songs of neo-tropical migrants. Painted and red-faced warbler, hepatic and western tanager, Scott's oriole, black-headed and blue grosbeak join forces to give a new meaning to the term ‘painted desert'! After an active morning of birding come sit among our feeders and watch for any of the fifteen species of hummingbirds known to occur in the Chiricahua's, or take a cool dip in the pool! At night marvel at the abundance of stars while listening to the sounds of nighthawks, poor-wills, whip-poor-wills, elf owls and whiskered screech owls!

To add even more variety to your stay, visit nearby Cave Creek, - just 20 minutes away. Along this waterway you'll likely encounter elegant trogons and sulphur-bellied flycatchers. A little farther up this canyon is the well-known Southwestern Research Station which offers naturalist led birding walks. At the top of the mountain are Barfoot and Rustler Parks, the best place in the area for Mexican chickadee, olive warbler, red-faced warbler, short-tailed hawk and other high elevation species.

Other nearby birding hotspots are: Guadalupe canyon, Sulphur Springs Valley, Wilcox lake and the Huachuca mountains—home of the famous Mexican spotted owl!

If birding is your passion AND you're looking for the newest, most luxurious yet rustic accommodations in the heart of world-renowned birding...you owe it to yourself to stay at Price Canyon Ranch . Please call us today to check availability during the peak birding seasons.

Looking for a Professional Birding Guide to show you all of the secret-spots? Contact our birding associate Scott Huber of BIGBIRDERS at birdtours@altacal.org for rates and packages

Click here for a checklist of birds of Price Canyon and the Chiricahuas.

All photos by Scott Huber