Wildlife Viewing
List of wildlife viewing sites
Wildlife guide books
Southeastern Arizona is renowned as a bird watching destination. There are several reasons for this: first of all, the wide variations in elevation between the desert scrub areas and the mountain peaks produces significantly different habitat conditions and the resulting opportunity for diversity of species. Secondly, the area sits at a pivotal geographical point–at the edges of the Sonoran and the Chihuahuan deserts and between the Rocky mountains and the Sierra Madre Occidental of Mexico. So birders in southeast Arizona have an opportunity to see many birds typically spotted only in Mexico.
Some of the characteristic mammals here are also more common in Mexico than in the U.S., notably the coati and the javelina or collared peccary. As in any arid region, very large mammals are relatively scarce, but there are many species of small nocturnal mammals, abundant rodents–as well as plenty of desert cottontail rabbits and desert hares.
Many reptile species can be observed, especially in the warmer weather, and wild flowers, yuccas and cacti bloom from May through August, with the greatest abundance in the spring.