Pena Blanca Canyon with Luke Safford

Friday, May 1: 5:00am – 12:00pm
$50/member, $100/non-member

Trip difficulty: Moderate-Difficult, about four miles total walking on gravel, sometimes rocky road through the canyon. Plan for heat so carry at least 2 liters of water.

Pena Blanca Canyon is just east of Nogales in the Pajarito Mountains and offers a great opportunity for birding up the canyon road in this beautiful oak/juniper/grassland drainage. A few sycamores offer hope for finding Coppery-tailed Trogon and if we’re lucky we’ll see or hear one. More common birds to be looking for include Gray Hawk, all 3 myiarchus flycatchers, Bridled Titmouse, Bushtit, 3 species of orioles, Summer/Western/Hepatic Tanagers, and more. Montezuma Quail have been known to be in this drainage too. Carpooling to location will be arranged among participants and we’ll be meeting in the Green Valley area at 5am, and arriving at our birding location about 6am. We’ll plan to arrive back in Green Valley about 12pm. Limited to 10 participants. See trip difficulty and remember to bring water!

Leader: Luke Safford (lsafford@tucsonbirds.org)

Header image: Ash-throated Flycatcher by Shawn Cooper