AZ-Madera+Canyon--Mt.+Wrightson+Picnic+Area

Also, see Madera Canyon
 * =Birding in Arizona=

Santa Cruz County
=Madera Canyon= =Mt. Wrightson Picnic Area and Upper Canyon Trails= Green Valley, Arizona 85614 Mt. Wrightson Picnic Area webpage Friends of Madera Canyon website Birds of Madera Canyon Madera Canyon map

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Madera Canyon--Mt. Wrightson Picnic Area & Upper Canyon Trails
Coordinates: 31.7124, -110.8744 eBird links: Hotspot map View details Recent visits My eBird links: Location life list Submit data

About Mt. Wrightson Picnic Area
Formerly know as Roundup Picnic Area, the new Mt. Wrightson Picnic Area is located at the end of Madera Canyon Road, as far into this area of beautiful scenery and plentiful wildlife as you can drive. Tables and fire grills are scattered in the shade of a stand of silverleaf and Arizona white oaks. Views stretch up Mt. Wrightson to the top of the Santa Ritas and down Madera Canyon to the Santa Cruz Valley and the community of Green Valley. Four of the most popular trails in the Santa Ritas start right at the Mt. Wrightson Picnic Area. Two designated National Recreation Trails, Old Baldy National Recreation Trail #372 and the Super Trail #134, both of which lead to the top of Mt. Wrightson, begin their mountain climbing journey from the left of the two parking areas. So does the Very Steep/Vault Mine Trail, which lives up to its name by scaling the north slope of Mt. Hopkins, another of the Santa Rita’s highest peaks. A lot less taxing but no less interesting is the Madera Nature Trail, which leads from the picnic area down Madera Canyon, providing great views and excellent wildlife watching along the way. There is more notable birdwatching and a good place to relax in a shady streamside setting up-canyon from the picnic area, along the higher reaches of sycamore-lined Madera Creek.

Drive south from Tucson on I-19 to the Continental Road and Madera Canyon Exit. Turn east and follow the Madera Canyon signs 13.5 miles to the picnic area at the end of the road. The entire route is paved. From Mt. Wrightson Picnic Area webpage

Tips for birding Madera Canyon
If you are entering eBird data for Madera Canyon there are a number of eBird hotspots in Madera Canyon. There are hotspots for each of the parking and picnic areas, feeding stations, and a number of the trails. Please use these hotspots whenever possible and try not to merge a hike or drive through the canyon into one checklist. Also, beware that the Pima – Santa Cruz County line cuts east-west through Madera Canyon. County boundaries are important for eBird data collection and reporting. The county line crosses Madera Canyon Road at the Madera Picnic Area, about at the midpoint of the big parking area on your left as you head up the canyon. If you can see the Santa Rita Lodge, you are in Santa Cruz County so please use the “Madera Canyon—Santa Rita Lodge” hotspot. Otherwise, use the “Madera Canyon—Madera Picnic Area” hotspot. If birding at the Bog Springs Campground, which is bisected by the county line, use the “Madera Canyon—Bog Springs Campground” unless the birds you are noting are on the north side of the campground, then create a personal spot that is in Pima County. From Friends of Madera Canyon

About Madera Canyon
Madera Canyon is nestled in the northern slopes of the Santa Rita Mountain range east of Green Valley and south of Tucson, Arizona. The flora along with the streams that carved out this canyon help to sustain the many bird, mammal, and insect species that breed and visit here. Visitors from all over the world arrive in search of such avian specialties as the Elegant Trogon, Elf Owl, Sulphur-bellied Flycatcher, and Painted Redstart. Over 230 species of birds have been recorded in the Canyon with 15 hummingbird species among them.

Thousands of birders, hikers, photographers, artists, and those simply seeking a place to enjoy a picnic under the shade of a sycamore tree—next to the cool water of a creek—have fallen in love with Madera Canyon.

Madera Canyon, one of the most famous birding areas in the United States, is a north-facing valley in the Santa Rita Mountains with riparian woodland along an intermittent stream, bordered by mesquite, juniper-oak woodlands, and pine forests. Madera Canyon is home to over 250 species of birds, including 15 hummingbird species. Visitors from all over the world arrive in search of such avian specialties as the Elegant Trogon, Elf Owl, Sulphur-bellied Flycatcher, and Painted Redstart.

The road to Madera Canyon enters through desert grasslands and ends in juniper-oak woodland, where hiking trails lead up in the "sky island" through pine-oak woodland to montane conifer forest and the top of Mt. Wrightson (elevation 9,453 feet). The spectrum of birds found in these varied habitats includes four species of tanagers: Summer at Proctor Road, Hepatic starting at Madera Picnic Area, Western up the trails in the conifers, and Flame-colored as an occasional breeder. Hummingbirds, owls, and flycatchers are also very well represented in this area. Montezuma Quail are inconspicuous but present near grassy oak-dotted slopes.

In the Santa Rita Experimental Range below Madera Canyon can be found birds of the desert grasslands and brush, including Costa's Hummingbird, Varied Bunting, Blue Grosbeak, Scaled Quail, Phainopepla, Botteri’s, Cassin’s, Black-throated, Brewer’s, and Rufous-winged Sparrows.

At Proctor Road, most birders walk the productive first section of the trail to Whitehouse Picnic Area to find Northern Beardless-Tyrannulet, Sulphur-bellied Flycatcher, Bell's Vireo, Lucy's Warbler, Blue Grosbeak, Varied Bunting, Summer Tanager, and sometimes Yellow-billed Cuckoo. The dirt road shortly above the parking lot may have Western Scrub-Jays and a Crissal Thrasher.

Farther up the road, the Madera Picnic Area has Acorn and Arizona Woodpeckers, Mexican Jay, Bridled Titmouse, Painted Redstart, and Dark-eyed Junco. Three Myiarchus flycatchers, Western Wood-Pewee, and Hepatic Tanager can be found here in season. Watch overhead for Zone-tailed Hawk among the Turkey Vultures.

At the end of the road at the parking lot, the trailhead leads to Old Baldy. Elegant Trogons are most often found along the first mile of either the Super Trail of the Carrie Nation Trail. Hermit Thrush, American Robin, Plumbeous Vireo, Painted Redstart, and Dusky-capped Flycatcher are common along the trails. Yellow-eyed Juncos breed higher up towards Josephine Saddle.

Night birding is a Madera Canyon highlight, especially in May. Listen for Western and Whiskered Screech-Owls, Elf Owls and the much rarer Flammulated and Spotted Owls. Whip-poor-wills are in the forest and Common Poorwills can be heard near Proctor and below. Lesser Nighthawks, Barn, and Great Horned Owls often fly across the road through the beam of your headlights as you approach the canyon.

Friends of Madera Canyon publishes a comprehensive "Birds of Madera Canyon" checklist that is available at the Visitor Information Station, trailheads, and website. From Friends of Madera Canyon website

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