Arizona - January 2026 - Day 2 - Ramsey Canyon, Sierra Vista, Ash Canyon and Whitewater Draw

Ramsey Canyon Cabins & Bird Sanctuary

I drove out of Sierra Vista as the sun was coming up. The town is adjacent to a vast military base, Fort Huachuca, and I remembered seeing the Buffalo Soldiers sign. On my first visit to Arizona in 2016 I'd used my US passport to get into the area so that I could twitch a Sinaloa Wren, but this time I drove right past. I was headed for Ramsey Canyon, another site found during my extensive eBird research and where I hoped to find Broad-billed Hummingbird, and if I was supremely lucky, one of the rare Quails. There are two sites here, the official Preserve at the end of the road, but also a hotel of sorts called Ramsey Canyon Cabins. The owners here have rather gazumped the actual Canyon itself by a) being before it on the road, b) being open all the time, and c) creating an extremely bird-friendly environment, with feeders everywhere, seats from which to observe, and a good network of trails. Access to non-residents is allowed, you just have to put parking money in a (filmed) honesty box and you are good to go. I had wanted to stay here but the price of a cabin was outlandishly high so I'd opted for Motel Crapo in Sierra Vista instead. This was common to a number of prime birding spots in and around the sky islands where hotels are not frequently encountered - you can find places to stay, but the enterprising operators have seen birders coming from a million miles away and the prices run into the hundreds of dollars per night. It is all very nice, and you are right where you want to be, but it is ruiniously expensive. When I travel I tend to do so on the cheap.

Ramsey Canyon Cabins & Bird Sanctuary

At 7.30am I was the only person here and had my pick of the three or four parking spots. I can imagine that in high season, whenever that is, that it would be extremely busy. There is no parking along the road whatsoever - you can park here, the similarly priced Ramsey Canyon Inn, and the Preserve itself which opens much later and was closed when I arrived. Locking up car in the chilly morning air (the sun takes a while to hit at this time of year) I followed the signs to the first set of feeders and took a seat. Resident Wild Turkeys ruled the roost here, they were all over the place. Acorn Woodpeckers were numerous along with Mexican Jays, and I added my first Dark-eyed Juncos here in the brush. A Violet-crowned Hummingbird came in briefly, and there were several White-breasted Nuthatch, but it was all rather quiet and after 40 minutes I decided I would be better served by walking higher up the Canyon and perhaps finding some sunshine.

Wild Turkey

Acorn Woodpecker

I left my car where it was and walked up to the Ramsey Canyon Inn which is right next to the Preserve. They have feeders too, right in the car park, and a Rivoli's Hummingbird was already visiting. Although I had already seen this species in Madera Canyon the previous day, Ramsey Canyon had been another place on my list in case Madera had not delivered, so if I sound rather blazé about what is a fantastic bird I apologise, I don't mean it. It is just the nature of life lists, you move on quickly. Which is what I did, as this place too was super quiet all things considered. 

Violet-crowned Hummingbird

I birded back down the road to the Cabins, noting Pine Siskin, Bridled Titmouse, House Finch and Lesser Goldfinch in the roadside trees. Once back in the Bird Sanctuary I skipped over the first feeders and went to what they call the top garden. Now in sunshine this was much more productive, and I think that as the feeders here are closer to the canyon the birds perhaps prefer it. Or maybe it is that there are fewer of them which means they're easier to monitor. Male and female Rivoli’s Hummingbirds were up here, along with another female Violet-crowned Hummingbird and three Anna's Hummingbird, but no sign of my target that I could see. I put Merlin on speculatively and was astounded when it very quickly picked up the bird I was looking for - Broad‑tailed Hummingbird. Frustratingly I couldn't see it, but using Merlin I began to be aware of the particular call and was able to work out broadly (!) where it seemed to be coming from. It was still intensely difficult, but after what seemed like an age I worked out the routine and managed to track the bird down to an isolated feeder and take a record shot at considerable range to confirm the ID. With patience I managed to get a lot closer, and whilst the bird is on a lump of red plastic and the image won't win any prizes, I'm still pleased to have got a decent photo of a lifer - #602. Plenty of other birds here too, the best of which was a Sharp-shinned Hawk that zoomed by when I exited the Cabins via a side road. Great to get the Hummer but absolutely no sign of any Montezuma Quail. I decided to give the actual Canyon a chance and made a rapid ascent up the easy path, but there were far fewer birds here than at the Cabins so I was up and down and out in under an hour with nothing to show for it. Part of the reason for my hurry was that it was now gone 11am and I had a couple of other places to visit around Sierra Vista.

Broad-tailed Hummingbird

Broad-tailed Hummingbird

The first of these was San Pedro House, on the east side of town, so it took a fair amount of time to actually get there from where I was. I started birding at 11.44 and had seen the Western Screech Owl by 11.45. This bird had been reported virtually daily from this site, clearly resident, and with plenty of photos of it peeking out of an obvious hole in an obvious tree. I had no idea where said tree was but I enquired in the small bookshop and the very helpful docent led me out of the opposite door, walked me about 20 feet to the single massive Cottonwood tree that dominated the entire area and said to look up! Yay! There was another target here too, a Greater Pewee that had been seen and heard the last few days by the river. I headed over and found the right marker and worked up and down for a bit but the bird wasn't present. I did find a pair of Mexican Duck near the 90 bridge, as well as Vermilion Flycatcher, several Black Phoebe and a single Say’s Phoebe. 

Western Screech-Owl

The Pewee-free San Pedro River

Yucca elata (I think)

Agave parryi (I know)

I had one final stop here before heading south, Sierra Vista EOP, a water treatment area. I thought this would be amazing but access proved impossible, I think it is one of those places where local birders can get in but casual visitors are forbidden because it is a working site, but I didn't know that at the time. Instead I skirted around the edge and found a viewing platform but the views were terrible and so I stayed for just seven minutes. During that time I heard Marsh Wren from somewhere over the fence, but better than that lucked in on a Cassin’s Kingbird on the fence itself which I noted caused at least one local birder to scurry on down. Probably to check I wasn't making it up.

Cassin's Kingbird

Next stop the feeders at Ash Canyon, about an hour distant. This site had another lifer, a long-staying Scott's Oriole, seen daily for weeks. Was it there during the two hours I spent here? Of course it wasn't. But the site was truly excellent, with a ton of really busy feeders. Ladder-backed Woodpeckers came in, and I'd never seen so many Yellow-rumped Warblers in one place. There were loads of Mexican Jay, tons of Lesser Goldfinch, and a big flock of White-winged Dove, as well as Cooper's Hawk, Red-tailed Hawk, a Cactus Wren and a Curve-billed Thrasher. I had set myself a deadline for 4pm as I wanted to be at Whitewater Draw for dusk, and so reluctantly left Oriole-less. Talking to the volunteers here it sounds like I need to come back during what they called the monsoon - late spring or early summer, when there would be many more birds including Lucifer's Hummingbird. I will need to investigate that. Anyway, two ticks and two dips today, a 50% hit rate so not bad but nonetheless disappointing as today's sites were the only places these birds were that I knew of.

Lesser Goldfinch

Lesser Goldfinch

Lesser Goldfinch

White-crowned Sparrow

Mexican Jay

Inca Dove (Columba badhairdayii)

White-winged Dove

Northern Flicker

From Ash Canyon I took a brief detour to Naco for one of my stupid "tick another country" shenanigans. Naco is right on the border, with the big beautiful fence running right through the middle of it, and thus an ideal spot from which to tick birds in Sonora whilst remaining in the United States. Like all border towns it was a bit of a dump - apologies citizens of Naco - and so I didn't linger. Just long enough to tick Starling, White-winged Dove, and of course Feral Pigeon. 

Naco

Whitewater Draw

My last stop of the day was at the peerless Whitewater Draw, about 45 minutes further east. This had been a sensation back in 2016, I remember getting up incredibly early for a dawn visit and being blown away by the numbers of birds. This time I was targeting a dusk visit where I hoped that I would be stunned by the incredible numbers of Sandhill Cranes all coming in to roost. I was not wrong. I was also not the only person with this thought. The place was heaving with people. Birders, photographers, and even general sightseeers formed a loose human chain along the berms. Some people had clearly been here all day, camping out virtually, with huge amounts of kit, trolleys, chairs, tables, along with next level optical gear. Quite extraordinary. I joined the throng and spent the remainder of the day here until it was almost dark. Snow Geese performed constant blast offs, flying around in circles before coming back to land in the same place they had just left. Other waterfowl on the main lake included three White-fronted Geese, Green‑winged Teal, Northern Shoveler, Gadwall, and Pintail, with small numbers of Killdeer and Least Sandpiper on the edges. Quality came in the form of a Prairie Falcon, only my third record, and a Loggerhead Shrike, but it was all about the Cranes. As the light began to fade more and more arrived. Thousands upon thousands of Sandhill Cranes, long lines drifting across the sky and settling into the water, the sound and sight can't really be adequately described. Mesmerising. I was so glad I had pencilled this in, but of course it was all part of the grand plan.

Snow Geese and Sandhill Cranes

Snow Geese

Prairie Falcon

Sandhill Crane

Snow Geese

That plan meant New Mexico, a new State. McNeal is already quite far east, and so it's only an hour or so to Rodeo, just over the State line. I actually had to go further than that to find accomodation, and so I climbed steadily up to Lordsburg and another downbeat motel. The next morning I would be starting with a clean slate. Excellent.