Maricopa County Birding Areas and Sites

This page is the turnoff to where you want to go and explore in Maricopa County.  Every hotspot can be found in a specific area according to where it is at in the county.  Find your hotspot and explore!  Also, more than half of the birding hotspots on here contain links to eBird.com.  Look for the eBird notification next to the different hotspots under each area, and if the hotspot has "(eBird)" next to it, it contains a link to the eBird data for that location.

Maricopa County Birding Areas:

Area 1-Highway 87 from Desert to the High Country  (Start off by exploring Mesquite Wash in a desert riparian setting.  By the day's end you'll end up getting lost in the woods and "high country" at Mount Ord.)

Area 2-Lower Salt River Recreation Area  (10 recreation sites.  Very good birding.  All along a thirteen mile stretch at the Lower Salt River)

Area 3-Apache Trail  (Drive through one of North America's most scenic routes by birding along the way!)

Area 4-Gilbert, Chandler, and Mesa  (Headlined by the Gilbert Water Ranch, Maricopa County's premier birding location)

Area 5-South Phoenix, Scottsdale, and Tempe  (Awesome birding within the big city!  Great riparian habitiats, sod farms, big lakes, you name it!)

Area 6-Peoria, Glendale, and North Phoenix  (Good birding oppurtunities in urban settings)

Area 7-Southwest Phoenix  (Tres Rios Wetlands, Glendale Recharge Ponds to name a few.  An outstanding area with good habitat diversity, expect many different birds.)

Area 8-Arlington to Gila Bend  (Thrashers and raptors and cranes, oh my!)

Area 9-West Maricopa  (Birding in the desert southwest)

Area 10-Northwest Maricopa  (Desert riparian forests displayed in Morgan City Wash and the Hassayampa River Preserve, and a giant desert lake)

Area 11-Cave Creek  (Canyons filled with creeks lined with sycamore, willow, and cottonwoods in an underbirded area)

Area 12-Lower Verde River  (Amazing birding in desert/riparian forests and reservoirs along the Verde River)

Area 13-Fountain Hills  (Birding in the middle of a nice town.  Amazing riparian drainages and a big town lake!)

Other Maricopa County Birding Areas (Other good single birding areas in Maricopa County that don't really fall in any of the above areas) 

Want to see a complete map overview of these thirteen areas?  Click the link below, which shows where each area is at in Maricopa County.

Maricopa County Areas Map

eBird has become a very valuable tool for birders, and is useful for studying and looking at abundance and status of different species.  Click the link below to see the eBird Data for all of Maricopa County.

Maricopa County complete eBird Data

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