Go Birding
In the Pinal Mountains

Birding in Globe

Globe’s scenic Pinal Mountains form the most northern ‘sky island’ range in Arizona – and also the closest, for bird-loving visitors arriving from Mesa and East Valley cities. Watch for Chihuahuan Ravens during winter in the foothills and circling above Russell Gulch; then Fox Sparrow and Crissal Thrasher on the slopes above the paved road – and Yellow-eyed Juncos once you ascend from chaparral to Ponderosa Pine forests. Wintertime notables can include Olive Warbler and Red Crossbill.

Drivers from Mesa and East Valley cities can reach the mountaintop in less than 2.5 hours; enjoying a scenic 12 miles of well-graded dirt roads maintained by the US Forest Service, once you turn from pavement onto Forest Road 651 — passing several different campsites (yes, with Forest Service primitive toilets) enroute; hiking trails — and ending at prominent radio towers at Pinal Peak. Located within the Tonto National Forest, the Pinal Recreation Area includes 45,760 acres.

Cooper's Hawk

Accipiter cooperii

Length: 14-19"
Wing-span: 27-36"
Diet: Lizards, Rodents or other small animals

The Cooper's Hawk  is a medium-sized raptor closely related to sharp-shinned hawks and northern goshawks.  Adult birds have short, broad wings and long tails for navigating through woodlands and thickets.  The back is bluish-gray on adult males and more brownish-gray on adult females.

Red Tailed Hawk

Buteo jamaicensis

Length: 22"
Wing-span: 56"
Diet: Small Rodents, Snakes

The red-tail is one of the the largest hawks, usually weighing between two and four pounds. As with most raptors, the female is nearly a third larger than the male and may have a wing span of 56 inches. This species shows a great deal of individual variation in plumage.

Gamble's Quail

Callipepla gambelii

Length: 10"
Wing-span: 14"
Diet: Seeds, leaves, insects

This quail is plump, short-tailed, and has grayish plumage. Both adult males and females have the prominenet tear-drop shaped head plume or double plume. Males give a repeated nasal pup waay pop with a short clipped final note call. Beautiful bird in the Pinals.

Ring-Billed Gull

Amphizspiza bilineata

Length: 19"
Wing-span: 49"
Diet:  Insects, Fish, Earthworms, Grain

The head, neck and underparts are white; the relatively short bill is yellow with a dark ring; the back and wings are silver gray; and the legs are yellow. The eyes are yellow with red rims. This gull takes three years to reach its breeding plumage; its appearance changes with each fall moult.

Eurasian Collard Dove

Streptopelia decaocto

Length: 12"
Wing-span: 14"
Diet: Seeds and Cereal Grains

Their color ranges from a light brown to a gray-buff. There are white patches on the tail, and there is a thin band of black crescent on the back of the neck, which looks like a collar, giving it its name. Beautiful bird in the Pinals, click below to learn more.

White-Winged Dove

Zenaida asiatica

Length: 12"
Wing-span: 19"
Diet: Seeds, Fruit, Insects

White-winged doves are grayish-brown with a white wing-patch visible as a narrow stripe along the lower edge of a folded wing. In flight, the white appears as a stripe on the upper side of the wing. The underside of the tail is white-tipped below a black stripe. Learn more by clicking below.

Morning Dove

Zenaida macroura

Length: 10-13"
Wing-span: 14"
Diet: Insects and spiders

Mourning doves are light grey and brown and generally muted in color. Males and females are similar in appearance. The species is generally monogamous, with two squabs (young) per brood. Both parents incubate and care for the young. Mourning doves eat almost exclusively seeds, but the young are fed crop milk by their parents.

Anna's Hummingbird

Calypte anna

Length: 3.9"
Wing-span: 4.7"
Diet: Seeds, Nectar from various flowers

Anna's hummingbirds are now common in Phoenix and Tucson gardens and feeders. Before the 1960s, they were mostly winter visitors from coastal Southern California. The increase in feeders likely drove this change. They are medium-sized and stocky for hummingbirds, with a short, straight bill and broad tail.

Broad-Tailed Hummingbird

Selasphorus platycercus

Length: 4"
Wing-span: 5.2"
Diet: Mostly Nectar and Insects

Broad-tailed Hummingbirds, though tiny, are medium-sized for a North American hummingbird. They have a slender body, a big head, and a long straight bill. Its tail is relatively long for a hummingbird, extending beyond the wingtips when perched. For more information about the broad-tailed hummingbird click on the link below.

Acorn Woodpecker

Melanerpes formicivorusz

Length: 7.5"
Wing-span: 13.8"
Diet: Acorns and other Nuts and Seeds

Acorn Woodpeckers are medium-sized woodpeckers with straight, spike-like bills and stiff, wedge-shaped tails used for support as the birds cling to tree trunks.  These striking birds are mostly black above with a red cap, creamy white face, and black patch around the bill. In flight, they show three patches of white: one in each wing and one on the rump. Females have less red on the crown than males.

Hairy Woodpecker

Dryobates villosus

Length: 7.1"
Wing-span: 14.2"
Diet: Beetles, Spiders, Moth Larvae, and Ants

The hairy woodpecker is named for the long, hair-like white feathers on its back. The hairy looks like a super-sized version of a downy woodpecker, but the best way to tell these two similar species apart is to compare the length of the bill to the length (front-to-back) of the head. The hairy’s bill is always longer than the width of its head, and the downy’s bill is always shorter than its head. Learn more by clicking below.

Northern Flicker

Colaptes auratus

Length: 11-14"
Wing-span: 17-21"
Diet: Insects, Seeds, Nuts 

Flickers are substantial woodpeckers with strong chisel-beaks which they use to excavate nest cavities and to extract insect prey. Among their most important prey are ants, especially carpenter ants. Carpenter Ants (Camponotas sp.) are large and frequently form large colonies in rotting tree trunks/logs. If you are interested in learning more about the Northern Flicker click on the link below.

Gilded Flicker

Colaptes chrysoides

Length: 11"
Wing-span: 18.9"
Diet: Insects, fruits, seeds

The gilded flicker most frequently builds its nest hole in a majestic saguaro cactus, excavating a nest hole nearer the top than the ground. The cactus defends itself against water loss into the cavity of the nesting hole by secreting sap that hardens into a waterproof structure that is known as a saguaro boot.

Western Wood Pewee

Contopus sordidulus

Length: 5.5"
Wing-span: 10.2"
Diet: Mostly Flying Insects

Some characteristics to notice: There is no eye ring. Wing bars are present, but faint. The lower mandible of the bill is light/orange color. The head, chest and belly are almost uniform pale gray. The bird is small, about the size of a house finch. But notice the slender bill adapted for eating soft-bodied insects.

Greater Pewee

Contopus pertinax

Length: 8"
Wing-span: 13"
Diet: Flying Insects

In mountain forests of Arizona this chunky flycatcher is fairly common in summer. It is often seen perched on a dead twig high in a pine, watching for flying insects. In color and markings, the Greater Pewee is as plain as a bird can be; but it has a beautifully clear, whistled song, ho-say, ma-re-ah, giving rise to its Mexican nickname of "Jose Maria."1

Cordilleran Flycatcher

Empidonax occidentalis

Length: 5.75"
Wing-span: 11" 
Diet: Insects, Seeds and Berries

Small flycatcher with olive-brown upper-parts, yellow throat and belly separated by olive-gray breast, elongated white eye-ring, and pale wing-bars. Black bill is long and wide, and lower mandible is bright yellow. Weak fluttering flight with shallow wing beats.

Say's Phoebe

Sayornis saya

Length: 7.5"
Wing-span: 13"
Diet: Insects

This slender, long-tailed flycatcher appears to have a large head for a bird of its size. They are a pale brownish color on their back with a cinnamon belly, a blackish tail and a gray breast. Their call is a low, plaintive, whistled pdeer or tueee. Their song is a series of relatively low, whistles.

Vermilion Flycatcher

Pyrocephalus rubinus

Length: 6"
Wing-span: 9.5" Diet: Insects

One of the most striking birds inhabiting riparian zones in the Sonoran Desert is the Vermillion Flycatcher. They perch usually on a branch that is a few meters off the ground that gives a good view of the area. From this vantage point the bird sallies out to capture flying insects on the wing then abruptly returns to the perch.

Dusky-Capped Flycatcher

Myiarchus tuberculifer

Length: 5.75"
Wing-span: 9.5"
Diet: Insects

The dusky-capped flycatcher is best separated from other confusingly similar Myiarchus species by its smaller size, blackish head, and its call, a sorrowful, descending, whistled peeur or wheeeeeu.  This bird reaches its northern limits in Arizona and New Mexico, where it is common in summer in canyons and pine-oak forest.

Ash-Throated Flycatcher

Myiarchus cinerascens

Length: 8.5"
Wing-span: 11.8"
Diet: Insects

Males and females are similar in plumage.  Overall a dull grayish/brown color, with a slight yellow wash on the lower belly.  Wings and tail have a hint of Rufous, particularly noticeable in flight.  At times appears to have a slight crest, but not always visible.  Usually seen in Scrub-oak, pinyon-juniper, into transition zone where Ponderosa Pines and oaks come together.

Western Kingbird

Tyrannus verticalis

Length: 8"
Wing-span: 15.5"
Diet:  Insects and Berries

Adults are grey-olive on the upper-parts with a grey head and a dark line through the eyes; the underparts are light becoming light orange-yellow on the lower breast and belly. They have a long black tail with white outer feathers. Western kingbirds also have a reddish crown that they only display during courtship and confrontations with other species.