Nalu Loc: Southern Arizona

I am starting to explore areas south of Tucson looking for bird photography opportunities. I'm getting the feeling that things are going to be pretty slow until we get closer to spring, but if anyone has suggestions where to explore I would appreciate it. I am aware of the raptor flight show at the Desert Museum and know about Madera Canyon feeders, but other suggestions are always appreciate.

Here are a couple of locals I recently found. After reading some recent posts about preparing images for the web, I took advantage of the information and exported these from Photoshop as jpegs with sRGB color profiles. The experts say that color rendition is much more accurate in sRGB than Adobe RGB for the web. This is first for me.

Hope you enjoy these guys.

Sony A9, 100/400 GM w/ 1.4x (560mm), ISO 800 and 1600 respectively.

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UTMike Loc: South Jordan, UT

Very nice work!

PixelStan77 Loc: Vermont/Chicago

Two outstanding captures. I am planning to go to Madera Canyon in March to hopefully capture Hummingbirds.

Swamp-Cork Loc: Lanexa, Virginia

Lovely downloads, Frank!

kpmac Loc: Ragley, La

Very nice post. Nice job.

gregoryd45 Loc: Fakahatchee Strand

Veury nice, Nal

Retired CPO Loc: Travel full time in an RV

How far south of Tucson do you want to go? Patagonia Lake State park is good. Buenos Aires NWR is great but quite a drive from Tucson. Ramsey Canyon (Nature Conservancy property) Close to Sierra Vista and Fort Huachuca is good mid week. San Pedro river is a magnet for Mexican birds illegally crossing the border.

Fayle Loc: Seward, Alaska and Rionegro, Colombia

This is a bit north of Tucson.
https://desert-photo-retreat.com/

suntouched Loc: Sierra Vista AZ

Actually if you go N of Tucson to Phoenix there seems to be a lot of activity at Gilbert Water Ranch and Glendale Recharge Ponds. Get onto the "Birding in the Southwest" FB site. Lots of great bird photos posted with locations.

Returning to your original query- (you can get details on the Internet) Patagonia Lake has a birding tour weekly, several bed and breakfast places around Sierra Vista that are open to day visitors for a small fee, Ramsey Conservancy in Sierra Vista as well as Patagonia, Paton's hummingbirds in Patagonia, San Pedro House in Sierra Vista, Wilcox Lake in Wilcox near the golf course, Whitewater refuge will net you lots and lots of Sandhill Cranes, ducks and birds, Portal near the Az-NM border, Ft Huachuca at Garden Canyon and Ft Huachuca Canyon- you will need to stop and get a pass to get on the fort. There is always some activity here, although from about March through April it really heats up. Most of the hummingbirds are gone although there are always some permanent residents.
The bed and breakfast places around Sierra Vista are really hot in the spring because the birds are fed. There are at least 4 major ones.

Oh and if you log on to E-bird, you will find more information.

I live in Sierra Vista in the winter and it has taken me awhile to find out the above information. The information is available but not in one consolidated place so you end up looking at tons of information to figure it all out. The FB site mentioned earlier has been very helpful and don't discount E-bird.
You will find lots of Raptors between Whitewater and Wilcox off the main highway as this is their winter home.

Have fun.

Blaster34 Loc: Florida Treasure Coast

Superb....and yes I did enjoy them

AzPicLady Loc: Behind the camera!

Ramsey Canyon and the San Pedro are both good areas. I'm no birder, but saw lots in each place. My only good hummer picture was at Ramsey Canyon.

Earnest Botello Loc: Hockley, Texas

Very good Nalu.

Nalu Loc: Southern Arizona

Wow, that is a bunch of great information and appreciated. We are new to S. Arizona and any information on where to photograph birds can help in the exploration. Considering I am partial to raptors, the info about them between Whitewater and Wilcox is great. I had heard about the cranes at Whitewater, but if I read the information correctly, the refuge pretty much limit access during the winter, so getting close might be an issue. Nevertheless, thank you for the information. We will be checking it out.

AzPicLady Loc: Behind the camera!

And don't forget the cranes at Wilcox' dry lake. I don't know what month it is, and I've never done it. But my friend did.

suntouched Loc: Sierra Vista AZ

Whitewater is not limited except by water and roads. Great trails to walk around the water areas. The cranes often come in close and there are thousands of them. They take off at daybreak from the "lake", some return at noon and others take off then. Most come back at sunset from the surrounding fields and spend the night in the lake. Besides Cranes there are a variety of birds. My favorite place in S. Az! And the surrounding area is great for landscapes at sunrise and sunset. In the winter there are often thousands of blackbirds but you don't notice cause they hide in the reeds. They will often take off as a flock certain times of day and it looks like a whirlwind of birds. Are you living in Tucson? Sweetwater in Tucson can be a good place to go early in the morning. I was there a couple of weeks ago and there were lots of ducks. Several ponds at Sweetwater. If you go on Facebook and look up "Sky Island" birding you will also see what the area offers. People are pretty good about id'ing where they took the picture.