Fall Gatway

Gila County’s top ten spots for birdwatching
Is Gila County a great
place to strap on the binoculars
and see birds? Ask
‘Tommy D’ Debardeleben,
author of a popular website
frequently updated
with his adventures seeking
rare birds around the Grand
Canyon State. Most of his
days off work during 2017
were spent birding Gila
County - starting the year
with 137 species he had
found on prior visits, and
doubling that already-impressive
tally to 275 before
New Year’s Eve.
Search posts at tommysbirdingexpeditions
for anecdotes from across
Gila County, from a rufous-winged
sparrow singing
at the southern tip of
the county, just off Highway
77 near Winkelman
and the Gila River (where
black vulture and Mississippi
kite are also possible),
to ‘chases’ northwards hoping
for short-tailed hawk
in the Pinal Mountains, to
San Carlos Lake for hooded
merganser, Bonaparte’s
gull, and Franklin’s gull,
and to Green Valley Park in
Payson for Northern parula
and rufous-backed robin.
“I fell in love with the
county,” he writes. “I saw
how diverse it was, and
how much potential it had
for personal discovery. Before
I knew it, I had spent
a huge chunk of the year
devoting my birding time
to Gila County . . . it was a
Red Breasted Nuthatch
fun ride.”
Nature-lovers seeking
narrative descriptions can
spend hours reading Tommy
D’s blog posts and be
familiar with most of the
10 spots in this list of great
places to see and photograph
birds. You’ll also want to
bookmark ebird.org as a
browser favorite and explore
this exhaustive website
– where easy-to-navigate
maps pinpoint
‘hotspots’ where birders
have collectively reported:
Winkelman Flats Park –
158 species
San Carlos Lake - 207
Russell Gulch below the
Pinal Mountains - 177
Pinal Peak – 152
Jones Water Camp-
Continued on page 27
Yellow Eyed Junco
Courtesy photo/Muriel Neddermeyer
Courtesy photo/Muriel Neddermeyer
26 Gateway to the Copper Corridor 2021