ARIZONA'S IMPORTANT BIRD AREAS PROGRAM

Arizona's Important Bird Areas Program is moving forward under the direction of a state IBA Coordinator and Tucson Audubon Society . Additionally, AZ IBA program is working in close partnership and support from Arizona Partners in Flight.The program is in the process of finalizing the selection of members for its Scientific Review Committee, with the hope of 10-12 members by November 2001. Information is now being solicited for candidate IBAs and efforts are under way to encourage chapter leaders to assist in this process. To date, 20 candidate IBAs have been identified and are now pending approval and official recognition. The Arizona IBA Program and Tucson Audubon hope to build on The Nature Conservancy's established riparian restoration project and site protection efforts along the Lower San Pedro River to develop a beneficial partnership for avian conservation in this critically important riparian ecosystem. The Arizona IBA Program has been promoted through educational materials (a poster and brochure) and at local birding festivals.

Photo Courtesy Charles Paradzick of AZGFD

CANDIDATE* IMPORTANT BIRD AREA
Name: Lower San Pedro River
State: Arizona
County(ies): Cochise, Pima, and Pinal Counties
Nearest Community: Cascabel, Redington, San Manuel, Mammoth, Dudleyville, and Winkelman

Site Description: The Lower San Pedro River is characterized as a south to north free-flowing river with an associated riparian habitat corridor. In conjunction with the river are several different habitats including: the extensive upland Sonoran Desert, lowland Sonoran riparian habitat (extensive Fremont cottonwood and Goodding willow woodlands), velvet mesquite bosque (some of the most extensive and tallest examples left in AZ), and cienega wetlands (Cook's Lake and Bingham Cienega).

Ornithological Summary: This riparian and upland Sonoran desert habitat complex is extremely important for riparian dependent species, particularly flycatchers, warblers, doves, and riparian dependent raptors. Species of conservation concern include: Southwestern Willow Flycatcher (approximately 75 pairs in 2001), Cactus Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl, (occurred at least prior to 1985), Black-bellied Whistling-Duck (3-5 breeding pairs), Mississippi Kite (85-90% of AZ breeding population), Bald Eagle, Common Black-Hawk, Gray Hawk, Western Yellow-billed Cuckoo (>15 breeding pairs known), Tropical Kingbird, Thick-billed Kingbird, Purple Martin (significantly high breeding population), Lucy Warbler, and Rufous-winged Sparrow.

Conservation Issues: This candidate IBA faces a number of threats including: relatively high grazing pressure, over-extraction of groundwater for agriculture and mining, destruction of riparian habitat by fire, harvesting of fuel wood in mesquite bosques, and uncontrolled off-road recreation within river bottoms and uplands.

Given some of the unique bird species and community assemblages a number of projects are focused on the birds and their habitats of the Lower San Pedro River. On-going projects include Willow Flycatcher population monitoring by Arizona Game and Fish Department. The Nature Conservancy of Arizona in conjunction with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation is working to protect and enhance native habitats. The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation is also involved in bird population monitoring in the Cook's Lake area. A Christmas Bird Count was initiated for the first time in Dudleyville in 2000/01 resulting in a recorded 136 species.

* Candidate sites are being considered for designation as Important Bird Areas by the State Technical Committee.

To Learn More About Arizona's
Important Bird Areas Program

Visit the Web Site:
Important Bird Areas of Arizona

Contact:
Scott Wilbor
Tucson Audubon Society
300 E. University Blvd. #120
Tucson, AZ 85705
(520) 629-0757
swilbor@qwest.net