Among USFWS-designated Birds of Conservation Concern for the Sonoran Desert, Sierra Madre Occidental, and Chihuahuan Desert regions, species found on multiple lists for the hotspot include Broad-tailed Hummingbird (April-May), Arizona Woodpecker (July-January), Plumbeous Vireo (May and September), Woodhouse’s Scrub Jay (January-September), Verdin (November-December), and Phainopepla (November-January), Scott’s Oriole (April-July), Black-throated Gray Warbler (March-May and August). 

Birders are more apt to find Hutton’s Vireo than Plumbeous.

Mexican Jay are far more common than Woodhouse’s. Steller’s are also observed.

Both Dark-eyed and Yellow-eyed Junco are present October-January.

The name Noon Creek (Map) comes from the fact that when pioneer settlers traveled this way on excursions into the Pinaleño Mountains, this was usually as far as they were able to get via horse and wagon by lunch time of the first day. Noon Creek thus became a traditional lunch stop along the historic travel route into the Pinaleños and it remains a popular spot today. The surroundings here are typical of mountain oak woodlands with junipers and scrub oaks standing as the tallest trees, while satin barked manzanita, saw-leafed sotol, and soaptree yucca form a picturesque understory. As you enjoy your favorite picnic dish in this setting, keep an eye out for some of the local residents. You may catch a glimpse of a spiny lizard or a raspy-voiced cactus wren, a bird well adapted to life in this dry, bristling environment.  Watch for roadrunners as they dart among the underbrush always on the lookout for a slithery meal.

From Safford, Arizona: Take US 191 south for 6 miles. Turn right onto AZ 366/Swift Trail and travel approximately 7 miles. The campground is on the right side of the road.

Mount Graham is the tallest of southeastern Arizona’s sky islands—mountain ranges that rise like forested islands out of a desert sea. Ascending this mountain is the ecological equivalent of traveling from Mexico to Canada. Varied biotic communities, layered in life zones, provide ideal habitat for a diverse array of plants and animals, including endemic species found nowhere else in the world.

Known as Dził Nchaa Si’an (or Big Seated Mountain) to the Western Apache, Mount Graham has been home to Indigenous people for thousands of years.

In the late 1800s, Apache tribes that lived here for generations were forced onto reservations, restricting their access to the natural resources and spiritual sites on this mountain. Mount Graham still holds profound cultural significance to tribes today, and many sites are considered sacred.

An influx of Mormon farmers and ranchers in the late 1800s, and mining ventures in the early 1900s, prompted a need for lumber from the pine-covered mountain. Numerous sawmills were built across the range; remnants of some mills are present today.

The Swift Trail follows the original wagon route used to transport lumber down the mountain. Place names along the parkway recall early pioneers, from the namesake Forest Supervisor T. T. Swift, to the families that tended orchards, planted crops, and grazed cattle along the mountain creeks and meadows.

The Civilian Conservation Corps, which employed young men in the 1930s during the Great Depression, had multiple camps on Mount Graham. They constructed roads and bridges, such as the original stone bridge that crossed Wet Canyon. They also developed recreation sites on the mountain, including many of the trails and campgrounds enjoyed by visitors today.

The Ladybug #329 trail starts across the road near Angle Orchard.