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Fall Bird Migration in Arizona

Arizona counts migrating raptors from the south rim of the Grand Canyon, and holds the wintering geese of the lower Colorado River on flooded crop fields two hundred miles downstream.

Agency viewing sites
2
Species documented
3
Mapped
2
Where to stand

Public viewing sites in Arizona

Every place below is one an agency itself describes for watching the fall passage, with the agency named and linked, the species it documents there, the months it names as the peak, and the facility that exists: a tour route, a platform, a tower, a visitor centre. Where the agency wrote a sentence worth reading, it is quoted exactly.

Grand Canyon HawkWatch at Yaki Point Public platformMarquee site

A canyon lookout on the south rim of the Grand Canyon, reached on foot or by shuttle bus

Broad-winged hawkSharp-shinned hawk

Seasons typically run between 4,400 and 5,400 migrants, with sharp-shinned hawks averaging around 1,570 and broad-wingeds around 21. The count runs from late August into early November, and the lookout is a working rim viewpoint as well as a count site.

“Visitors to the site must walk in or take a shuttle bus.”
HawkCount site profile, Grand Canyon HawkWatch, quoted exactly.

Run by HawkWatch International, with the National Park Service

Cibola National Wildlife Refuge Federal

The Colorado River floodplain on the Arizona and California line, with moist soil units and farmed fields

Snow goose

The refuge farms its units for the birds, growing tubers, grains and seedlings as winter food for the geese, and describes the river greenbelt as a migratory corridor for birds on a thousand mile journey. Waterfowl abound through the fall movement.

“Moist soil units and wildlife crops offer nutrient-rich tubers, grains and seedlings, which are important sources of winter food for Canada and snow geese.”
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Cibola National Wildlife Refuge, quoted exactly.

Run by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

The map

Arizona sites, refuges and the reporting record

Style
Records
Layers

Viewing sites in Arizona, with the national wildlife refuges in the state drawn underneath. The coloured grid is where people have uploaded a verified sandhill crane record to iNaturalist in September, October, November and December, brighter where more have been logged. It is a map of reports rather than of birds: it thickens around refuges, car parks and towns because that is where observers stand, and it shows past reports rather than birds present today. Pins are public viewing sites an agency itself describes; grey dots are US Fish and Wildlife Service refuges and hatcheries, drawn because the refuge system is where most of the staging happens.

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When

When the passage peaks in Arizona

HawkCount site profile, Grand Canyon HawkWatch puts the Arizona peak at Late August through early November at Yaki Point, with the river geese settling in from November. That describes a pattern across past autumns. The week itself swings with the weather: a cold front to the north moves cranes and geese south in a single night, and a warm spell holds them for weeks. Dawn and the last hour before dusk are when cranes and geese move between the fields and the water, and that movement is the spectacle the platforms are built for.

Arizona's autumn runs from the canyon rim down to the river. At Yaki Point, on the south rim of the Grand Canyon, HawkWatch International counts the migration from late August into early November, typically 4,400 to 5,400 birds a season, from a lookout that is also a working rim viewpoint reached on foot or by shuttle bus. Two hundred miles downstream, Cibola farms its floodplain units for the birds, growing tubers, grains and seedlings as winter food for the geese that settle onto the lower Colorado from November. The Sulphur Springs Valley holds a third autumn, but the state agency pages describing it did not answer.

Below, one curve per species the agencies document in Arizona: every research grade observation members of the public have uploaded to iNaturalist for the state, by calendar month across every year the platform holds, with September to December shaded. Counts of uploads, so they measure observers as well as birds, and the shape is worth reading where the absolute numbers are not.

Snow goose

762 research grade snow geese observations have been uploaded to iNaturalist for Arizona across every year the platform holds, and 43 percent of them fall in the four shaded autumn months. The busiest month in the record is January. An autumn month carries about 1.5 times as many uploads as an average month outside autumn. People upload most of everything in April, so a bar that rises after that is the stronger signal. Counts of what people reported, measuring observers as well as birds. See the autumn records.

Broad-winged hawk

39 research grade broad-winged hawks observations have been uploaded to iNaturalist for Arizona across every year the platform holds, and 36 percent of them fall in the four shaded autumn months. With fewer than 60 records the series is too thin to summarise, so the bars stand on their own. Counts of what people reported, measuring observers as well as birds. See the autumn records.

Sharp-shinned hawk

472 research grade sharp-shinned hawks observations have been uploaded to iNaturalist for Arizona across every year the platform holds, and 47 percent of them fall in the four shaded autumn months. The busiest month in the record is January. An autumn month carries about 1.76 times as many uploads as an average month outside autumn. People upload most of everything in April, so a bar that rises after that is the stronger signal. Counts of what people reported, measuring observers as well as birds. See the autumn records.

Sandhill cranes flying in a loose line across a pale open sky, necks held straight out in front and long legs trailing behind them
Sandhill cranes crossing a refuge on the morning flight. The movement is watched from the designated pullout or platform: the birds settle on shallow water for the night, and the roost itself is the one place a viewing site is never placed. “Sandhill cranes flying over Sherburne National Wildlife Refuge (24542820818)” by USFWS Midwest Region from United States, CC BY 2.0
Latest reports

What people have reported in Arizona lately

The most recent research grade autumn observation of each species that anyone has uploaded to iNaturalist for Arizona, as a date and the platform’s own coarse locality. Evidence that people do find snow goose and broad-winged hawk here. Each is one bird on one past day: the flocks move with the weather, so where they are this week is what the agency page and its counts answer.

Checking the most recent autumn uploads for Arizona on iNaturalist...

Where Arizona counts are published

Elsewhere

Other states with agency designated migration viewing

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Questions about Arizona

Inventory compiled 2026-09-19 from the agency pages linked above. Agency text is quoted exactly with its source named and linked; the observation curves and latest reports are counts and dates from public uploads to iNaturalist.

Winter eagle watchingThe same refuges and rivers three months later, when the ice concentrates the eagles.Arizona waterfowl seasonThe hunting calendar on the same marshes, worth knowing before standing on a dike in October.Arizona daylight hoursThe dawn and dusk flights are the spectacle, and the clock change moves them.