A group of private citizens who live in and/or love this area of southern Arizona formed the non-profit Friends of San Rafael Valley (FoSRV) in 2023. Working in partnership with Arizona State Parks and Trails, the FoSRV focuses on preserving […]
What To See & Do
Posted by permission of Linda Kennedy, photographer Butterflies in January? Hard to imagine, but here is proof they do indeed winter in the Sky Islands. Photos were taken by Linda on the 5th of January 2026, in her yard in […]
“Butterflies…flowers that fly and all but sing.” ~ Robert Frost
Reprinted by permission of the Tucson Bird Alliance. Written by Tom Brown, Paton Center Site Manager. This year, the yard has recorded 190 species on eBird, and we had 4,470 checklists submitted by 2,630 birders—this makes the Paton Center #3 […]
The Paton Center By the Numbers – Ranked #3 in ...
Reprinted by permission of the Tucson Bird Alliance. Written by Louie Dombroski, former Paton Center Birder-In-Residence. An exuberant song erupts from an elderberry bough, a brush pile, or a thick sedge tussock at the Paton Center for Hummingbirds. It consists […]
Happy Birding to You…from a friendly Song Sparrow
Reprinted by permission of the Patagonia Regional Times. Author and photographer – Mary Tolena One morning in May, Aaron Mrotek, manager of The Nature Conservancy’s Patagonia-Sonoita Creek Preserve, got a big surprise when he opened his email. Mrotek had […]
TNC’s Sonoita Creek Preserve Manager Wins Award
Photos taken by Linda Kennedy, June 2025 Enjoy her early morning jaunt to the TNC before the critters took cover from the heat. A note from us: You can support this critical bird habitat by donating online on the […]
A Field Trip to the TNC Patagonia-Sonoita Creek Preserve
Reprinted by permission of Outside Online.com – Author, Graham Averill Patagonia, Arizona Population: 789 Why I Love It Start in Tucson, then head an hour south (almost to the Mexican border) and you’ll find tiny Patagonia, a former mining town […]
Patagonia, AZ: “#5 on The Top 9 Small Adventure Towns”
Reprinted by permission of the Patagonia Times. Author and photographer – Tom Brown, manager of the Paton Center for Humminbirds Last week, the Patagonia area got a very unusual visitor in the form of an American woodcock. Affectionately known as a […]
A Rare Sighting: A Timberdoodle Comes to Patagonia
Reprinted by permission of the Tucson Audubon Society As many of you might know by now, the Paton Center for Hummingbirds has been hosting a fairly rare for a few weeks now. The Red (Taiga) subspecies of Fox Sparrow is […]
Its early 2025 – Time for a rare sighting at ...
Reprinted by permission of the Tucson Audubon Society Join us in celebrating two ambitious projects and the Tucson Audubon field crew and volunteers who did the work! As 2024 comes to an end, so do two of our major projects […]
Riparian Restoration along the Sonoita Creek Corridor.
Written by Tom Brown and reprinted by permission of the Tucson Audubon Society Another Southeast Arizona Birding Festival is in the books, and by all accounts, it was a smashing success! Knowing we would be hosting several field trips each […]
Giant Hummingbirders at the Paton Center in Patagonia
Reprinted by permission of the Patagonia Regional Times This year’s County Fair promises to be a spectacular celebration of our agricultural heritage. Under the theme “From Farm to Fair—Celebration of Agriculture,” the fair will showcase the best of local farming, […]
From Farm to Fair: A Celebration of Local Agriculture
Written by Tom Brown and reprinted by permission of the Tucson Audubon Society The Webster’s Dictionary definition of the word chat: to talk lightly, glibly, or flirtatiously. But to us here at the Paton Center for Hummingbirds, it is: to […]
Chat with Us at the Paton Center for Hummingbirds!
Author: Addie Ibarra. Reprinted by permission of the Tucson Foodie. Imagine this: rolling, grass-covered hills, cooler temps, picturesque Arizona landscapes, and all in all, a perfect bifurcation of cowboys and winos. Regardless of whether you’re an oenophile, a Sunday sommelier, […]
Best Spots to Sip Wine in Sonoita and Elgin
The Sky Islands Tourism Association and the Arizona Small Business Association have partnered to produce this travel-vignette video featuring the area’s attractions and local business owners. Known as “one of the best kept secrets in Arizona,” the Sky Islands include […]
A Video Tour of the Sky Islands of Southern Arizona
Written by Tom Brown and reprinted by permission of the Tucson Audubon Society I thought it might be a good time for an update on how the Paton Center’s Haikubox is performing. Officially, we have recorded 122 different species in […]
100 Days of the Paton Center Haikubox
Written by Tom Brown and reprinted by permission of the Tucson Audubon Society On September 21st, six weeks after turning on our new HaikuBox listening device at the Paton Center for Hummingbirds, we recorded our 100th bird species. That lucky […]
100 Bird Species at the Paton Center
Written by Aaron Mrotek Last month, crews from the Arizona Conservation Corps completed major trail re-routes on the Cemetery Trail and the Geoffrey Platts Loop Trail. The re-routes are intended to make the trails more accessible to everyone by eliminating […]
Trail Updates – News on Hiking around Patagonia
Written by Robert Gay and reprinted by permission of the Patagonia Regional Times The various trails in and around Patagonia have been given some love recently by several organizations, often aided by residents. Here’s a look at what’s been happening […]