State guide

Arizona Nature Guide

Arizona stacks more life zones into one state than almost anywhere in North America — from the saguaro forests of the Sonoran Desert and the grasslands and Chihuahuan scrub of the southeast, up through the chaparral and Mogollon Rim pine country to the spruce-fir and aspen of the San Francisco Peaks above Flagstaff. The low desert inverts the usual calendar: winter and spring are the mild, green, prime growing and birding season, summer is brutally hot until the July–September monsoon breaks it, and the high country keeps a normal cool-summer rhythm. Add the world-famous 'sky islands' of the southeast — where Mexican specialties like the Elegant Trogon and fifteen-plus hummingbirds reach the United States — and Arizona becomes one of the great nature destinations on the continent.