Madera Canyon in Early May 2026: The Last Two Weeks of Peak Spring Birding 45 Minutes South of Tucson

Drive 45 minutes south on Interstate 19, exit at Continental Road, climb 12.5 miles up Madera Canyon Road, and you have arrived at one of the most concentrated migratory-bird hotspots in North America. Madera Canyon, in the Santa Rita Mountains' Coronado National Forest, hosts more than 250 documented bird species and 15 species of hummingbirds, with celebrity nesters — the Elegant Trogon, Sulphur-bellied Flycatcher, Painted Redstart, and Red-faced Warbler — actively present right now. Peak spring migration in the canyon runs from mid-April through about the second week of May, which makes the next two weekends the cleanest window of the entire 2026 birding calendar before pre-monsoon heat shrinks the daily activity window. Here is a sourced May 3 walk-through for residents, second-home shoppers in Green Valley and Sahuarita, and out-of-state visitors evaluating southern Arizona as a base.