Fort Bowie National Historic Site ⓘ

Nestled between the Dos Cabeza and Chiricahua Mountains, Fort Bowie offers excellent year-round birding opportunities. Mesquite grasslands, upland oak -juniper woodlands, riparian zones, and dry wash canyons create a mosaic of specialized habitat for migratory, summer, and resident species.

Spring is the perfect time to observe warblers and flycatchers, in crisp breeding plumage, as they refuel on newly hatched insects, before continuing their northward journey. For other species, Fort Bowie is a final northern migratory stop. Scott’s and Hooded Orioles, Lucy’s and Black-throated Gray Warblers, Ash- throated and Brown-crested Flycatchers, Cassin’s and Western Kingbirds, Western Wood Pewees, Black-chinned Hummingbirds, Summer Tanagers, Elf and Flammulated Owls, and Turkey Vultures are just a few of the summer denizens joining resident Black-throated Sparrows, Scrub Jays, Gambel’s Quail, House Finch, Northern Cardinals, Canyon Towhees, Northern Mockingbirds, Mexican Whip-poor-wills, phoebes, titmice, wrens, and thrashers in the seasonal tasks of establishing territories and nest building.

As the weather cools and days shorten, summer residents fly south as northern nesting species return to overwinter at Fort Bowie. Wintering Red-naped and Williamson’s Sapsuckers forage in snags or standing dead and decaying trees, joined by local flickers, Ladderback, Acorn, and Arizona Woodpeckers.

Overhead, Sandhill Cranes fly in formation enroute to their wintering grounds in the Sulphur Springs Valley, a phenomenon which repeats in spring, as the cranes migrate north to nesting grounds in Idaho, Montana, Canada, and Alaska.

A call, a song, or a flash of color can always be experienced by observant visitors as they stroll the trail at Fort Bowie.

Positioned at the crossroads of the Sonoran and Chihuahuan Deserts and Rocky and Sierra Madre Mountains, Fort Bowie exhibits extraordinary floral variety. Over 600 plant species have been documented at the site. Four plant communities dominate the Fort Bowie: Semi-desert Grassland, Chihuahuan Desert Scrub, Interior Southwest Riparian Deciduous Forest, and Madrean Evergreen Forest and Woodland. Active springs, granitic and limestone substrate, and biogeographic diversity each contribute to the ecological richness of the region.

Trails within the NHS allow visitors to explore portions of all four plants communities. Velvet mesquite, acacia, turpentine bush, snakeweed, yucca, and agave thrive in the scrub and grassland communities while oak, juniper, and pinyon prefer the higher slopes. The Apache Spring riparian corridor gives rise to an overstory of netleaf hackberry, bumelia, and velvet ash, below thick-leaved evergreens of silk tassel, manzanita, and desert sumac create a thicket of green.

A stroll in Siphon Canyon in spring offers visitors an opportunity to delight in the beauty of the flowering desert willow. Arizona walnut trees can be found interspersed among the willows. Typically, walnuts mature in late summer providing food for wildlife. Exposed hillsides within and around Fort Bowie NHS are abundant in ocotillo and prickly pear. The prickly pear fruit is eaten by mammals, birds, insects, and rodents, including rabbits, javelina, deer, squirrel, fox, and mice.

In years of ample winter precipitation and summer rain, seasonal wildflowers brighten the hillsides and meadows with a rainbow of color.

Fort Bowie NHS is surrounded by private ranchlands and public lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). Large mammals, such as the black bear and mountain lion, travel freely through this sparsely developed area, traversing Fort Bowie as they move from one mountain range to the next. Many smaller mammals reside within the boundary of Fort Bowie. Small rodents are the most common mammals, and there are numerous species of mice, kangaroo rats, squirrels and chipmunks. The rocky slopes provide habitat for species such as cliff chipmunks, rock squirrels and brush mice, while the grasslands and gravelly washes provide habitat for kangaroo rats, pocket mice and grasshopper mice. . . . Other mammals, such as skunks , gray foxes, jack rabbits and cottontails, ringtails, coatimundi , and bobcats have also been seen, most often around water sources such as Apache Spring. Many species of bats also occur at Fort Bowie, utilizing old mines in the surrounding areas for shelter, as well as using the food resources that occur within the site. Agaves are abundant in the grasslands and on the rocky slopes, and nectar feeding bats utilize the flowers of these plants as food. Even though Fort Bowie is small in size, it’s location between two mountain ranges, permanent water sources, and varying habitat types provides many mammals the essential elements that are needed for survival.

Fort Bowie National Historic Site, located in the Basin and Range Province of southeast Arizona, sits in Apache Pass, a low point between the Chiricahua Mountains to the south and the Dos Cabezas Mountains to the north. The Dos Cabezas and Chiricahuas are flanked by high desert grasslands, the San Simon Valley to the northeast and the Sulphur Springs Valley to the southwest. Positioned at the juncture of four major biogeographical provinces: Madrean, Rocky Mountain, Sonoran and Chihuahuan deserts, the park is defined by grassland, chapparal, and riparian woodland corridors. Reliable springs, diverse geology, and mixed biogeography contribute to a landscape of exceptional ecological diversity. Park geology is characterized by the Apache Pass Fault made of limestone on top of Precambrian granite. With increasing elevation from 4,550 to 5,250 feet, the desert transitions to grassland and woodland habitat. Desert species such as acacia and mesquite are intermixed with grasslands. Prickly pear cactus, agave, beargrass, and ocotillo dot the rocky slopes. Hillsides consist of a mixture of chaparral and woodland species, such as desert sumac, manzanita, oaks, pines and junipers. The canyon bottoms are lush riparian woodlands of velvet ash and netleaf hackberry fed by the perennial flow from Apache and Siphon Springs. Fort Bowie NHS experiences an annual seasonal pattern of precipitation characterized by heavy summer (monsoon) storms from the Gulf of America and less intense frontal systems from the Pacific Ocean in the winter. On average, precipitation totals 11 inches. Approximately one-half of the annual precipitation falls from July through September. Generally, warmer weather occurs from April through October; maximum temperatures in July can exceed 100 F. Winter temperatures dip below freezing and snow is occasional. Much of Fort Bowie has suffered the adverse impacts of human disturbance. Development of the fort, in addition to grazing, water diversion, mining, and fire suppression have contributed to habitat degradation resulting in the growth of nonnative grasses and the intrusion of woody species, such as mesquite, into the uplands. Roads in the area have also altered the natural runoff patterns and provided a pathway for the invasion of exotic plant species.