From the redwood forest to the Gulf Stream waters, communities take root in the land and in water. We live, work, laugh and grow alongside our human and animal neighbors alike. We may not know their names or always see them, but we recognize their songs, their tracks and, when they’re gone, their absence.
New Mexico is nicknamed the Land of Enchantment. And it’s no wonder with the state’s beautiful mix of color and history. Hot air balloons fill the sky in October. Red and green spicy chiles pepper the markets and flavor the cuisine. A unique blend of Indigenous and Spanish architecture dot the landscape and present-day Pueblo culture brings vibrant and enduring tradition to everyday life.
Other enchanting members of New Mexico’s community call the state’s diverse landscapes home. Their story is best told in tweets. Literally.
Meet the Warblers of New Mexico (and Arizona)
The Southwest is a unique place for many birders, particularly if you live in or are visiting New Mexico and Arizona during the spring and summer. Residents and tourists alike see a flash of red from a painted redstart or red-faced warbler or notice a spec of yellow from a Grace’s warbler perched high in a tree.
While these warblers are largely unique to New Mexico and Arizona, they are not year-round residents. All three typically winter in Mexico and Central America, only spending their breeding and nesting seasons in the Southwest United States.
These colorful forest gems tend to arrive in New Mexico in April and leave for their winter homes in September. In between, their beautiful songs can be heard emanating from shrubs and floating down from treetops.
Grace’s warblers have a particularly conspicuous song. Listen for their loud, choppy trill that accelerates in tempo. It often sounds like a two-parted sequence pinging down from ponderosa pine trees.
If you find yourself exploring New Mexico’s 3.3 million acre Gila National Forest, be sure to keep your eyes on the canopy for the warblers’ red or yellow colors.
Gila National Forest encompasses the world's first designated wilderness area, Gila Wilderness. The National Forest also spans elevations from 4,200 to 10,900 feet and sports ecosystems as different as middle-elevation riparian canyons and high-elevation subalpine spruce-fir forests. All of this is prime habitat for our warblers.
Grace’s warblers, for example, breed in ponderosa pine and dry mixed-conifer forests between approximately 4,900 and 8,900 feet. Painted redstarts and red-faced warblers are found at higher elevations, in mixed oak and pine forests, as well as stream-side woods of steep canyons between approximately 6,500 and 9,200 feet.
New Mexico: Sitting at a Convergence
What’s the draw, for migratory birds, to New Mexico? It’s one of only a handful of U.S. states with these warblers, as well as other Southwest specialty birds like the broad-billed hummingbird, Olive warbler and common black hawk.
New Mexico sits at a convergence of several biomes, including the Chihuahuan desert, Rocky Mountains and numerous “sky island” mountain ranges. Sky islands are mountains that rise above the desert floor and provide cool, moist sanctuaries for unique wildlife.
Additionally, New Mexico (and Arizona) represent the northernmost limit of the Sierra Madre Occidental, a Mexico mountain range. This ecosystem diversity creates a wide array of habitats, from desert shrub to alpine forests. Large and small river corridors, including the Rio Grande Basin, also wind through the state, providing life-giving water.
Finally, New Mexico straddles the Central and Pacific Flyways, which are like bird highways for species migrating north and south. While southwest specialty warblers end their northward journeys in New Mexico or Arizona, many other migratory birds fly onward to other parts of the U.S. and Canada, with some flying as far as the Arctic. So, throughout the spring and fall, many other birds are flying through New Mexico!
A Shared Home in Need of Protecting
The greatest threats to these warblers include drought-induced tree mortality and other climate-change impacts, as well as habitat destruction from overgrazing, firewood collection and heavy forest thinning. The good news is, both New Mexicans and visitors to the enchanting state can help.
Reducing your carbon footprint is one of the best ways to help these birds. New Mexico residents can look into upgrading HVAC and water heaters to electric heat pumps. Opting to walk, bike or utilize public transit whenever possible is another great way anyone can help.
We all can raise our voices and tell the U.S. Forest Service, which manages the majority of these warblers’ habitats, we care deeply about these birds and want to see their homes protected.
New Mexico displays pride for its feathered residents through a variety of events. For all of 2026, the state is hosting a Big Birding Year competition where anyone who wants to participate can identify as many bird species as possible within New Mexico. There are also organizations who host regular birding walks and workshops around Albuquerque and in the Gila National Forest. It’s not difficult to start birding! Catch some tips for getting started here.
Take Pride in Your Songbird Neighbors
Imagine New Mexico without its red and green chiles or colorful hot air balloons. Imagine the budding and green trees without the feathered-flashes of red and yellow bringing additional natural beauty to the scene. What would the Land of Enchantment be without its warblers? Unattractive.
The next time you take pride in being a New Mexican, take pride in the beautiful wild animals who share this home with you. Go birding. Get on a bike or public bus instead of driving. Geek out over the birds you love. And then, when you think you know it all about your fellow New Mexican warblers, challenge yourself to learn about the other wildlife sharing our beautiful home.
What's your favorite New Mexico wildlife? Have an incredible songbird or warbler story? Share with us in the comments! Then, stay tuned for our next wild local in Oregon.
Author
Peggy Darr
