Lovin' Tucson

Thursday, July 4th, 2013 - Happy Birthday, America!
Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum and Saguaro National Park

Last night we thought long and hard about the two and a half hour drive to Organ Pipe National Monument, to see a bunch of organ pipe cacti.  We were pretty sure we'd find some, somewhere else.  Instead we headed for the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, leaving at 6:45 so we could be there when it opened at 7:30.  Pretty close!  It was 7:32!

View from the car, on the way to the museum

Guayacan blossom

We were lucky enough to find a docent who was just waiting for people who wanted the bird tour - that was us!!  She was marvelously knowledgeable about both the birds and the native plants of the Sonoran Desert and pointed out more than we could possibly retain!  She showed us the jojoba bush, the beans of which provide oil for shampoo and for many industrial uses because of its high scorching point.  The male jojoba has little dangling spheres, which make it easy to remember!  We saw a blaze of yellow high in a tree that she identified as an oriole, several cactus wrens, gila woodpeckers, which make holes in the saguaro and in which other birds, like burrowing owls make their nests and nearly a million mourning doves!  Well, maybe only a hundred or so!  Oddly they seems to be flying in flocks which our guide, Cathy, said was very unusual.

Organ-pip cactus

We spend a few moments in the pollination garden where we see a queen butterfly and a pipevine swallowtail butterfly.

 

She looks like a monarch, but is a queen butterfly

Desert Bird-of-Paradise

The museum is responsible for the safe-keeping of several big-horn sheep which actually belong to the State of Arizona. Three of them were relaxing on the outer ledges of their new home.

Cathy had to leave us at nine since she was making a presentation with the museum's box turtle.  We continued our explorations of this remarkably diverse ecosystem.  We have learned that much of the vegetation only looks brown and dead, whereas, in fact, it is brown and dormant, waiting only for the monsoon rains to bring restorative moisture.  Some plants leaf out within thirty-six hours of a storm.

There is a coati in residence and we are lucky enough to be there when he comes down the get a drink! They are related to raccoons.  Who knew?

Cat Canyon contains a bobcat and an ocelot, but he is behind screening and is hard to see.  It is here, though, that we first meet Mr. Peart, a security guard who is fun and delightful.  He and a photographer who is a member of the museum tell us that we should return Saturday night to see the sunset, the bats and the scorpions who show up as different colors under blacklight.

We slip away while they are talking and along the way we see lots of lizards.  Then we decide to head for the hummingbird aviary because we haven't had any frustration today!  Those little buggers are so beautiful and so fast!!  I've developed a real love-hate relationship with them!

That's his tongue!

We stay until it is time to head for the Warden Oasis Theater for a presentation with an American kestrel, a Harris hawk and Sonoran Mountain kingsnake.  Along the way we meet our friend the English security guard who chats a while before asking for the theater doors to be opened so people can get in out of the heat. A word about the heat...it truly is a dry heat and the high of 115 degrees doesn't feel any worse than our ninety or ninety-five.  HOWEVER!! you absolutely must remember to drink water because you don't feel as hot as you are.  And you don't sweat, which would also be a reminder to drink.  Marilyn leaned over to stretch out her back and tried to stand up too quickly.  She got light headed and saw spots and quickly had to sit on the fortuitously-placed low wall behind us!

The common factor among the three animals on display is that they are all meat eaters.  The raptors are both displayed on their keepers' gauntleted hands and are not at all bothered by the camera flashes.  We learn that the females are larger than the males and that the male kestrel is an attentive mate and father, often hiding caches of food for the female when she gets time for a little R&R.  The Harris hawks live in family units of up to seven with the largest female being dominant and her mate being second in the pecking order.  They often engage in relay hunting in which one bird will begin to run down the prey and will be succeeded by a fresh bird when she tires.  At the end, the chasing bird will herd the prey toward two waiting birds who will pounce and finish the job.

Harris Hawk

 The snake handler taught us that snakes actually have four jaw bones and that is why they can open their mouths one hundred and seventy degrees, as opposed to our sixty degrees.  No wonder they can swallow their prey whole!  After his presentation he invited interested audience members to pet his baby and Marilyn took him up on his offer.  Everyone who handled the snake used antibacterial soap and was encouraged to wash up afterwards.

Sonoran Spiny-Tailed Iguana 

When we re-emerge into the sunlight (read that "heat") we notice how long we've been walking!  Just a bit more and we will need to find the car and our lunch - and some shade!  But we can't go without trying to visit the new mountain-lion cub who will be named in a ceremony on Saturday.  The original founder of the museum had a pet mountain lion named George whom he used walk through the museum on a leash!  Since then each of the museum's mountain lions has been named George;  but apparently this one will have a name all his own!  When we get there the cat is hiding from the heat, as is the black bear, but we do get to see the Mexican wolves and the adorable prairie dogs.

The way out leads us through a cave filled with beautiful mineral specimens. Outside we run into Mr. Peart again and when we double check that we are heading in the right direction he says we're wrong and should follow him.  When Marilyn turns around he laughs and says, "You'll believe anything!" and sends us on our way!

Back in the car we eat our sandwiches and celery stalks and drink LOTS more water.  We're being very diligent so that our kids won't be distressed with us!!

On, now, to the Saguaro National Park (west).  We've been walking in the desert for five and a half hours and that's enough!  We'll just be driving in the park!  At the visitors' center we get to use our Senior Pass for the first time this trip,  Cha-ching!  There is a very good video, in an air-conditioned theater, and when it is over the curtains open revealing the sprawling desert landscape.  Very dramatic!!

The Baja Loop trail is five miles long and give us an excellent view of the northern end of the Sonoran Desert.  It is mostly a one-way gravel road and we only see one other car.  Most people do not visit the desert in the summer.  Most people are pretty smart.  But the scenery is amazing to visit, any time of year.

Happy Fourth from the desert!