sunshine, flora, fauna and surprises in the Sonoran Desert
After our brief interlude back in Vermont in Feb we flew to Phoenix to pick up Myrtle and continue our "winter and spring of the desert" adventure at the beginning of March. It always surprises me that each time we transition between travel and home or home to travel it takes a few days to remember the routine. I always feel a bit awkward and ungainly as I try to get my bearings those first couple of days. I've started writing myself notes and lists to try and help with the transition. It helps. So after groceries and laundry (yes, laundry, we left dirty clothes to face when we got back 😱 … we considered just shaking out the used sheets and putting them back on the bed since we had unfortunately already stripped it before we left 🤔… but thought better of it and stopped at a laundromat) so, after groceries and laundry, we were ready to find our home for the next sojourn.
The weather was threatening all day. In sunny Arizona, it was cloudy and rain was predicted. We finally had ourselves set-up in our new spot, Gilbert Ray Campground in the Tucson Mountain Park right next to Saguaro NP, when indeed it did start raining. Fortunately, most everything was done because you know there's nothing more fun than setting up in the rain ;). After a bit, I headed out to get a few more things from the car, opened the door and the most amazing vision met my eyes … It was snowing! "Wait, snowing?" you say? YES, SNOWING! We got a couple of inches and it was completely melted by 11:00 am the following morning, but in the meantime, we had the chance to see this beautiful Sonoran desert transformed into a sparkling, diamond encrusted fairyland. It really was incredible. (As an fyi, Tucson does see snow, sometimes, a very rough average over a five year span; they will have two years with no snow, two years with a trace of snow and one year with a measurable about, 1-2 inches.) Another awe inspiring sight we've had the good fortune to witness!
We hiked, of course, and saw more petroglyphs, biked around the cactus loop on the east side of the park and spent a day in Tucson which included checking out historic Tucson. Great old architecture with strong Mexican influence from the time when Tucson was a Mexican city. We also started exploring some of the missions and learning about the Spanish and Mexican history of this area, really stuff I never knew about or that was glossed over with the lightest brush stroke at school. But we'll talk about that more in upcoming blogs … because the very best thing we did was to go to the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum. It is a living museum filled with the flora and fauna of the area. We started with a bird walk, then went to a large bird "free flight" demonstration which was incredible. You could actually feel the movement of the air as the birds swooped past our heads. Then spent the rest of the day wandering the acres of grounds. I was in heaven.
I mentioned our campground in the beginning of the blog. It really was lovely. Very remote. Right on the edge of the desert. It had a trail we would walk most days for training purposes (more on that in a later blog). And the views were stunning. This leads me to the second surprise … one evening, ok it was dark, so maybe it was night (?), we'd just come back from finishing up the walk, in yes, pretty much darkness. My mind had gotten a little out of control imagining all of the nocturnal creatures we might encounter to say nothing of the fact that we couldn't really see the trail and it had sharp spiny objects on all sides, to say nothing about getting lost. But we had made it and all was well. Martin was doing something on my computer (probably trying to help me set up file for my pics 🙄) and said, "I want you to check the window when you have a minute." My mind was on dinner not computers so I looked over at the camper window (not the computer window that he was referring to) and there was a GIANT SPIDER on the INSIDE of the window.
I said, "Very funny, did you do that?" (for the record, let's just say, I don't really like spiders. They are NOT my friends.) He responded, "Do what?" I said, "Put the fake spider on the window".
NO!!! HE HAD NOT PUT A FAKE SPIDER ON THE WINDOW!!!! IT WAS REAL!!!!!
Martin came through though and was my knight in shining armor. ⚔️🛡️💗 He took care of the unwelcome surprise visitor, took all the sheets and blankets off the bed and shook them and shook all the pillows, (just in case there were more spiders, of course) and let me stick to him like glue. 😂 Meanwhile, I peered into every spot before I would even consider putting my hand there and religiously shook out my clothes and shoes for weeks but fortunately, we've had no signs of similar visitors. Thank goodness!!!
So, all in all, an awe inspiring time in the Sonoran desert (and a couple of great stories for the adventure memory book! 😅)
On to the pics.snowfall in the desert
Views while hiking …
Petroglyphs
We went into Tucson for a day.
Street art that caught my fancy.
Pima County Courthouse provided many photo ops
shadows, arches and columns
a colorful parking garage on our way to historic Tucson
the following pics are from the historic Tucson area
an old adobe house front door
a tiled house number
shadows and lines
colorful pots line a wall
a corner park
sheet metal patchwork fence, reminded me of a quilt
the window to the right had the most amazing ironwork figurines on the end of each bar in the grillwork. I was struck by both the craftsmanship and the humor.
rattlesnake
this little mouse was on a bottom bar …
and it was being hunted by this cat on the bar above it (🤣)
bighorn sheep are a very prominent and important species in the area
the long horn cattle
A crested saguaro cactus with a full moon in the distance
and as always … sunset pics
These pics are from our bike around cactus loop in the east part of the park.
This picturesque rock formation is called javelina rock, because it's one of their favorite places to hang out
Next pics are from Arizona Sonoran Desert Museum
These are from the Free Flight program.
A Chihuahuan Raven.
Related to the Common Raven. Only found in a few areas of the US.
a great horned owl
A Crested Caracara
Harris Hawks. They are on the smaller side, live in family groups and hunt as a team. They often have one or two birds flush out game and then the others attack.
Of course living in a family group means there can be "teenagers" vying for who gets to sit on "the best" branch which can result in some, ahem, disagreements
coming in for a landing
So, just saying, that the "treats" they give these guys must be raw meat because that's blood on his beak 😱
Javelinas basking in the sun
A baby ! Have you ever seen anything cuter?
Coyotes
This one sleeps with its tongue sticking out, just like Fletcher. Haha!
These are some of my favorite photos. This mountain lion was so gorgeous just hanging out on that rock soaking up every bit of sun.
I call this the Queen Nefertiti pose. Look how beautiful she is.
"But no, if I angle my face just a little differently, I'll get just a little bit more warmth from the sun …"
"and then I'll nap…. " Look at the size of her paws. They're gigantic!
I took about twenty pics of her because she was so beautiful…sigh.
And then there was this perky little guy
And Mexican gray wolves (they reminded me of long coat german shepherds, roughly the same size and shape) They are an endangered species. They were hunted to near extinction by the 1970s but now, with the work of activists and responsible zoos with breeding programs the numbers have gone from about 30 to nearly 250 in 2022. Still not many, but better than a meer 30 representing a species in the whole world!
Then I got distracted by birds again.
A Cactus Wren with some good nest making material.
"I think this empty hole in this saguaro will be the perfect spot for our nest. So l'm going to tuck this right in here."
And in the same saguaro at a different location … house sparrows were busy building a nest of their own.
Gila (HE-la) woodpeckers make the holes in the saguaro cacti. The cactus has a self healing coating system so there is no additional harm to it. The gila woodpeckers use the hole, build a nest and raise a family for one year, but then they are off to find a new "perfect" saguaro to make a new "perfect" home.
Fortunately, as you've seen in the pics above, several types of birds are happy to use the abandoned holes for their nests (including elf owls, but I never was able to see one of them.)
Here's a nest tucked into a pokey plant. I think it's a lechuguilla, nicknamed "shin dagger"!
This very curious cat is an ocelot
And here is a desert gray fox taking a snooze. They can climb trees!
The shy bobcat doing cat-like things
On to some of the flora
I fell in love with this cactus. It's called a Mexican old man cactus! I was transfixed at the soft long white "hair".
And look, it even comes in a sock puppet face version! haha!
Queen Victoria agave
Prickly pear blossom
More bird pics …
A Hooded Oriole
Western Tanager
A Gambel's Quail (male)
and female
So, I'm still on the fence as to whether this is a female Cardinal ... or a Pyrrhuloxia. A type of cardinal that they have down here. The beak and tail are supposed to help differentiate them from female northern Cardinals and cedar wax wings. 🤷
A hummingbird, maybe a female or immature costa
A male Costa Hummingbird. They have sort of a Darth Vader style helmet.
A Rufous Hummingbird
If you look closely, you can just pick up traces of it, but in the right light, his throat reflects a brilliant green
A big black lizard hanging out in the bighorn sheep area (a black girdled lizard, I think)
This guy was totally posing on top of this rock
The ground squirrels were of a very, ahem, generous proportion. Haha!
Our entry point into understanding the influence and impact of the Spanish missions on life in this area started with Tumacacori National Historic Park and mission. The San Jose de Tumacacori mission was founded in 1691 and is the first founded by Father Kino in what is now Arizona. He would go on to found many more.
The cemetery
The storehouse
Tumuc Presidio State Historic Park. (presidios were Spanish forts)
San Xavier del Bac, another mission that is still an active parish church
A teen celebrating her quintaneiro (15th birthday) was having her photos taken in front of the bascillica. The blue of her dress matched the sky perfectly.
Our "surprise" visitor!!! 😬 🫣 RIP 🪤⚰️
Next stop: Kartchner Caverns SP, AZ where we'll pick up on some of the history of the southwest and more birds (of course ;) )
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