Tucson Desert Museum

Mighty Saguaro Cactus

Cacti Garden

Palo Verde bush

Tuesday Nov 16
We left “home” about 11 and headed west of Tucson to the Desert Museum, stopping for a picnic lunch at a picnic area in the middle of the desert, surrounded by saguaro cacti. Nice view too. Twenty years ago, I wasn’t all that keen to come here, but found the desert to be a very interesting place to visit. There is so much variety and so much to learn about the ecosystem. So very different from Southern Ontario.

One interesting bush is the Palo Verde (Spanish for Green Wood) which has smooth green bark. The chlorophyll is actually in the bark too, so that the tree still is active, even after dropping its leaves.

The Saguaro cacti dot the landscape, about as close to a forest as you can get in the desert. It takes fifty years before they even bloom, at about 7-8 feet tall. The one in the top photo is probably 150 years old.

There are so many types of cacti that is hard to keep up. One thing is common...those prickly spines!

Beware the spines on the Saguaro

 We entered the Desert Museum and learned that there would be a show of Harris hawks so we headed out to the viewing area. They released three hawks, a female and two males, and let them fly around us, skimming over our heads. They were awesome. Somewhere in the bushes, someone released a mouse, so the hawks could hunt the prey. Here is where the Harris hawk is different than all others. They hunt in a pack, rather than alone. One will flush out the prey from hiding and another will catch it. Amazing to watch. There is a hierarchy among the birds with an alpha female (females are larger than males) dominating the pack and getting first dibs on the captured prey.

Handler with Harris Hawk

Harris hawk perched for hunting

We toured the other parts of the museum seeing animals we had seen before in Carlsbad’s Living Desert Museum. One difference was the presence of volunteers who where there to provide interesting background tidbits.
We entered the aviary, and enclosure surrounded by high netting, with the birds free to fly around in a somewhat natural setting. This aviary was largely disappointing, as there were few birds in it. We saw one cardinal (nothing special), a few doves, a few ducks, a hummingbird way up (nice), a cactus wren (common in this area).

Rosy Boa Constrictor

Black-necked Stilt

Hognose Skunk, one of four skunk species in area

Baja Fairy Duster. See the bee?

Our destination area was saved for last…the Hummingbird aviary. This enclosure was smaller and much more exciting. These tiny beautiful creatures seemed to sit on nearby branches and pose for photos. I really miss having a great zoom lens to get closeups but made do with my little pocket shooter. The birds would flit and hover around chasing tiny bugs we couldn’t see. Sometimes a little squabble would break out which was fun to watch and tough to follow as they moved so quickly and radically. At one point I was standing two feet from a feeder when one tiny critter came and drank its fill. What a joy to behold! To be able to stand so close and watch while the bird casually dipped into the feeder over and over, was awesome.

Broadtail Hummingbird

Black-chinned Hummingbird

Our memories of twenty years ago were sure that we saw many more birds and more species. And the birds were in large cages, separated from people. I would have loved to see more but this is still a great place to visit.







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