Well, as expected, it's been awhile since the last post! And it had been awhile since my last vacation and since I've slept through the night and awoken in peace without a crying baby alarm, so I was due for an adventure (sans bebe)! Arizona fit the bill perfectly.
After my conference in Phoenix was over, Carson came up and we went to the Desert Botanical Garden to ID some cacti. I learned: ocotillo, cardon, barrel, how to correctly pronounce saguaro, cholla, old man cactus, that there are so many species of prickly pear, that a lot of agaves are threatened/endangered/critically endangered, mesquite, palo verde (many species), that pretty much every desert plant, even the ones that look gentle and leafy from a distance, has thorns/stickers/spines/something sharp to stab you. We saw canyon wrens, Gambel's quail, lesser goldfinch, and a curve-billed thrasher. We sweated in the morning heat (Phoenix was forecast to reach 109 that day, so we went early - the botanical garden is mostly in the sun, as is much of the desert), our sweat evaporated, and we were (sort of) comfortable (we didn't overheat).
Then we drove through the desert to Tucson. Spent a nice afternoon in the AC trying to identify hummingbirds (Anna's for sure, maybe black-chinned or broad-billed?), and got a sneak peak of Carson's new house! Which includes a cactus garden!
The next day was a hiking day in Coronado National Forest. After refilling the hummingbird feeder (it gets drained every night by bats), we took off for Sabino Canyon. We walked a couple miles up the canyon, enjoying the saguaro scenery and happy in our ability to ID all the cacti on the canyon slopes. Down at the bottom there is a wash that still had pools of water. We walked down to one and could hear a constant bzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. Honeybees - so many honeybees, plus some wasps and probably some native bees - getting water at the watering hole.
Before the heat of the day set in, we were out of the canyon and driving up the Santa Catalinas towards Mt. Lemmon. I forget now what elevation we had reached when the saguaros stopped growing, but they were there on the slopes, then they weren't anymore. For a brief stretch there was yucca and agave, then they were gone, replaced by scrubby trees. Then, finally, we were in a forest! Ponderosa pine, spruce, fir, maple, aspen - it was like we had left Arizona and entered Colorado! The peak of Mt. Lemmon is just over 9000 feet. We stopped before that to hike on the Marshall Gulch and Aspen trails loop. A fire in the early 2000s had left much of the mountainside burned, with plenty of snags for acorn woodpeckers, which were abundant in large groups. After passing the saddle of Marshall Gulch and taking the Aspen trail, we were in an area with some new growth of aspen and baby pine. We all of a sudden found ourselves in the midst of hordes of butterflies. They were feeding on a white-flowered plant (unidentified by us), while any bees we saw were feeding on only yellow flowers. Never the other way around. The butterflies were everywhere, on the white flowers, in the air, fluttering right in front of our faces, and up into the sky. Those not on a flower all seemed to be flying in the same direction, which nicely happened to be the same direction we were hiking for a short time. It was such a nice change of pace from the hordes of deer flies we had on our morning walks in Gainesville this summer! Finally a horde of insects that has no desire to bite! We identified the butterflies as American snouts. Heading back down the Aspen trail, out of the open and into forest again, we left the snouts behind and came across some smallish grey birds that proved difficult to identify without binoculars, a proper camera with zoom capabilities, or Don present. We spent the later afternoon attempting to remember what the birds looked like, but never really came to a good conclusion. Maybe red-backed or grey-headed junco? It remains a mystery - until next time birds!
Carson had advised me not to bother bringing a rain coat to the desert during non-monsoon time. Pretty solid advice that kept my pack light for traveling. Except for the fact that it rained on Mt. Lemmon during our hike! Mt. Lemmon was wonderfully cool, and as we made our way down the Aspen trail, a few raindrops started to hit us. The drops picked up until it was a true drizzle, but it was really refreshing and did not manage to soak us. In the end, no rain coat needed. What a fun trip!
After my conference in Phoenix was over, Carson came up and we went to the Desert Botanical Garden to ID some cacti. I learned: ocotillo, cardon, barrel, how to correctly pronounce saguaro, cholla, old man cactus, that there are so many species of prickly pear, that a lot of agaves are threatened/endangered/critically endangered, mesquite, palo verde (many species), that pretty much every desert plant, even the ones that look gentle and leafy from a distance, has thorns/stickers/spines/something sharp to stab you. We saw canyon wrens, Gambel's quail, lesser goldfinch, and a curve-billed thrasher. We sweated in the morning heat (Phoenix was forecast to reach 109 that day, so we went early - the botanical garden is mostly in the sun, as is much of the desert), our sweat evaporated, and we were (sort of) comfortable (we didn't overheat).
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| I think this might be a rock squirrel. |
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| Safe place to raise babies! |
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| Teddy bear cholla - so cuddly. |
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| Apparently some cacti get sunburns, so they give them shade cloth at the botanical garden. |
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| Genetic mutant crested saguaro. |
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| The barrel cactus was my favorite, and they were blooming! |
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| A boojum. |
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| The proud new owner of a cactus garden. |
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| Saguaros of Sabino Canyon. |
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| We met an Abert's squirrel who came to beg for lunch. These are invasive exotics, out-competing the native Arizona gray squirrel. |
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| I think this might be an Indian paintbrush? |
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| Bee-like tachinid fly. These big, spiky flies liked the same flowers as the American snout butterflies, but at lower elevation. |
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| Carson admires the butterflies. This picture could not capture what was happening around us - butterflies everywhere. |
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| American snouts - look at those snouts! |
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| Friends reunited. |
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| A view. |
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| The cloud that rained on us. |
