Saguaro National Park - Great Horned Owls

For several years Great Horned Owls have nested in caves along the wash of the Homestead Trail in Saguaro National Park. Yesterday, Christine's brother and his family and I walked that one mile trail. And sure enough, there were the pair of Great Horns. They put on a nice show for us. Here are a few of the photos:

Saguaro National Park at Sunrise

Saguaro National Park is a great hike any time of the day. However early morning or late afternoon provide wonderful photo opportunities -- both animal and landscape:

Saguaro Sunrise

Black Tail Jackrabbit - II

As I mentioned yesterday, Black Tail Jackrabbits visit us late in the Spring to eat mesquite pods that have fallen to the ground from our mesquite trees. They do the same in Saguaro National Park. However, once those mesquite pods have been eaten the jackrabbits will stand on their hind legs, reach up, and eat those pods still on the lower branches of the mesquites. Early one morning as Christine and I were hiking in SNP we can across four Black Tail Jackrabbits doing just that. Here's one of those photos that I rated "5" Star:

Black Tail Jackrabbit

Black Tail Jackrabbit

Christine and I hike in Saguaro National Park often. Early morning or late afternoon provide the best opportunity to see and photograph wildlife, especially. the Black Tail Jackrabbit. It does not hibernate so can be found year round. It grows to a length of about 24 inches and a weight of about 6 pounds so if it is around it is easily seen.  His range is very small -- up to one square mile. We often see him here at The Azure Gate in the late spring when the mesquite tree pods fall to the ground. Like many other animals they often run away when they see humans. However, sometimes -- with patience and with slow and quiet movement they are approachable and a nice photo can be taken. Such is the case with today' "5" Star photo:

Black Tail Jackrabbit

More from Saguaro National Park

The saguaro is a large, tree sized cactus native to the Sonoran Desert. The saguaro blossom is the State Wildflower of Arizona. 

Saguaros have a relatively long life span. It takes 50 to 75 years to develop their first arm. The arms themselves are grown to increase the plant's reproductive capacity.The growth rate of saguaros is strongly dependent on precipatation; saguaros in drier wester Arizona like Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument grow only half as fast as those in and around Tucson. In the Catalina and Rincon Mountains, it may be 50 years for their first arm. In Organ Pipe or Cabeza Prieta NWR along the Mexico border it may be 75 years. In Saguaro National Park East it is not at all unusual to see Saguaros with 20-25 arms. Some specimens may live for more than 150 years and can can grow anywhere from 15 to 50 feet. They grow slowly from seed, and not at all from cuttings. Whenever it rains, saguaros soak up the rainwater. The cactus will visibly expand, holding in the rainwater. It conserves the water and slowly consumes it. 

Saguaros can not self pollenate. Large quantities of pollen are required for complete pollination as there are numerous ovules. A well-pollinated fruit will contain several thousand tiny seeds. The ruby red fruit ripen in June. Each fruit contains around 2000 seeds plus sweet fleshy connective tissue. The fruits are highly edible and prized by local people. The O'odham tribes have a long and rich history of saguaro fruit use. Native birds such as Gila Woodpeckers, Gilded Flickers, Purple Martins, and House Finches live inside holes in saguaros bored by the woodpeckers. Flickers excavate larger holes higher on the stem. The nest cavity is deep, the parents and young entirely hidden from view. The saguaro creates callus tissue on the wound. When the saguaro dies, and soft flesh rots the callus remains behind, a so called "saguaro booty" which was used by natives for storage.

The major pollinators are bats, primarily the Lesser Long Nosed Bat, feeding on the nectar from the night-blooming flowers, which often remain open in the morning.  Doves and bees appear to be the primary daytime pollinators. 

Here is a Saguaro with about 20 arms.

View from Saguaro National Park looking north toward the Catalina Mountains

A few of the dead Saguaros, which provide wonderful skeletons:

Saguaro National Park

I thought I'd take a drive this morning at dawn around Saguaro National Park. I was hoping to maybe see a mountain lion or bobcat. And, although I drew a blank, I did find something to photograph:

Harris Antelope Ground Squirrel

White Winged Dove eating the fruit of a Saguaro Cactus

Saguaro National Park Visit

We did another hike in Saguaro National Park yesterday. On the way to the park, about 1/2 a mile from our place we saw this Black Tail Jackrabbit. He seemed to want his photo taken, so I obliged. We hiked the Loma Verde, Squeeze Pen, Pink Hill, Loma Verde loop (3.8 miles). Once again we were greeted with an array of beautiful flowers. I have taken quite a lot of Prickly Pear cactus flowers. But, the one here (second photo) particularly caught my eye and cried out for a photo. Wow, was I glad. I love the color contrast. It is my new favorite cactus photo. The last photo is of a Fairy Duster. The flowers were mostly a little past their prime. But this one flower was still in fine form and provided a nice photo.

Still More Desert Flowers

I had a nice break this morning. None of our guests were having breakfast. So, I headed out to Saguaro National Park (east) to be there when they opened at 7:00 AM. I drove the 8 mile one-way auto loop. All I can say is spectacular. Yellow everywhere. The top photo is of Prairie Sunflower. Acres and acres and acres of Prairie Sunflowers as far as the eye could see. The second photo is Prairie Zinnia, not nearly as expansive as the sunflowers but many of them as well. Then the third photo is Ocotillo. In eight years here in the Sonoran Desert I have never seen them so beautiful. Most of the year they look like dead sticks in the ground. After a rain they fill out with dark green leaves and red flowered tips. Gorgeous! The bottom photo is hedgehog cactus which are the first of the cactus to bloom. Beautiful purple flowers. It was like a "walk in the park."

Phainopepla: the silky flycatcher

Where do I start today? Yesterday, a cactus wren came in from the cold. But, he never seemed very comfortable in my office. Kept looking out the window as if to say, "I'd rather be outside." Guess he didn't care much for my photos of bobcats, coyotes, and bears on walls. I suppose it could have been intimidating. In the afternoon, Christine and I took a hike in Saguaro National Park (five minutes from us). The desert is so renewing in both mind and body. Something about the life and death of the desert gives us pause to enjoy and cherish our lives no matter what the circumstance. We were greeted by this Phainopepla, or silky flycatcher. The photo above is the male. The female is more a charcoal color. They are similar in shape to a cardinal, just a wee bit smaller and skinnier. When sitting the male is jet black with red eyes. But, as he flies you see that there are white patches on the primaries. The Phainopepla is only found in Southern Arizona and Southern California. His main diet is flies. It's fun to watch as he sits atop a tree flies out about 10 feet or so, flutters a bit, then flies back to the same branch --- repeatedly. Looks like some sort of ritual dance, but he's just having dinner.

Saguaro National Park

We have some very nice guests from Charleston, South Carolina with us this week who are headed over to Saguaro National Park today. SNP is five minutes from us and has some amazing Saguaros. It is not unusual to see saguaros with 15 to 20 arms. The most in the park is 42 arms. SNP also has an incredible trail system. When we don't have much time Christine and I do a quick 2.2 mile loop. There is a wide variety of desert wildlife. In our many hikes in the park we have seen: nesting harris hawks, coyotes, white tail and mule  deer, black tail jackrabbits, desert cottontails, desert tortoise, desert kingsnakes, rattlesnakes, at least six different varieties of lizards, squirrels, desert wood rats, AND this beautiful gila monster. Gila monsters are quite venomous. However, instead of injecting their venom, like a rattlesnake, they bite and hold their prey in their jaws and secret the venom into their mouth cavity and thus prey. They are very slow moving for a lizard so relatively easy to photograph -- if you find one. We have known people living in Tucson for 30 years who have never seen one. Yet, we have seen them at The Azure Gate,  Sabino Canyon, Muleshoe, as well as SNP.