Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum

The Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum is our favorite place to visit when in Tucson. Even though we were staying near Tombstone, we needed to go to Tucson about once a week for errands. Making a stop at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum became a routine. They also have a very good restaurant.

Spring

Every week we noticed more and more flowers blooming even though it was cold and still February.

The Ocotillo were just starting to flower.

There were so many flowering plants; like desert penstemon, globemallow, primrose, and pincushion at the Arizona-Sonoran Desert Museum.

A few butterflies too.

The Cactus Wren is Arizona’s State Bird. They are not very shy. It was nest building time and entertaining to watch them find material for their nests. They primarily eat insects and rarely drink free standing water, even if available. They mate for life and both the male and female are similar in appearance.

Arizona-Sonoran Desert Museum

We primarily saw Broad-bill and Anna’s Hummingbirds. Although, Black-chinned, Costas, and Rufous hummingbirds were also present.

There were cardinals and raptors in the area.

The Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum has very well done large and open areas for their coyote and javelina exhibits. The desert coyote is small and only weights about 25 pounds and can live up to 15 years. The javelina have large family groups, can live up to 10 years in the wild, and can weight 35-55 pounds.

Bobcats live up to 15 years in the wild and weigh 15-30 pounds. Gray Fox can live up to 10 years in the wild and weigh up to 5 pounds.

Fortunately, its been too cold to see any Western diamondback rattlesnakes in the desert. But, over the years I have seen plenty while hiking in the Tucson area. They can live up to 15-20 years in captivity and known to reach 7 feet long, but most are 3-5 feet. Eagles, hawks, roadrunners, kingsnakes, coyote, bobcats and fox are predators who look at these snakes as a source of food.

We came across numerous birds outside the Desert Museum while driving through the Saguaro National Park including; Cooper’s, Red Tailed, and Harris’s Hawks and Gilded Woodpecker.

Another amazing Arizona sunset.