Arizona Sonora Desert Museum, Tucson

Saturday, 13 March 1999.

This place is incredible.  I could have spent days there, but we only had the one day in Tucson.

The closest thing I got to pictures of the museum itself were two pictures along the road to it, so instead of the sort of ``introductory picture'' I tend to put at the top of each page, I will just include a link to their web site, and two pictures from the road there, the desert spreading below and the road through the gap in the hills.  (Incidentally, I think this may be the road in some recent Subaru WRX commercials.)

(I have got to go back to this place now that I have a decent camera.)
hairy.jpg (63303 bytes) ocotillo.jpg (52367 bytes)
Hairy cactus, and ocotillo in bloom.
The ocotillo cactus flowers even in dry years, like this one.
puma1.jpg (89560 bytes) puma0.jpg (38783 bytes)
Mountain lions.
bird1.jpg (95450 bytes)
There were quite a few birds, both inside the aviaries (there are two, one just for hummingbirds) and just flitting about outside.  I have no idea what kind of bird this is, and could not really get many decent bird pictures.
blackbear.jpg (80743 bytes)
Black bear.
(Not sure what the big obstruction in the lower left foreground is.)
foxes.jpg (74249 bytes)
Foxes.  I stretched the contrast way out to make the one fox visible.  The original picture is here, if you prefer it.
oce0.jpg (48836 bytes) oce1.jpg (35603 bytes)
Ocelot.
Heeeere kitty kitty kitty!
yote0.jpg (52527 bytes) yote1.jpg (76782 bytes)
Coyotes.
At least, I think the first one is a coyote.
pdog1.jpg (99918 bytes) pdog0.jpg (83812 bytes)
Prairie dogs.
tbcholla.jpg (96377 bytes)
Teddy Bear Cholla.
There are several dozen different kinds of cholla.  I think the teddy bear stuff looks rather cute.  Those needles are sharp, though!

back to trips index