Thursday, March 8, 2012

Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum

The Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum is a botanical garden/zoo located in the Sonoran Desert in Tucson, AZ.  The landscape surrounding this area is desert and hills as far as you can see, all spotted by giant Saguaro cactus.  One of the greatest parts of the museum, to me, was their hummingbird house.  You walk into this enclosure to find yourself surrounded by hummingbirds.  They buzz past your head on the way to grab a drink or go back to their nests.  I saw at least 6 different nests with tiny little hummingbird beaks sticking out.  If visiting Arizona, I would definitely put this on your list of places to see.
Entrance to the Hummingbird House
Hummingbird Nest
While you are in Tucson, and not far from the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, make sure to stop by Arid Lands Greenhouse.  Bob, Toni, and Susan are incredibly friendly and have a wealth of knowledge about cactus.
Desert blooms
My friend, Gina, loves cactus
Barrel and Totem Cactus
Cactus Blooms
Yucca in background with huge flower stalk starting
Cactus
Strawberry Hedgehog Cactus

Ruby Throated Hummingbird

Planting Display
Sonoran Desert

2 comments:

Rohrerbot said...

Hey, what the heck??!! You did come down here. I'm glad you guys made it this place. I was searching the hummingbird species this house has and it brought me to your blog. Crazy. This is definitely a highlight. If you come down again, let me know and I'll give you more places like the Desert Museum to visit. Talk to you soon.

Hosta Nerd said...

Yes, drove down to Tucson for one day. We ended up staying in the Phoenix area. The hummingbird house was awesome.