Arizona-Sonoran Desert Museum

Is it a museum or a zoo?  How about an outdoor museum?  How about INCREDIBLE!!

The overall mission of the Museum is to inspire people to live in harmony with the natural world by fostering love, appreciation, and understanding of the Sonoran desert.  We spent our last day in Tucson wandering the miles of paths through cactus gardens, pollination exhibits, aviaries, and riparian waysides.  We did not have time for the geology or aquarium or reptiles.  There were docents with exhibits.  It was amazing!

The overall thrill of the day was the Raptor Flight program.  Twice a day, out at the edge of the desert, raptors fly in, over, around, and above the patrons.  And when I say above:  I am talking within INCHES of your head!  They make a point:  NO cameras above eye level, no kids on shoulders, no reaching out to "pet a raptor!  As the great horned owl flew over my head -- I blinked!  It was SO CLOSE.  We loved the morning show so much -- we went to both programs as they feature different birds.

Everywhere we walked we found more cactus, more flowers, more animals, more birds.  The Arizona-Sonoran Desert Museum is worth a trip to Tucson.  But come in the spring....when the wildflowers are beginning to bloom.

TOO MANY PICTURES....

Primrose in the morning..

Fun color and texture

Can you see the wings?

Mom sits on the nest for about 3 weeks 

Bobcat

Mexican Raven...smaller than the North American variety

Great Horned Owl

Ferruginous Hawk

Big Horned Sheep

A Lovely Dove

Rufous Backed Robin

Harris Hawk

Agave Plant...what a bloom!  Yes, the plant is dying now.   Pole to side shows how quickly it grew.

Detail from the Agave Flower above

Harris Hawks in this area hunt as a family group

Painting from the Art Gallery.  Title:  Desert Spirits (includes the Cactus Wren)

Cactus in bloom

Flashes of color

Snack time

Surface of Rainbow Cactus