Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum

My brother & I visited this place in 1975, when it was just a lovely walk through various Sonoran Desert ecological zones with small signs identifying many of the plants. Wow, has it changed! The trails total 1.5 miles with something of interest every few feet.

The beautiful desert landscape & plants collections are still there. 

 

There are a number of interesting info boards about specific plants & plant communities. 

                                          

Many animals have been added, like this Mexican gray wolf, bears, various cats, many birds, javelina, etc.

Some of the animals seen there were not expected. 

The ocotillo in the area are blooming a 2 months early, & nobody seems to know why. They aren't dead. After a good rain, they will sprout a full compliment of leaves. 

There were a number of displays about culture. A sign explained that Native Americans would rake rocks into long ridges; these ridges would catch & retain just enough extra rain to allow agave to grow outside their native range, & the agave would support them in many ways. 

A theme of some of my recent blog posts has been how much I enjoy seeing flowers in February. In the first pic, a hummingbird came by just as the camera clicked; there were many hummers flitting around. 

Some of the flowers, butterflies, & dragonflies were manmade.