Last month we visited the Arizona-Sonoran Desert Museum just outside Tucson. Wish we lived closer, so we could go more often. It is just about the neatest place in Arizona. It’s hard to get good photos of the animals, because they usually don’t stop moving. But here are a few photos that came out ok, for using the camera on my Galaxy player. You should be able to click on a photo to see the bigger photo in a new tab.

Whenever we go to ASDM, the first thing we head for is the hummingbird aviary, especially in the spring to look for nests and baby birds. At this time of year it’s kind of late for babies, so we saw only one nest with a bird still in it, and the bird was very big, it looks very close to being grown enough to leave the nest. It is hard to see because the nest and birds blend in so well with the gray branches, but the parent bird is facing the camera, wings outstretched and very blurred, and with its beak inside the baby’s beak. The baby is stuffed into the nest, almost spilling out of it, with its back to the camera.

We spotted this little ground squirrel near the prarie dog exhibit. He had found a big white flower somewhere and carried it off to munch on. Several other squirrels were following him, watching both us and the other squirrels. Finally, a squirrel that was half again his size ran up and snatched the flower away, after he had eaten maybe half of it. The new guy was the biggest squirrel around, so none of the others challenged him.

And another animal that blended in very well with his surroundings, some kind of collared lizard. They are very plentiful at the museum, and they are very fast so it’s hard to get a photo unless one decides to pose for you, like this one. Like the ground squirrel above, they are not part of an exhibit, so most people just walk on by without even trying to see them. This is as close as we dared to get for a photo, so he wouldn’t run away.

Not to forget the plants all over too. At left is a passion flower, they look so fantastic and awesome! And I have no idea what the red flower is, I don’t remember seeing it before, but it’s pretty bizarre too.

And one of the last things we see before we leave is the aquarium exhibits; that’s because they are inside and we like to cool off some before the hike to the parking lot! We never tire of watching the spotted garden eels, which we call sand worms. It’s just so cool how they go up and down, in and out of the sand, and dance around (really kind of swaying) in sync. We tried taking photos of the seahorses and fishes, but they don’t stop moving so the photos didn’t turn out, darn.

We love to go to ASDM on summer Saturday nights, but those events have gotten so crowded that it’s not as much fun as it used to be. If you’ve never been, it’s probably still worth it to go once, though. Make a reservation for dinner at the Ocotillo Cafe, it’s fine dining but you don’t have to dress up. Eat dinner when they open at 5:00 and when you are done, the sun will be setting and it won’t be quite so hot for walking around. You can get some dishes there you probably can’t get anywhere else, and we’ve never had anything that wasn’t great. They call it regional cuisine, and their menu changes periodically. They used to have some kind of cocktail made with watermelon juice that was SO refreshing, but the prickly pear margarita is really good, and you get your electrolytes replaced after walking around in the heat all day!

By the way, the finches that made a nest outside my office window are still there. I named them Betty and Barney (’cause it goes with a last name of Birdy, don’t ya know), which anyone of my generation should recognize as a cartoon couple. However, darling daughter’s generation knows Barney as a singing purple dinosaur, so she said I needed to change it to Betty and Benny. 😀