If I Were Going...: Tucson

Saguaro National Park, Tucson

I always feel that I need to blog all my trips, but this is one that I am struggling with.

Why?

Because I’ve been all these places before. So, I may not have anything to share. Except, that southern Arizona is an awesome place to visit and even a re-trip is really worth the time.

A magical place

I am a member of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), the professional organization that supports my life-long career. I joined the student organization, the Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA) when I was at the University of South Florida in the early 70s. Now, 50 years later, I am still involved, serving on the Board of Directors of my local PRSA Chapter.

This year, I volunteered to serve as our chapter delegate to the National and Regional organizations. And, I offered to attend the Western District Conference on behalf of the Chapter. It didn’t hurt that it was in Tucson.

I decided that I would drive down and spend the weekend after the meeting birding and sightseeing in southern Arizona. I invited Caty to fly down to join me for the weekend.

I didn’t go anywhere new, but I did have a wonderful time …

Sweetwater Wetlands, Tucson

… added new birds to my Life list …

Lewis's Woodpecker and Scott's Oriole

… got some better photos of some birds I had already seen …

Arizona Woodpecker

… and had a great experience photographing a magnificent Crested Caracara nest in a saguaro cactus ...

I always wanted to see a nest in a saguaro

Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge

It’s a 12-plus-hour drive to Tucson from my house.

While possible to do it in one day, I chose to split it up, staying in a town in New Mexico with one of the best pop culture names ever: Truth or Consequences. You can read about how that came about here.

Taking it slower allowed me to make a stop at a favorite National Wildlife Refuge, Bisque del Apache in central New Mexico.

Bosque del Apache is famous as a stopover spot for migrating Sandhill Cranes, but it has lots of good birds year-round. I have blogged about it before, but I’m still not sure if the proper pronunciation is BOSK or BOSS-KEY. I prefer the former.

The Sandhills were gone, but I did see a couple of nice birds, including one of the most cooperative Vermilion Flycatchers I have ever seen …

Posing for me

… a Greater Roadrunner …

Grabbing a quick dinner

… a couple of Snow Geese …

Did they forget to migrate north?

… the usual contingent of Ducks …

CW: Eared Grebes, Cinnamon Teal, Northern Shoveler

… Herons …

Juvenile and adult Great Blue Herons

… and Birds …

American White Pelicans, Mourning Doves, Wild Turkey, Black Phoebe; Red-winged Blackbirds

After dilly-dallying at Bosque del Apache, I crashed for the night and got up early for the five-hour drive to Tucson.

Saguaro National Park

Since I arrived before check-in time, I stopped at the eastern part of Saguaro National Park to see what was happening. This beautiful Park, which showcases the pride of the Sonoran Desert, is bisected by Tucson.

First stop: Saguaro National Park

I prefer the eastern side, the Rincon Mountain District, because it is less crowded, larger and has a beautiful paved scenic loop road (the Tucson Mountain District has an unpaved scenic loop).

Map: NPS

Read about the Park and the Sonoran Desert here.

Caty and I have a thing about palindromes (a word, phrase or sequence that reads the same backward as forward) for car mileage and I timed my next one perfectly. I hit 232,232 just as I entered the scenic loop road. Awesome.

Especially since the scenic loop road really showcased the blooming cactus. I think I was a little early for full bloom, but still I saw quite a few beautiful cactus blossoms.

Springtime in the desert

I wasn’t the only one enjoying them.

Curve-billed Thrasher on a saguaro

Unfortunately, except for a few birds feeding on saguaro blossoms, I didn’t see much wildlife. It was midday and (being Arizona) it was very sunny and I think the birds were hiding. I was surprised at how cool it was (only 83°F), but by the time Caty got there in a few days that would change.

Still, I enjoyed a leisurely drive through the colorful desert …

Ahhhhhh

… which seemed much healthier than it had during previous visits …

It's nice to see things looking so healthy

It was beautiful …

It looks like a masterclass in desert landscaping

Since the wildlife pickin’s were slim midday …

White-winged Dove and Curve-billed Thrasher

… I came back later that evening …

The desert and an American Kestrel illuminated by the setting sun

… and again with Caty …

We saw lots of Black-throated Sparrows and, of course, more Curve-billed Thrashers

But, I never saw much.

Just incredible vistas

Oops!

After checking in to the absolutely gorgeous Westin Paloma Resort & Spa, which I had planned to walk around and photograph, but never did, I headed out again to explore.

Westin Paloma; Photo: Kayak

I had two destinations in mind, Mount Lemmon and Sweetwater Wetlands, both of which I had visited the last time I was in Tucson. I assumed that there was (like everything else) a blog to be referenced. Imagine my surprise to find that I had never written and posted my third installment on my last trip. I had selected all the photos and teased it. But, I never wrote or posted it. So, I am going to deviate a little here and talk about both this trip and my visit back in 2021. That’s mainly because I saw a lot more in 2021 than I did this time.

Mount Lemmon

Mount Lemmon

With a summit elevation of 9,159 feet , Mount Lemmon is the highest point in the Santa Catalina Mountains, which flank Tucson to the east-northeast.

The elevation means that the top is 20 to 30 degrees cooler than the base, which makes it a popular summertime destination.

It also means that spring had not quite arrived for this visit, so it was rather stark (and even had patches of snow).

The elevation also creates distinct ecosystems with different bird populations. That’s why I drove up. Unfortunately on this trip, I saw absolutely no birds. But, back in 2021, I was three week later …

I saw flowers in 2021

… and I had a few great finds, including my target bird, the gorgeous Red-faced Warbler …

They are easy to hear, hard to see

... and his not-quite-as pretty wife …

But, she has a great personality!

These little guys are very easy to hear and very hard to photograph. It took me several hours to grab a handful of decent shots as they hopped rapidly in and out of dense foliage.

I had to work hard for this cutie!

During that foray, I also grabbed a couple of other birds …

CW: Cordilleran Flycatcher. American Robin, Yellow-eyed Junco, Warbling Vireo, Hermit Warbler

... and a few critters …

Gray morph Abert's Squirrel

The Mountain's indigenous Tohono O'odham name has a very Middle-earth sound to it: Babad Do'ag.

Isn't that where Durin died?

The name means Frog Mountain, because (allegedly) the mountain looks like a frog from certain angles, not because it has lots of frogs.

The English name, Mount Lemmon, is for botanist Sara Plummer Lemmon, who trekked to the top of the mountain with her husband and a local rancher by horse and foot in 1881 to study local flora.

Sara Plummer Lemmon; Photo: California Academy of Sciences

The Catalina Highway, also called the Mount Lemmon Highway, as well as the Hitchcock Highway, goes from the east side of Tucson up to Summerhaven at the top of Mt. Lemmon. I went all the way up in 2021, but only part of the way this time because the road was getting snowier and snowier.

Curving around the rocks

The beautiful, curving road is a favorite drive for tourists, for locals escaping summer's heat and cyclists and has been recently designated as the Sky Island Parkway, part of the U.S. National Scenic Byway system.

At the peak is the Mount Lemmon Observatory, which houses telescopes used for astronomical research by the Catalina Sky Survey, the Mount Lemmon Sky Center, the University of Arizona Astronomy Camp program, the University of Arizona and the University of Minnesota. Scott and I toured the Observatory in 2021.

At the Observatory; Middle: Enhanced photo taken during our visit

It was fascinating. We saw a star so bright it could be observed (via telescope) twinkling in the blue afternoon sky. We saw Jupiter and a number of constellations, galaxies, nebula and whatever. Scott was disappointed to learn that you cannot see the brilliant colors we associate with these phenomena. Essentially, you see white lights and black sky. The photos we see are enhanced.

The funny part about visiting the observatory is that they warn you over and over (and over and over) that it is cold up there at night. So, I dressed for a blizzard. It was 40°F. Arizonans!!!

Sweetwater Wetlands

I also visited Sweetwater Wetlands on both trips, hoping to see more birds and Bobcats, because Sweetwater was famous for its “friendly” Bobcat named “Mama,” who was totally unfazed by people. I didn’t see her the first time and, unfortunately, she died before I could get back.

The only mammals I saw were Arizona Cotton Rats and Desert Cottontails

Sweetwater Wetlands is a wildlife habitat, public park, water treatment facility and one of the most important components of Tucson’s reclaimed water system. It was built in 1996 to handle backwash filter and now uses reclaimed water exclusively in multiple basins ringed by more than 2.5 miles of shady pathways.

It's a tranquil spot

The water and the shade make it seem cooler than the rest of Tucson and, despite being close to the highway in an industrial area, it exudes peace and tranquility.

During my two visits, I saw a number of birds …

Row 1; White-winged Dove, House Finch, Western Kingbirds, Red-winged Blackbird, Gambel's Quail; Row 2: Common Yellowthroat, Western Wood-Pewee, Song Sparrow, Red-winged Blackbird, Lazuli Bunting, Vermilion Flycatcher; Row 3: Black-chinned Hummingbird, Wilson's Warbler, Mourning Doves, Abert's Towhee

… waterbirds …

Left CW: Great Blue Heron, Pied-billed Grebe, Mallard Duckling, Cinnamon Teal; Middle: Mexican Ducks; Right CW: American Coot, Ruddy Duck, Common Gallinule, Green Heron

… insects …