Music in the Canyon

Sabino Canyon's 14th annual Music in the Canyon outdoor concert took place the evening of Saturday, March 28th from 5:00-9:00PM. It also happened to be the night for Earth Hour, a global event from 8:30-9:30PM to raise awareness about climate change. The three of us wanted to participate in Earth Hour by turning off all the lights and computers in our house. Since we didn't feel like sitting indoors without lights on, we decided to mosey on over to Sabino Canyon. It was a very dark night with just a sliver of moonlight.
The Tucson Amateur Astronomy Association was having a stargazing party near the parking lot. As we were walking away from the astronomers in the darkness, we saw a spectacular shooting star. It was big, colorful and lasted about three seconds.

Pictured below is the Sabino Canyon Visitor Center at night. Sorry about the poor quality of these photos taken in low light. The little orange lanterns on the ground are luminarias.

Luminarias are popular in the Southwestern states of Arizona, New Mexico and Texas for decorating houses on Christmas Eve. They are simply brown paper bags with sand at the bottom and a lit candle inside.
There must have been hundreds of luminarias set up! They lined both sides of the pathway from the visitor center to the Lowell Complex about a third of a mile away. I'm not sure what the Lowell Complex is, but apparently horses live there. By the time we arrived, we had missed the Fiddlin' Foresters and Smokey the Bear, but we did catch the end of the Tucson Arizona Boys Chorus' energetic performance.

Arco, with Dale Clark on the electric violin, and Ken Alexander on guitar, closed the program with two or three Carlos Santana songs, Ain't No Sunshine by Bill Withers, Time of Your Life by Greenday and Summertime by George Gershwin.
Between 2500 and 3000 people were expected to attend the Music in the Canyon concert with proceeds of the suggested donation of $5 individual and $10 family going to the Friends of Sabino Canyon to help preserve the recreation area. We fully enjoyed the entertainment of the talented musicians at the Music in the Canyon concert and plan on going next year, even if it doesn't coincide with Earth Hour.

Cactus Monday - First Blooms

At Sabino Canyon, the cacti usually start blooming after the wildflowers. On March 24th, I found a Saguaro cactus blossoming on a sunny hilltop.

Two days later, I noticed that some of the prickly pears were starting to bloom.

I didn't find any cholla cacti blooming, but this one's buds looked about ready to burst.
To see more Cactus Monday posts, visit Teri's Painted Daisies. And here's the Cactus Monday group pool on Flickr. Happy Cactus Monday!

Spring Trees in the Canyon

In January I posted fall colors, and last month I featured winter trees in Sabino Canyon. Now it's time to show trees with new spring growth. Here's a look at deciduous trees along the stream from different perspectives, beginning near mile marker one, and moving on to the dam.

The first picture below was taken February 21st and all the others were shot in March.

To see all three posts of the trees in different seasons click here.

What do the trees look like in your area?

Here's a delightful response to the above question. Please visit
Sylvan Muse to see some extraordinary tree pictures by Pheonix C.

Skywatch Friday - Ocotillos

At Sabino Canyon, ocotillos were blooming against clear blue sky.

Visit Skywatch to see sky pictures from around the world.

Travelin' Local at Nature Loop Trail

Greetings! Today I'm pleased to be doing a guest post at Lisa Newton's blog, Travelin' Local. Lisa explores interesting and famous locations in and around Los Angeles and Southern California, where she lives. Some of her recent posts include: Macarthur Park is going to the Birds and A Los Angeles Scavenger Hunt.

Lisa asked me to show her readers how I travel local where I live in Tucson, Arizona. So I thought Sabino Canyon's Nature Loop Trail would be a great introduction to what nature looks like in the Sonoran Desert. Please join me on a stroll along the bajada Nature Trail via Travelin' Local.

Birds at Tohono Chul

Verdin, Lesser Goldfinch, House Finch
White-crowned Sparrow, Phainopepla (male), Black-tailed Gnatcatcher
Cardinal, Phainopepla (female), Anna's Hummingbird

These are some of the birds observed at Tohono Chul Park, a Sonoran Desert preserve and botanical garden in Tucson, Arizona.

A thistle sock bird feeder hanging from a palo verde tree attracted numerous lesser goldfinches.
White-crowned sparrows gleaned seeds from the ground below the finch feeder.
This baby sparrow was taking a dust bath under a shrub.
A Pyrrhuloxia was whistling his "what-cheer" song from atop a cactus by the cholla forest.
Hanging onto wildflower stems by his feet, a house finch was enjoying a morning snack.
Way up in a tree, some hawk-like bird sitting in a nest, was making a racket.
In the breeze, a curve-billed thrasher stood upon a saguaro cactus calling "whit-wheet." Also heard but not pictured were Gambel's quail and cactus wrens. Visiting Tohono Chul Park was a wonderful experience and turned out to be a great place to see birds without having to walk far.
I hope you enjoyed this last post in the series of Tohono Chul Park entries. Click here to see all three Tohono Chul posts including wildflowers and garden art from the park.

Art at Tohono Chul

Here is some of the garden art I found at Tohono Chul Park, a few miles west of Sabino Canyon. I spent a couple of hours at the park enjoying many sights, bird songs and floral fragrances in the gardens and along the meandering paths. There was so much to experience outdoors, I didn't even go inside the museum shop or art galleries.


Some of the sculptures I encountered were a bobcat and kittens, a giant sunflower, a cardinal, a spiny lizard, a javelina and a jack rabbit.

Click on any pictures to enlarge.

From Tohono Chul's website:

"The mission of Tohono Chul Park is to enrich people’s lives by providing them the opportunity to find peace and inspiration in a place of beauty, experience the wonders of the Sonoran Desert, and to gain knowledge of the natural and cultural heritage of this region."

These are some of the many fountains and water features at Tohono Chul Park. The wall behind the blue pot fountain in the Moorish garden has these quotes painted on it:

"Winter is an etching, Spring a watercolor, Summer an oil painting
and Autumn a mosaic of them all."
--Stanley Horowitz

"Nature is not a place to visit, it is home."
--Gary Snyder

"A garden is made up of stories, not things."
--Unknown

Some of the architectural features in and around the Outdoor Living Garden

Demonstration Garden

Exhibit House

Here are some of the park's blooming flowers that I posted on March 17th. Next I will share some of the birds I found during my visit to Tohono Chul Park.

Skywatch Friday - A storm brewing?

On the way back from spending a couple of hours in the canyon on Saturday, it looked like a storm was brewing. The sky had clouded up and we could see rain starting to fall in the distance. As we were leaving, we saw visitors walking, jogging and boarding the trams to venture deep into the canyon. I wonder if any of them ended up getting rained on. We didn't feel a drop.

To see more sky photos from around the world, visit Skywatch Friday.

What's Blooming at Tohono Chul

Here's some of what I found blooming at Tohono Chul Park, a desert preserve and botanical garden about nine miles west of Sabino Canyon. Tohono Chul means "desert corner" in the Tohono O'odham language.

Some of the flowers pictured here are native to the area and can also be found growing at Sabino Canyon such as: brittle bush, fairy duster, agave, penstemon, and desert bells. The other specimens are adapted to the southwest climate and grow in cultivated gardens and landscaping in the Sonoran Desert.

Goodding's Verbena

Red Fairy Duster

Dried Agave blossoms

Firecracker Penstemon and Verbena

Verbena and Penstemon

Texas Mountain Laurel aka Mescal Bean

Autumn Sage, Emory Dalea and Calliandra

Citrus blossoms

Parry's Penstemon below a Palo Verde tree

Desert Bluebells

What's blooming in your area? I mainly went to Tohono Chul Park to see what was blooming, but was delighted to find a whole lot more besides flowers. Here is some garden art I found at the park.