Sliding into Summer

While many people are welcoming signs of spring after a long winter, Sabino Canyon's short and sweet spring is over.

Here, spring only lasts from February to March.

Sabino Canyon is described as having six seasons. A brief fall, winter, and spring followed by seven months of summer. Summer is so long, it's divided into three seasons: fore-summer, monsoon, and after-summer.
A visual aid in the visitor center shows the year divided into six seasons:

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• Spring: February through March
• Fore-summer: April through June
• Monsoon Summer: July through Mid-September
• After-summer: Late September through October
• Fall: November through Mid-December
• Winter: Late December through January

Since it's April, according to the chart, we're into fore-summer now. Fore-summer is when most of the cacti, Palo Verde and Mesquite trees bloom while spring wildflowers and grasses turn crisp. April, May, and June weather at Sabino Canyon will be sunny, hot, dry, and as the stream flow slows down, the cicadas will be buzzing.
Most of these pictures were taken the last day of March along the creek trail from the dam up to the first tram stop.


Some girls were having a picnic on a rock in the shallow water. The stream bed looks dry from this view, but the stream was flowing.
This little tree lizard allowed me to get one close-up shot before scurrying away. I like the stripes on its legs and toes.
A newly installed wheelchair accessible picnic table close to the stream near the first tram stop:
This cardinal was camera shy and the picture is blurry, but I wanted to show the contrast of his red feathers and the light green mesquite leaves.
Three birds were flying along the stream, possibly migratory Canadian geese.
We also saw a turkey vulture, hawks, cactus wrens, Gambel's quail, lesser goldfinches, hummingbirds, butterflies, desert cottontails, and round-tailed ground squirrels.