Cactus Monday - More Saguaro Fruit

In the summertime, walks in the desert are most enjoyable early morning or in the evening. Chris and I looked at Sabino Canyon after sundown to see if any bats were feeding on saguaro fruit. The only bats we saw were little brown bats, the common little insect eaters that come out at dusk. Sorry, we didn't get any photos of bats, just the fruit.
But if you like bats, you might enjoy this short 21 second National Geographic video of a fruit bat eating from a saguaro. Click here for video.

Sometimes I bring my camera early in the morning when I go to the nearby track. I like to watch for birds in the natural desert vegetation that surrounds the school. There are no birds in the photo below, but I like how you can see the moon above the building.
There's a hummingbird feeding on the saguaro fruit in the photo below. Hummers in the wild are usually too fast for me to catch in a picture.
One of these house finches is orange colored. The hue looks slightly different from the orange house finch that visits our backyard feeder.
This cute little yellow headed bird is a verdin. It's not much bigger than a hummingbird. Verdins are abundant at the canyon, but they are usually camera shy, preferring to keep hidden among mesquite branches.
I'm not sure what this plain colored bird is that's eating the saguaro fruit. I'm guessing it's a juvenile verdin.
And here's the same bird holding onto the leaf of a desert spoon plant (sotol). Birders, please let me know if this is not a verdin.

Happy Cactus Monday!

For more cactus fun, head on over to Teri's Painted Daisies.