By Dan Weisz
Most of the Saguaro Cacti have finished flowering and the fruit has ripened enough to burst open. The following three photos were taken in the Tucson Mountains at trails in Sweetwater Preserve (not to be confused with Sweetwater Wetlands).
Some Saguaros still have lone flowers on them and, in fact, Saguaros can flower at any time of the year. Here you see one flower and two buds waiting to bloom.
Many of the desert birds and animals benefit from this rich food source. Here, a Gila Woodpecker leaves the cactus top.
At Tohono Chul Park, a Lesser Goldfinch feasts on the seeds and pulp. Each Saguaro fruit has about 2000 seeds in it. The birds aid in seed dispersal. For more, https://www.desertmuseum.org/kids/oz/long-fact-sheets/Flowers%20and%20Fruit.php
June also means “babies” in the desert. Here is a Ruddy Duck with its ducklings on a pond at Sewailo Golf Course.
Midtown, near a retirement community, a Great Horned Owl raised its young in a Palm Tree.
Young, newly hatched Western Screech Owls have returned to their annual roost spot at Tohono Chul Park, in the shade of a citrus tree.
And they continue to study the world around them!
Last weekend I visited Phoenix on the occasion of the birth of a Grandson!! While there, I visited the zoo with two other young grandchildren and, above the alligator pond, saw a Snowy Egreat feeding her young. Here’s the little one begging for food.
Mom provides a mouthful!
And yet that’s still not enough! Why can we all of us who have raised children relate to this scene?
June is definitely here in the desert and Mother Nature goes about her way renewing herself.