| 2008-07-14 Ferocious Water Bug! That's really the name of it - the latin name is Abedus Herbeti. One of these critters showed up in my laundry bucket that I'd left outdoors - they can fly as well as swim - and it did indeed try to bite when I scooped it up in a cup of water. But we got it safely into a fish tank for the kids to watch, they are pretty impressive little beasts. They are fairly common throughout Arizona, and apparenly fly to find new sites during monsoon season. | add comment |
| 2006-07-31 Horse Lubber Grasshoppers Big black grasshoppers with yellow stripes. We found them at Desert Survivor's Nursery on 22nd st, look by the Tree Morning Glories. Lots of butterflies as well. | add comment |
| 2011-06-15 Lunar Eclipse going on now This isn't a first hand observation, since you can't see the moon from Tucson at the moment - but here is the live youtube of the eclipse going on | add comment |
| 2011-06-30 Monsoon Arrived! (at 3:22 AM) The Monsoon season has arrived with a crack and a bang, reaching the Southwest side of Tucson in the early morning hours. Look for life in the desert - ant and termite queens should emerge today or tomorrow, followed by a feeding frenzy of birds, lizards, geckos and toads. Many desert dwellers' reproduction cycles are compressed into these next few weeks. | add comment |
2010-04-20  Palo Verde Blossoms Bursting Out First noticed this spring on Mon Apr 19. Some trees are partially in bloom, others fully so. Small trimmed landscape palo verdes seem to be fully in bloom before the large mature trees. | add comment |
| 2006-09-19 Passion Vines bring Gulf Fritillarys We planted passion vines in our front yard and within 2-3 weeks the butterflies had found them and we had Gulf Frit caterpillars all over the vine. They will consume most of the leaves, but in return you get these beauties coming out right in your yard...great for kids, take in the chrysalis and make sure it has plenty of space and sticks to climb on, and you'll be able to release the butterfly when it emerges. | add comment |
2010-06-28  Peak Cicada Emergence Tonight 6/28/10 is a good time to watch cicadas emerging from their larval stage. About 9PM, go to any wall or tree where a number of cicada shells have been observed, and watch for larvae crawling up out of the ground and onto the wall. It only takes about 15 minutes to watch a larva, with great effort, burst out of its exoskeleton and inflate its crumpled wings. | add comment |
| 2007-10-15 Prickly pears can't be picky... 2639 E 5th St This cactus found an unusual place to take root - its up in a tree at the corner of 5th St and Sawtelle | add comment |
| 2011-08-31 Seen a lizard, snake, toad or tortoise? http://herpcount.org Record your observation at http://herpcount.org and help with local wildlife conservation! Take a photo of the critter, if possible from front and side, and the biologists running the project will help you ID it. Did you know that Arizona has wild mud turtles? | add comment |
2010-06-11  Spring Wildflowers The wet winter of 2010 gave us a beautiful spring wildflower season. Most of these photos were taken in late April or early May 2010. | add comment |
2010-08-07  Tadpole Rescue Opportunity Shrinking puddles in the Santa Cruz and perhaps other washes today hold tiny tadpoles. Our Couch's Spadefoots have what is probably the world record for fast amphibian development, but even their quick metamorphosis may be too slow this week. We found 6 tadpoles today in a puddle that probably has less than two days remaining, maybe one. One had small back legs, the others were smaller - two of them almost certainly were laid as eggs just last night. Since humans are responsible for declining ground water that threatens amphibian survival, why not also rescue a few baby toads to live and reproduce another year? Care for a Couch's spadefoot or Red-spotted tadpole is not too difficult. First set out some water to age, or add dechlorinator. Then bring a cup or other containe ...read more... | add comment |
| 2011-07-06 Toads laying eggs in Santa Cruz Walking down in the Santa Cruz River (yes, today it is a river and not just a wash) we found freshly laid toad eggs up on the muddy banks. It may be they should have been down in the water - the level had decreased some since last night. Look for small black dots in bunches covered with a sticky gel. The eggs had just been laid, as they were still half-white half-black Possibly Couch's Spadefoot, but I don't know for sure - we only saw the eggs, not the toads! Learn more from the Desert Museum: http://www.desertmuseum.org/members/sonorensis/week7.php" | add comment |
| 2011-04-04 Tough babies - preying mantis have hatched Tiny tigers of the bug world, you may see baby mantises running along the ground or on tree branches, hunting for any prey they can catch. My best guess is that they hatched around 3/26/11 but that's only an estimate. Saw a several-day-old baby mantis on 4/3/11. | add comment |
| 2010-07-18 Watch out for toads! http://www.desertmuseum.org/books/nhsd_spadefoot.php Monsoon or no monsoon, a few fat Couch's Spadefoot toads have emerged to eat the june beetles and cicadas. I saw one tonight hopping near the Santa Cruz river. Sounds like the thunder may have called them out: according to the Desert Museum website, "Interestingly, the cue for adult emergence during these summer thunderstorms is not moisture, but rather low frequency sound or vibration, most likely caused by rainfall or thunder." http://www.desertmuseum.org/books/nhsd_spadefoot.php Please watch out if you are driving near a river - toads that may have survived years of desert weather can be killed in an instant by vehicle traffic. Sometimes we see flocks of vultures come down to eat the road kill, though I have not seen any yet this year. | add comment |
| 2011-07-04 What makes a Bat Bridge Every evening right at sunset, an enormous cloud of bats emerges from the bridge at River and Campbell. Bats are common around Tucson, and often roost under bridges in smaller numbers. What makes this bridge so special? A short walk underneath answers the question. The I-beams of this particular bridge are paired, with a gap of about 1.5 - 2 inches in between. The gaps between the I-beams appear to be ideal bat habitat, likely protecting the baby bats from predators and helping them cling on. Visit the bridge Thursday evenings between 6-7:30 PM and Desert Museum docents will be on hand wielding bat detectors. Or visit any evening for a 'batty' experience. I wonder if bat conservation groups have considered lobbying for split-I-beam bridge construction? | add comment |
| 2011-06-15 cicadas out? I think just heard my first cicada of 2011 - 6/15/11 Confirmed 6/16/11 many more cicadas calling along the Santa Cruz river walk. | add comment |
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