There were plants and birds and rocks and things

[Actually, the horse's name is Dolly. Thanks from all of us, Beth, especially from Ellie!]

The Sonoran Desert in springtime. Photos by Jessa and myself. These were taken over several days at numerous locations around Tucson, including Saguaro National Park, Picacho State Park, and suburban areas of Marana and Oro Valley—not all of them pristine, but still retaining some wildness. (In sharp contrast to, for example, most of Phoenix.)

[Southwestern (greater) earless lizard.]

[Cactus wren in ocotillo.]

 

[Another cactus wren.]

[Abert's towhee.]

[Costa's hummingbird.]

[Curve-billed thrashers: adult on saguaro, young nearly ready to fledge from nest in cholla.]

[Verdin and nest under construction.]

[Pyrrhuloxia: the real Arizona Cardinals.]

[Desert grassland whiptail.]

[Gambel's quail.]

[Gila woodpecker.]

[Gila woodpecker at nest cavity in saguaro.]

[Chuckwalla.]

[Picacho Peak at dusk.]

[This photo, taken entirely by accident, may be my favourite of the whole lot.]