Savvy-Boomers

Arizona: Saguaro National Park
Two major sections of this park flank Tucson. The eastern part includes most of the higher slopes of the Rincon Mountains, with cool pine forests accessible only to sturdy hikers. The lowlands in the park’s eastern and western sections—magnificent examples of Sonoran Desert—will enthrall less intrepid visitors. The desert’s plant diversity is astonishing, and it supports a remarkable variety of birdlife. Boldly patterned gilded flickers and Gila woodpeckers excavate their nesting cavities in tall saguaro cacti. Many other birds, from tiny elf owls to noisy brown-crested flycatchers, take up residence in these natural birdhouses once the primary occupants move out. Despite their prickly exterior, many other kinds of cacti sustain birds. Curve-billed thrashers and big, boldly spotted cactus wrens, Arizona’s state bird, nest in spiny, low-growing chollas. Groves of thorny mesquite trees and green-barked paloverdes grow along desert arroyos, where pallid diminutive Lucy’s warblers live in spring and summer and sleek, glossy phainopeplas all year-round. The American Southwest’s emblematic bird, the greater roadrunner, is common throughout the park’s lower elevations. You can see it streaking across open flats or pausing at the edge of a thicket to raise and lower its shaggy crest. For more information, visit the National Park Service or call 520-733-5153 for general park information.