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Mark Johnston Photography

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  • A hummingbird maneuvers. Most hummingbirds move further south into Mexico and Central America during the winter, returning when the Ocotillo bloom in early Spring. A few species remain in the Tucson area all year long.
  • The Sonoran Desert landscape in Saguaro National Monument west of Tucson is named - and defined - by the massive Saguaro cactus. Although these giants can reach heights of ten to fifteen meters, and weigh several tons, they have very shallow, diffuse root systems that allow them to quickly soak up surface moisture from monsoon rains and store it in their pleated, expandable trunks. Saguaros often are seen standing as twins, each providing a little shade to the other during a certain part of the severely hot desert day. Saguaro seeds are about the size of a pin head, and Saguaros grow very slowly - the first arms form when the cactus reaches the age of about fifty or sixty years. They bloom in late summer, with white blossoms near the crown ripening into fruit with sweet, bright red flesh.
  • A Monarch butterfly, on its way south to winter in Mexico, probes for nectar on a Lantana flower head to gain precious energy for further flight.
  • The spiny edges, hard needle-sharp tips, and tough flesh of an agave plant. Most desert plants resist being devoured by taking defensive measures such as these.
  • A rain squall moves into Avra Valley west of the city of Tucson, Arizona.
  • A "hoodoo" rock formation looks down on the Santa Catalina Highway. Mt. Wrightson lies on the horizon 50 miles due south, with Mexico lying a further 25 miles beyond.
  • A chipmunk does some end-of-season harvesting in the shrubbery atop Mt. Lemmon. Despite being within a few miles of a searing desert, the climate and the ecosystem here on the mountain at 9000 feet are much more similar to those of Canada eleven hundred miles further north.
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  • "The Ravens", a group of rocks that stand like perching birds near the top of Mt. Lemmon in the Santa Catalina Mountains.

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28 Sept 2009: South-central Arizona [photos from 8-10 Sept 2009]

I had the chance to visit Tucson after an absence of several years. The place continues to decline into Californication as urban sprawl races outward from the city. Large chunks of fragile desert are being paved over so that yet another redundant shopping mall, convenience store, or gas station can be built to serve the growing population.

Southern Arizona is so-called "Basin and Range" topography, with broad expanses of hot, dry, low-lying desert punctuated by towering mountain ranges - the "Sky Islands" that shoulder cooler elevations and squeeze some rain from passing clouds. Perhaps the more rugged ranges will be resistant to much development; still their ecologies are being altered by the growth surrounding them. There are just too many of the most ravenous, destructive, and pestilent species on the planet - affluent consumers - pouring into the area.

The Ravens

A rock formation called "The Ravens", the center-most white spot of rock in the map below, stands near the top of Mt. Lemmon. One of the photos in this gallery was taken from a few hundred meters northeast of the formation.

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This page last modified: 21 August 2010.