This year Arizona had an abundance of rain and the cacti blooms were expected to be exceptionally beautiful this spring. The Desert Botanical Gardens was only about 12 miles away and our Horticultural passes made it an easy visit so we went to assess the situation. There were so many buds on the various cacti, but we were still just a little early to catch them at their peak.
A bit of lucky timing allowed us to join in a docent-led tour of some of the grounds. While she was talking, I noticed the Gila Woodpecker (below) about 20 feet overhead drilling into a mature Saguaro. Our guide seemed prepared for his visit and even had some props to explain the strange nature of his home building. She told us that as he dug a hole in the cactus it was just a wet spongy mess inside, but after a few weeks the cactus would form a hard shell around the intrusion called a "boot". The woodpecker would return then to build a nest and hatch its next generation.
We saw some beautiful blooms, but we saw the promise of so much more to open in the next few weeks so we will be returning again soon!
No comments:
Post a Comment