For me, one of the highlights of our trip was the trip to the Sonora Desert Museum. I had been once before, some years back, but it's even more spectacular now. It's mostly a kind of outdoor zoo dedicated to teaching about Sonoran Desert animals and plants.
Just to the left as you enter was a very unusual Crested Saguaro - there's some disagreement about how they come to be, but they are very rare. The population of saguaros is in the millions and there are around 2500 crested ones identified so far.
We went early to catch the Raptor Free Flight demonstration. It was a bit of a hike out from the entrance, but for the first time, I rented a scooter to save my knees and feet. What a different experience! Instead of struggling to keep up and crapping out early, I was able to visit all parts of the museum and not be a wreck at the end. At one point, Linda had to tell me to slow down because she couldn't keep up with me (definitely a role-reversal).
But back to the Raptor Free Flight. This is just what it says - the raptors do have an enclosure, but at the beginning of the day, they go to the enclosure to invite the birds to come and participate (there are treats involved). If they don't feel like it, that's OK. So they can't tell you ahead of time what birds will be flying. Also they don't use hoods or restraints. Sometimes the birds fly off, but they often come back because they know there are good eats.
We were lucky to see several species including Chihuahuan Ravens, a Crested Cara Cara, a Great Horned Owl, and Harris Hawks They have trained the birds to fly from one handler to another over the heads of the crowd. You're warned not to put your hands up or have kids on your shoulders - both to protect the watchers and also because the birds get disturbed when they collide with things and may not want to fly out again.
As I cruised back from the demo, I stopped to survey the desert vista - on a clear day like that one, the last bit of Arizona and the first bit of Mexican Sonora is visible.
In other areas we saw a couple of Javelina's (they look like pigs, but are actually related to peccaries), a coyote, a couple of grey wolves, a big horn sheep, and a mountain lion who has a reclining spot up under some warm rocks. (check out the size of his paws - built for quick speed and maneuvering). It was a coolish day, but the sun was very warm so many of the animals were lying in the sunniest patches they could find.
I was particularly fascinated by the touch the stingrays pool. Since the Sonora Desert actually borders the Sea of Cortez, the museum includes some aquatic species as well. It was hard not to be frightened a bit of the stingrays, but they didn't "sting" at all. Instead they're kind of velvety to touch and seemed to enjoy being rubbed gently just behind their eyes. Definitely a first for me.
After roaming around, we had lunch in the cafeteria and stopped for some photos
A great visit and highly recommended if you're ever in Tucson.