We had a leisurely start on St. Patrick's Day because our planned activity, the Arizona - Sonora Desert Museum, doesn't open till 9 am. We figured we'd get a jump on the other tourists because our campsite is only a 5 minute drive away. But by the time we turned into the parking lot it was already quite full with people streaming toward the entrance. It's spring break here so all the parks and attractions are busy and everyone wants to get a jump on the afternoon heat with temperatures rising to the mid nineties Fahrenheit.
The museum is almost all outdoors with a zoo of desert animals and a botanical garden. We raced right over to the main attraction, the desert raptor demo stration.
We raced over to the main attraction, the desert raptor demonstration. Since the last time we attended they have expanded their repertoire and showed Chihuahua Ravens, a great horned owl
and a red-tailed hawk. They say that they train the birds to emphasize their natural behaviours, and that the birds are allowed to stay out and fly as long they want, for days if they like. (They always come back -free food.) I get it if you think it's wrong to keep wild animals for our own amusement, but still, it was really cool. They fly right over your head.
We thought we would only last till noon, but we took breaks indoors and underground, and attended a reptile demonstration with a live gila monster (seriously cool and seriously poisonous, but non-aggressive) and a rattlesnake. So we were keen to attend the 2 pm raptor show with new species: 4 Harris' hawks (they hunt in teams),
a barn owl
and a grey hawk.
Other animals we saw included a chuckwallah, porcupine, ocelot, bobcat, javelin as and coyotes.
Another highlight was the hummingbird room, with 4 or different species.
No comments:
Post a Comment