Wildflower update
March 30, 2011 by taha
Okay, it appears we are off to a bit of a slow start to our wildflower season this year. Could be those freezing cold days we had during the “winter”. But, the cacti and plants are starting to bloom! Almost all the hedgehogs we see now are blooming. The creosote and brittlebush are now well on their way. I’ve also seen some chicory, scorpionweed, poppies, and fiddlenecks. Still waiting for the Palo Verdes and Ironwood trees to blossom. I also noticed that the buckhorn chollas are chock full of buds, so when they bloom in the next week or so, they are going to be amazing! The prickly-pear cacti appear to be a few weeks off still from blooming, so be a little patient there. And as usual, the Saguaro will be one of the last to bloom, probably in late May or June this year.
Out in the Superstitions, we haven’t seen too much blooming action. 
Some thistle are blooming and the hedgehogs are blooming there as well. Still not many brittlebush with color yet and the Sumac still has a ways to go before we see any color there. But, we will be heading out there again soon, so we’ll see if anything has changed.
That’s the update for now. Stay tuned as we head further into Spring!
The wildflowers are coming, the wildflowers are coming!
March 21, 2011 by taha
Okay, just real quick for those of you looking for wildflowers on your hikes today…..
The Phoenix Mountains Preserve (Piestewa Peak Park) seems to have the most variety of blooming flowers as of today. There are plenty of beautiful blooming Hedgehogs cacti to see as well as blooming Pincushions. The trick is to wait until the sun warms them up a bit and they will open up and show off their gorgeous colors! Other plants starting to bloom in earnest in the Piestewa area are the Creosote bushes and the Brittlebush plants. I also saw plenty of Scorpion Weed and Fiddlenecks as well as some Poppies here and there. Oh and the Ocotillo look outstanding! The Buckhorn chollas are producing tons of buds so once they start blooming it will be fantastic!
The McDowell Sonoran Preserve – depending on which trail you take has different flowers blooming as well. Today along the Gateway Loop, I saw plenty of blooming bright fushia pink flowers on a number of Hedgehogs, didn’t see any Pincushions, some Brittlebush are starting to show their color and the Creosote are not too far behind. No Ironwood trees are showing anything yet, nor are the Palo Verdes. The remaining cacti, including Prickly-pear, Teddy Bear chollas, Chain-fruit chollas and Saguaros are still some time off from showing anything. The Saguaros are some of the last to bloom, so don’t hold your breath there. 
We will be heading out to the Superstitions this week, we’ll let you know how the blooms look there as soon as we get a report back in! If you have seen anything in any other areas, let us know. We’d love to keep everyone up to date on the season. It only comes around once a year!
Call or email us with your updates!! Or just comment below and let us know what you’ve been seeing this week!
The Great Horned Owl
March 7, 2011 by taha
AT Take A Hike Arizona, we like to keep things fun and light-hearted and we love when children (especially our own) show a growing interest in our beautiful desert! Well, my 10 year old daughter actually wrote this report about the beautiful Great Horned Owls that we have here in our desert. I thought she did a great job of keeping it simple and interesting. So, I wanted to share it with you. If you have any questions or comments about anything, please feel free to post comments below and if you like what you read, let us know that too. I’m sure my daughter would love to hear from you!
The Great Horned Owl
The Great Horned Owl is one of twenty types of owls living in North America. This report will tell about what the owl looks like, where it lives, what it eats and drinks, and will also give you some interesting facts about it. I found this bird to be fascinating and I hope you will too.
The Great Horned Owl is brown and gray. It has big yellow eyes, a white throat, two feathery horns on top of its head called tufts, and gold colored disks made from feathers that frame its face. The owl has four powerful toes with very sharp claws called talons. The Great Horned Owl is one of the biggest types of owls and grows to be as big as two feet tall with a 3 ½ foot wingspan.
Like many animals, the Great Horned Owl drinks only water. It eats small mammals, birds, small reptiles, and insects. It does not eat plants. It is purely a meat eater, in other words, a carnivore. The owl eats its prey whole. However, the owl cannot digest all of the parts of its prey such as the fur, bones, feathers and teeth. So it ends up spitting these parts it cannot digest back out. These parts that are spit back out are owl pellets.
Great Horned Owls are common in both North and South America. You can find them in deserts, mountains, woodlands, canyons, near water, and in cities and suburbs. Usually these owls use the old nests of hawks, crows, ravens and other birds. It will also use existing holes found in cactus, trees and rock cliffs as its home.
The Great Horned Owl has excellent hearing. It is able to hear a mouse moving beneath a foot of snow! The owl is sometimes called a cat owl because of the tufts on its head. But, the tufts on its head are not ears at all! Its ears are actually holes found on the side of its head. What’s really interesting is that one of the owl’s ears is set higher than the other. By moving its head to equalize sound, the owl can align the source of the sound with its line of vision.
It also has excellent eye sight. However, its eyes do not move, they are fixed in place in its head. The owl has to move its head to see what is around it. Even though it looks like it can turn its head in a complete circle, the owl cannot turn its head all the way around. It can turn its head 180 degrees each way. The owl does not see in color, it only sees black, white and shades of gray. An owl’s eyes do not work as well during the day as they do at night. They can see when there is hardly any light at all.
A few more interesting facts about the owl is that it can fly silently. This helps it to hunt at night. Also, the Great Horned Owl is one of the very few animals in the world that will kill skunks and porcupines. This owl is so fearless that it is sometimes called the flying tiger. Owls do not form flocks. They always hunt alone. Also, did you know that they rarely fly in rain because their feathers are not waterproof?
There are many more facts to learn about the Great Horned Owl. This report provided some information on what the owl looks like, where it lives, and what it eats and drinks. I hope you enjoyed my report about the owl as much as I enjoyed learning about it myself.
Bibliography
Tekiela, Stan. Birds of Arizona. Adventure Publications, Inc., 2003
Bessesen, Brooke. Look Who Lives in the Desert!. Arizona Highways, 2004
Jackson, Tom. Owls. Grolier, 2008
Gray, Mary Taylor. Watchable Birds of the Southwest. Mountain Press Publishing
Company,1998
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