Roving in Tohono Chul Park

One of the regular things I do as a docent is “rove” on Monday mornings. In the cool weather, I rove from 8 to 11, and once it gets hot, from 8 to 10. My job is to interact with visitors and be aware of what is going on in the Park. It is a wonderful “job” to have, a way to be out in the beauty of nature and spend time with like-minded people. I thought I’d give you a look at yesterday’s rove, which was fairly typical for this time of year.

I started by walking from the front of the Park to the North Trail, a 1/2 mile trail that meanders through natural Sonoran desert. Along the way I checked out the birds, including a family of Gambel’s quail: parents plus four fairly young chicks. They would not pose for a photograph.

It was already in the eighties as I approached the large sentinel saguaro about halfway down the path:

This saguaro has a window through which you can see its ribs and vascular tissue.

While on the trail I also took a look at the night-blooming cereus buds. This picture shows two very ripe buds that will probably open before Bloom Night,  when all the cereus in the Park bloom together (see my post on this amazing event from a couple of years ago).                                                              Night-blooming cereus with buds

Leaving the trail, I walked through the behind-the-scenes propagation area, where volunteers prepare plants for sale in our greenhouse, then on to the Desert Living Courtyard, where we have a pond containing Desert Pupfish, an endangered species that we breed in cooperation with AZ Game and Fish. These little fish can reputedly live in water up to 115 degrees Fahrenheit! The males turn fluorescent blue when they are ready to breed.

                                                                      Desert pupfish

I stopped by the hawk nest, but was unable to photograph the baby hawks. I also stopped at the Bell’s vireo nest, but the female was not there and hadn’t been seen all morning. I hope she is all right.

I continued to wander around the Park, talking to my fellow docents and our dozen or so visitors, and enjoying the beautiful, beautiful desert and its critters. The next thing I knew it was ten o’clock, ninety degrees, and time to go home.

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