Wednesday, July 11, 2012

A fallen giant: Saguaro tragedy

On my regular Monday morning rove at Tohono Chul Park, I was shocked to see the huge top half of a mighty saguaro lying on the Desert View Trail. The saguaro itself still stood, its remaining arms pointing skyward, but its main trunk was now a relative stub. This was the saguaro I posted about only a month ago, the large sentinel saguaro with a “window” in its side.

Damaged Saguaro 7-9-2012 8-28-05 AM 1352x2306                Saguaro top 7-9-2012 8-28-45 AM 2000x2681

I talked with one of the groundskeepers later. He said it might have been a result of too many woodpecker holes in one part of the saguaro. It’s also obvious looking at the photo in the previous post that the top of the saguaro was leaning rather precariously. My groundskeeper buddy joked that they could put out police tape and draw a chalk line around the fallen limb. We could call it CSI-TCP.

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4 comments:

  1. Well, that's what woodpeckers are for, I guess. At least from what I remember of Woody Woodpecker cartoons.

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    Replies
    1. I'm not sure I buy the woodpecker theory. Though fowl play might explain it.

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  2. Anonymous8:27 AM

    Like an over weight white wing dove?

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