Stop the foreign invasion

No, this isn't a post about illegal aliens. Arizona has long been the site of a different kind of invasion, foreign plants. One of the most invasive species is the tamarisk. Native of Africa and Eurasia, these sturdy plants can spread both vegetatively, by adventitious roots or submerged stems, and sexually, by seeds. There are over fifty species of tamarisks with eight now found in the U.S. The Tamarix was introduced to the United States as an ornamental shrub, a windbreak, and a shade tree in the early 1800s. In the 1930s, during The Great Depression, tree-planting was used as a tool to fight soil erosion on the Great Plains, and the trees were planted by the millions.Wikipedia

As the photo above illustrates, stands of this non-native plant have spread along most of the waterways in Arizona. Although there is some controversy over whether or not the tamarisks displace native species, it is my own observation that they grow so thickly along the rivers and streams that nothing else can live. The USGS has a research program "Changes in Riparian Vegetation in Arizona Repeat Photography at Gaging Stations." One set of photos, along the Virgin River at Littlefield, dramatically shows the effects of the tamarisk invasion. This first photo was taken in 1942:


The second photo was taken in 2000 at exactly the same location:


It is interesting to watch so-called western movies, many times the scenery and plant life in the movies will be anachronistic with the time period depicted, merely because of the presence of foreign plant invaders.

Watching baby ducks on the canal

Twice a week we walk about three miles, mostly along the canal bank. One of the benefits of walking the canals is watching the ducks that live on the canals all year around. Since this is Spring, the mother ducks are herding their little flocks of baby ducks. One mother duck had eight babies a week or so ago. This morning she only had five. I thought about whether or not the mother ducks grieve over the loss of their babies.

We assume that the babies are lost to either cats or dogs that run loose along the canals. There is no brush or cover along a Salt River Valley Canal, the canal companies keep the banks of the canals entirely free of any plant life at all. The banks are barren desert wastelands.

However, there are several places along the canals where the adjacent land owners have neglected their property and allowed the weeds and brush to grow in abundance. This is likely where the ducks can go to raise their families of baby birds.

One thing that is pretty strange about the Mesa canals is that the banks are covered with bleached out shells. There are species of small bivalve mollusks that live in the canals and when the canals are dredged, the shells pile up on the banks. Walking along the canal bank is a study in contrasts, with the barren canal bank, the irrigated yards and the silent canal.

A common fixture of the canals are abandoned shopping carts. It is amazing how may shopping carts find their way into the canals. Every year the canal companies dry up the canals for maintenance and in some spots there will be dozens of mud covered shopping carts rusting in the empty canal bottom.

There are only bridges across the canals where the major roads cross. Otherwise, the canals act as boundary lines between neighborhoods and divide up the city into sections. We get so used to driving around the canals we hardly notice the breaks in the roads. One morning, on our walk, we noticed a large number of police and emergency vehicles at one of the bridges near our home. One of the locals had driven his or her car into the canal. This happens regularly in the Valley and sometimes ends in tragedy for the person in the car.

When I was younger, the time the canals dried up was a golden opportunity to ride my bike along the canals and look for neat stuff that showed up when the water disappeared. In this age of videos and TV, I suppose the young people of today don't even notice the canals at all.

A bird encounter

Driving south along the western edge of the Chiricahua Mountains, we were headed towards Bisbee. Looking towards the sky we saw a huge "V" of birds and then another, and yet another. We stopped the car and could hear the exotic sound of these huge birds flying low over the desert, towards the south. We followed one flock for about half an hour, stopping along the road to watch them move steadily through the air like something out a prehistoric past. We were witnesses to a small part of the annual Sandhill Crane migration to the Willcox dry playa.

It takes a readjustment in perception to realize that Arizona is a premier area for birding and all sorts of birding activities. Every year Willcox, Arizona has a huge birding festival called Wings over Willcox. You may wish to check out the Willcox Playa Wildlife Area Website. You may also want to view the Audubon Arizona Website.

We live a few minutes from a spectacular birding site, the Gilbert Riparian Institute. The Riparian Preserve at Water Ranch, located in Gilbert, Arizona has an extensive bird list with 219 species. We can see a lot of those birds in the trees and along the canals near our house. Arizona is truly a spectacular place for birds.

Birding in Arizona

Picture from Wikipedia.

Arizona's sky islands and the high mountain country along the Mogollon Rim and into the White Mountains, enable an extremely diverse community of birds. The Arizona Bird Committee has listed hundreds of species of birds. While riding bikes around the city in the early morning we see dozens of bird species. This morning we saw a large, chicken-sized bird that looked like a huge fat quail. After combing the bird lists and looking at pictures, we decided that it was a chukar or Alectoris Chukar or possibly a rock partridge Alectoris graeca.

The chukar is a bird from Central Asia that was imported into the U.S. as a potential game bird. It is supposed to be known in Arizona only in isolated populations in the northern part of the state, but there are reports of sitings in the Phoenix area. It is certainly not a quail.

This is just one of the very unusual birds we frequently encounter in the Mesa, Arizona area.

It is not unusual for us to see peacocks roaming wild in both Phoenix and Mesa. When I was younger, peacocks used to fly into our yard and wake me up in the morning with their very loud cries. We commonly see cardinals, humming birds and a wide variety of other bird species in our backyard or along the canals.

Mesa is also home to a sizable duck and goose population. They live in canals and can visit home swimming pools on occasion. From time to time I plan to write about our interactions with Arizona's bird population.

Over 100 degrees in April?

When I was growing up, I remember that we could always count on temperatures over 90 degrees by Easter. This year was no exception, but the temperature has been going up and down and just over a week ago we were out when it was 45 degrees. However, as the statistics and experience show, cool temperatures won't last long in the desert. Today is the day the temperature goes over 100 degrees. As I drove to work I saw the temperature rise 3 degrees in the ten minutes it takes me to get to my office.

Having the day come this early, makes us think that 110 degree temperatures can't be that far off. I don't want to make it seem that I am fixated on the weather, mostly, because of central air conditioning and car air conditioners, we ignore the outside totally, but some places have groundhogs, we have thermometers.

There isn't really a lot of difference in the livability outside when the temperature is below 110 degrees. I can tell, every time, when the temperature goes above 110, because the air feels hot. If you are driving around and roll down the window, 110 degrees actually heats up your arm and feels hot. Below 11o, the air feels cooler when it is blowing by. You can also tell the hot temperature by looking around the streets. They are empty. No one is outside. No children playing, no dogs running around, no people walking down the street. Except for the cars (and there are a lot of cars) it looks like a old time Apocalypse movie.

Quite a few things happen when the temperature goes over 110, the asphalt melts, the sidewalks literally become hot enough to cook and egg, the air turns into a semi-translucent haze of dust and heat waves and the Malls fill up with people.

The weather forecasters are really funny, they keep predicting that the temperature will go down. They also issue heat advisories to tell us that it is hot and the polution is high also. Duh.
Everyone is driving in a car that is why the heat and the polution go together. So here we go again, trying to survive another summer in the Valley of the Sun.

Bushnell Tanks -- traditional Phoenix camp spot

Bushnell Tanks is the name used for an area along Sycamore Creek, near Sunflower, Arizona. Access to the area has been from dirt roads off off of Highway 87, commonly known as the Beeline Highway. I have camped in this area off and on since I was a 12 year old Boy Scout. The area just off the road has been extremely impacted by off road vehicles and despite the heroic efforts of the Tonto National Forest, the area is usually fairly trashed. A few years ago, the Beeline was improved from a twisty two to four lane highway into a four lane divided freeway-like highway along its entire length to Payson, Arizona, as a result, access to the area became somewhat limited and the whole area has been closed by the Forest Service for some time. The last time I drove by, (just this week) the gate was still closed.

Bushnell is roughly a half hour or so from the edge of Mesa. At the point where the Sycamore Creek crosses the highway, there is a sizable grove of old growth sycamore trees. The creek runs during the Spring and into the Summer, but there are springs in the area and during the late summer it is still possible to find some water. The attraction of accessibility, shade and water make the area irresistible. It is not unusual to have hundreds of people camped over a weekend.

Like all intermittent streams in Arizona, if there is enough rain Sycamore Creek can become a deadly raging torrent. Some years ago a group of Boy Scouts camped at Bushnell stalled in a car in the middle of the creek during a flash flood and some of the Scouts were killed. The surrounding hills have also been the site of several brush fires in the last few years, almost completely changing the aspect of the area from when I was very young. Statements made by the Forest Service personnel seem to indicate that the fire damage is the cause of the closure.

The area is especially attractive in early Fall when the leaves turn and the colors are gorgeous. With the closure of Bushnell, there are hardly any areas left, near the Salt River Valley, where there is access to water and where a group can camp.

Saguaro -- an engineering marvel

This is a cross section (sort of dried out) of a saguaro cactus (Carnegiea gigantea). The cut off pieces in a ring around the center of the plant stem are actually long very strong poles that run all the way up through the cactus stem called saguaro ribs. Here is a photo of a mature saguaro:


This particular plant has an abnormal arm growth called fasciation or cresting, which may be caused by a bacterial infection, or mite or insect attack on the plant tissue.

The saguaro blossom is the state flower of Arizona. The flowers provide food for a variety of flying animals and insects, including bats and the Whitewing Dove. The construction of the stem with pleats, allows for expansion and contraction depending on the water supply. The roots system spreads out from the plant in a circle, extending out approximately to the height of the plant. During periods of increased rainfall, the plant will adsorb as much water as possible, enabling it to survive long periods of drought. Adult saguaros may weigh as much as 12,000 pounds.

The ripe fruit is edible and tastes quite good. The plant's ribs and fruit have been used for centuries by the native Americans of the Southwest. Although it is the tallest cactus native to the U.S., there are cactus in Mexico, the Cardon (Pachycereus pringlei ), which grow much taller.

Since I grew up in the Phoenix area, I always remember seeing saguaro cactus. I used to amuse me to see tourists stop their cars and stand next to a saguaro to get their pictures taken. I have grown a saguaro from a small seedling only about three inches high for many years. The plant is now about four feet high and will take another fifty years to grow arms. I do not plan on outliving the saguaro.

As cactus go, they are extremely visible but not very dangerous. The spines are really tough and could conceivably make quite a hole in your skin, but you would have to be sleep walking to run into one. I do not recall ever hearing about anyone who got stuck with a saguaro spine.