Mike in the Wild

Almost four years to the exact date I lasted visited the gardens, I returned to Boyce Thompson Arboretum near Superior.  Pulling into the parking lot, I was immediately surprised by one big change: the name.  And later in the morning, I'd be even more surprised by several new bird discoveries.   The property is no longer a state park, having recently separated from a tripartite agreement with Arizona State Parks and the University of Arizona.  In addition, the garden has significantly expanded after absorbing the Wallace Desert Garden's entire collection of plants and trees.   In a Herculean effort spanning six years, thousands of specimens were successfully relocated from their North Scottsdale home to thirteen presumably undeveloped acres at the southern end of Boyce Thompson.  In addition, one-and-a-half miles of trails were added to the park's already extensive network of paths.  As a result there is an endless list of reasons a...

I write a lot about the sounds I hear in the wild: the hoot of an owl, the melody of a mockingbird and the squawk of a woodpecker, to name just a few.  But the song of a canyon wren might be one of the most beautiful in the bird world as it beckons the hiker and birdwatcher like a Siren calling Odysseus.  And there's a double reward because spotting this tiny bird is also a singular visual delight, well worth the effort and patience it might take. Fitting for such a special bird, each memory of my three life-time encounters with the canyon wren is indelibly etched in my brain.  The first time I saw one was at Boyce Thompson Arboretum, Arizona's oldest and largest botanical garden, located an hour east of Phoenix in Tonto National Forest.   The individual of this wide-ranging bird species was perched on a boulder in the Sonoran Desert Exhibit and initially seemed more curious about me than I was of him; I was new to birding and didn't quite know the differenc...