Tucson - World Wildlife Museum

Some faovorites from the World Wildlife Museum (also free with a Science Center membership - those memberships are paying off!).

Karen's favorite: anything with both the boys in it.

Jake's favorite (he took the picture)

Erik's favorite: A rather unusual half male-half female butterfly
My favorite: anything with cats in it. It was a toss up between these, the tiger and the snow leopard.

Tucson - Reid Park Zoo

Our Phoenix Zoo membership allows us entry to other zoos and Tucson's Reid Park is one of them. Turns out we could saved a bundle when in Omaha a couple years back if we had been members then! Reid is quite small, yet it is put together very nicely.

Flamingos


Playful otters.

It doesn't have a huge variety of animals and the enclosures are on the small side, but that means the animals are closer for viewing!

Being warm to hot through much of the year, there is always the need to cool off. Jake loved the 'spitting mask' in "Kenya Get Wet."

They had an aviary here, too. Erik had to find each bird listed before we could leave there. Peacocks have free-roam at the zoo and this albino was quite willing to show off a little.

Tucson - Sonoran Desert Museum

This guy was sitting on the rock almost as if he were saying, 'Step right up! This way to see the amazing reptiles.'
And of course, snakes top the billing in the great reptile show.

black rattlesnake speckled rattlesnake

The aviary was really nice. Many birds seemed almost at home in the large enclosure. Perhaps too many doves, but the kids didn't mind that at all.

Pyrrhuloxia or 'grey cardinal' were all over the place. I saw a cardinal in there also, but it was deep in a bush and I couldn't get a shot of it.

Down in the 'cave' they had lots of minerals. In rich ore it only takes about 18 pounds of rock to extract enough copper to make a penny. In poor ore it is more like one or two tons! Here's Erik by a copper cube.
We didn't realize this place opened at 7:30 a.m. or we would have been there about that early. Jake is our early riser and by the time we got there at around 10 a.m. it was already getting warm. Even so, we managed almost 3 hours and didn't get to see nearly everything.

A Touch o' Green

We just got back from Tucson for a quick get-away while the kids are on Spring Break. Thought it appropriate to start the shots with this touch o' green.

On the Wing

You should be able to click on these pictures for a larger view.

Catching a bee in flight isn't so difficult. I just thought there was an interesting look to the reflections on the left wing. Almost as though the wing was spinning to some degree.

The hummer wings do spin to some degree. I understand they rotate the wing plane so they get lift from both the forward and backward stroke, and that is how they can hover. I would guess the same must be true for the bee.

Turtle Time! Hurry, Hurry, Hurry!!

OK, We finally got our forms for the big Turtle Race. You may sponsor a turtle for $10, a 'nest' of turtles (5) for $50 or a 'bale' of turtles (10) for $100. Checks made out to Bethany Christian School or, the easier option, click on the underlined link and submit electronically (don't forget to include Erik under student name). This is for the big race with all the small turtles competing in one big lazy river.

Corporate or business sponsors have their own race with big turtles. As the turtles float by, they are announced for the crowd several times throughout the race and are listed in the program for the evening's festivities. These turtles are available for $100 each. And, as promised, those who sponsor the big turtles will also have their businesses mentioned and linked to if you wish right here on our WORLD-reknowned blog. That's a lot of free advertising!! We will need to know by mid-April, so get in on the action SOON!!

Obviously this is a fundraiser for the school. There are prizes to be won - $2000 travel voucher is the grand-prize!! For the other prizes you may need to visit to collect, or you could donate your prize(s) to a worthy family (hint, hint).

Brittlebush

Give them water and brittlebush can grow into a pretty large shrub, but normally it doesn't get much bigger than 3' x 3'. The flowers grow on long, thin stalks atop the plant. The flowers are some of the larger desert wildflowers and usually quite numerous on any given bush.

You can see how thin the stalks are here.

And a closer look:

Almost forgot to mention; the name 'brittlebush' is due to the brittle nature of the branches which snap off easily.