the saguaro cactus

This is a fine example of a saguaro.

pronounced: sa whar oh

We have taken a lot of photos of these giants since living here. I'm taking you on an educational saguaro photo tour. Enjoy.

This is a close up of a big cluster of short chubby arms. I thought I remembered reading that they do not get their first arm until they are 40 years old, but after looking it up on Wikipedia, it is actually 75 years old. So, imagine how old these are!

 And this is one with its blooms in the spring. Look closely and you will see a nest in the crook of one of its arms.

Here are the the blossoms at the end of the bloom. Once the blossoms fade the fruit matures into a very pretty red color. The birds love to snack on the fruit and then guess what? Colorful bird droppings! 

You're welcome.

 Here you can see the wear and tear and old age on this poor guy. If they get a crack or some damage to them they form sort of a scar.

 Here is that same one through kaleidoscope eyes. Remember those Thursday posts? I need to bring that back again... I think.

We have had a couple of those rare snow falls here in the desert. A snow capped saguaro looks pretty crazy. Notice the holes in this one? The birds make nests in them.

Here is a line of them on the horizon at sunset. I expect to see the cowboys on horses ride up any minute. Oh ya, we were the ones on horseback that evening. Our sunset ride ya'll!

This is probably our favorite way to capture a picture of these oddly amazing giants. 

  And here is one by the light of the moon.

 This is another favorite...with the crack of lightening behind it. Great photo props to Rachel!

The spines are razor sharp which really makes me wonder how the birds can land on these at all. And...there have been occasional sightings of bobcats and mountain lions climbing up and sitting on top of them. That baffles me completely.

 Each one is different. Some have one or two long arms that stretch straight up. Some have clusters of short stubby arms like the one at the beginning of the post. Some, like this one, have short stubby buds at the top of long stretchy arms.

Sometimes they lose an arm or fall over and eventually they will rot away and just the "skeleton" is left. It looks  and feels like petrified wood or a bit like large chunks of dried coral.

A hawk found a resting spot on top of this one.

One of our crazy stormy monsoon skies glowing in the background.

We see this one on one of our favorite hiking areas. It has a bundle of arms that look like they are all hugging each other.

I managed to catch this dove while it was looking for a juicy piece of fruit.

So here is the reason for this saguaro photo tour. While at the Botanical Gardens last week, we came across this docent that was setting up her display of bird nests of local birds. She showed us a range of tiny hummingbird nests to this big giant nest. I was fascinated to learn that it is the nest/home that is inside the saguaro. The cactus wren will peck its way through the cactus, making the hole that I pointed out earlier. As they hollow out some of the flesh from the inside, the cactus will form a scar to heal itself. The scar is that big football shaped looking thing she is holding. It felt like a gourd and was as hard as a rock. She said the wren just inhabits this as is. They don't put any leaves or twigs inside at all. They just plop the eggs out in the bottom and wait for them to hatch. After the wren abandons the nest, other birds will become squatters, so to speak, and take over this spot. It was pretty interesting to me to see that this is what is inside all of those holes on the side of the cactus. Thanks Miss Docent for the info.

Ok...you may have seen this cactus before, but hey...it's worth a second showing.

Can I get a thumbs up for learning a little something new about a saguaro cactus?