Day 11 -- The Sonoran Desert covers only a very small portion of the world: Southern Arizona and California and North-Western Mexico.
The Giant Saguaro (Sa-WAH-row) Cacti is only found within this Desert and is a protected plant species. Many of the Cacti we saw in the Saguaro National Park are very old. (It takes 100 years of growth before the cactus will even begin to sprout an arm.)
The Gila Woodpecker makes its home in the Saguaro and we were lucky enough to see a few of them carving out their living space. If you enlarge the 5th picture you will notice one of the woodpeckers we saw that day. The woodpecker abandones its home each year leaving an empty space for the tiny Pygmy Owl to take up residence. We did see one of the owls in the zoo part of the exhibit, but didn't notice any in nature.
In the first picture, you can see a Saguaro "skeleton". These woody "ribs" support the cacti.
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