D is for Desert Museum

OK, so I've been to air museums, with lots of old planes. I've been to war museums, with artifacts from battles. And I've been to space museums. But a Desert museum??? Now that's a bit different!

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The Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum is located in the Tucson Mountain County Park just west of the city of Tucson, Arizona. We were delightfully surprised and this distinctly different type of museum, and highly recommend a visit if you happen to be in this part of Arizona.

The Desert museum is a blend of zoo and botanic garden. There are beautiful trails that wind through the museum taking you through different types of desert zones showcasing the huge variety of plant life that may be overlooked as you drive through desert areas.

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As you wander on the paths you will also see animals that are indigenous to the desert in their naturalized settings.

We enjoying watching the otter play in the water and the beaver gave us a grumpy look from his (her) lodge. But, what we enjoyed the most were the aviaries. One brought you close to desert birds and the other, dedicated totally to hummingbirds, gave visitors the opportunity to peer into nests to see the tiny eggs, and to see young hummers perched on the side of the nest, thinking about taking their first flight. 

Mama Hummingbird on the nest. 

The nest is not much more than 1 inch across.

Can you see the fuzzy baby?

It's a lousy picture but the best Mr. Dreamy could do.

I also understand that the museum has a phenomenal Raptor free flight show, but we arrived too late to see it. Darn!