~The Natural State~.....ARIZONA

[olena]

State Amphibian

Arizona Tree Frog

The Arizona or mountain tree frog is one of two species of tree frog found in Arizona. Tree frogs are well known for their climbing abilities and are aided in these endeavors by disk-like pads at the tips of their toes. This small frog (3/4 to 2 inches long) is most commonly green but can be gold to bronze colored and sports a dark stripe that starts at its snout and runs through the eye, extends along its body and ends just before its rear legs. Occasionally its back may be spotted or barred. Both sexes are whitish underneath, but males have a tan or greenish throat. The scientific name, Hyla eximia, comes from Hylas, a figure in Greek mythology, and eximia, Latin for uncommon.
The Arizona tree frog is found in the mountains of central Arizona and western New Mexico along the Mogollon Rim. An isolated population can be found in the Huachuca Mountains in Cochise County. This may be a northern extension of the tree frogs range in Mexico. The Arizona frog is an inhabitant of oak, pine and fir forests above 5,000 feet elevations.
Like many of our amphibians, Arizona tree frogs spend most of the year inactive. It is unknown where these frogs spend their dormant periods but in the early portion of the rainy season they may be heard calling sporadically from tree tops. Breeding takes place in June to August, triggered by the summer rains. At this time the frogs gather at shallow grassy pools, typically in meadows, to mate. Only the male vocalizes and the breeding call is a nasal clacking sound with one to fifteen or more notes often given in succession. Like all of the frogs and toads in Arizona, these tree frogs are primarily nocturnal although males may call during cloudy, rainy days. Their diet consists entirely of insects, shrubs, or dense grass around water where their camouflage colors aid them in hiding from predators such as garter snakes or birds.
The Arizona tree frog may be possessed live or taken by legal means by the holder of a valid Arizona hunting license or special permit.
Photo and information provided by the Arizona Game and Fish Department, Education Branch

 

[olena]

State Bird

Cactus Wren

The cactus wren was chosen as Arizona's state bird by the Arizona Legislature in 1931. It remained Arizona's only official wildlife representative until 1985. During March of 1985 (Wildlife Month), school children around the state cast over 120,000 votes to elect other Arizona official wildlife representatives in an Arizona Game and Fish Department sponsored election. As part of its 1986 legislative package, the Department submitted the four winning species to the Arizona State Legislature for formal adoption. Today the cactus wren is joined by the ringtail, Arizona trout, ridgenose rattlesnake, and Arizona tree frog to represent Arizona as our official state wildlife.
The cactus wren is the largest wren in Arizona (and the United States). It is about the size of a starling and may be identified by its song, a repeated chug-chug-chug, much like the sound of a car engine trying to turn over. Cactus wrens are light brown in color, with a paler breast spotted with dark brown, and a distinctive white eye stripe.
The range of the cactus wren includes central and southern Arizona, southern New Mexico and west Texas. Cactus wrens are year long Arizona residents, found in much of the Sonoran desert habitat type. The nest of a cactus wren is large and football shaped. It is usually made of vegetation and is often found in cholla or other cactus plants. The cactus wren uses its nest to raise young and as a year-round residence. Cactus wrens are insect eaters and usually lay 4-5 spotted eggs early in the spring of the year.
Law protects all songbirds' in Arizona including the cactus wren, and it is illegal to kill them or possess live specimens. The cactus wren is a very common desert resident and it often found in urban desert areas. Because of its adaptable behavior, the future looks good for this species.
Photo and information provided by the Arizona Game and Fish Department, Education Branch

 

[olena]

State Reptile

Arizona Ridge-Nosed Rattlesnake

Eleven different species of rattlesnake occurs within the geographical boundaries of Arizona. That's one third of all known species of rattlesnake; more than any other state in the United States. Rattlesnakes are divided into two genera: Crotalus and Sistrurus. Arguably, among Arizona's crotalid rattlesnakes the ridgenose is one of the most unique. Its scientific name, Crotalus willardi, comes from crotalum, the Greek word for rattle, and willardi, for Frank C. Willard, the Tombstone man who first found a specimen in the wild. This was the last rattlesnake to be named by herpetologists in the United States.
The Arizona ridgenose rattlesnake is a small snake. Rarely does an adult ridgenose weigh more than 3 or 4 ounces or exceed a length of 24 inches. Newborn ridgenose are usually 6-8" long and may weigh as little as one-fourth of an once (about as much as a quarter). Its upturned nose scales gives this species its common name. Its most characteristic markings are bold, white stripes on its brown face. It has often been speculated that the Chiricahua Apaches modeled their war paint after this snake's facial markings.
In Arizona the ridgenose rattlesnake inhabits only a few mountain ranges in the south central part of the State. Throughout its range, the ridgenose generally occurs at elevations of 5,000 to 8,000 feet in cool canyons with oaks and pines. Ridgenose rattlesnakes are quite secretive, being active mainly in early morning or late afternoon. On a very humid afternoon, they can sometimes be found quietly seeking the lizards, centipedes, small snakes or small mice that are their main food.
The Arizona ridgenose rattlesnake is perhaps the most beautiful of all the state's rattlesnake species and is listed with "Threatened Native Wildlife in Arizona". It is illegal to kill or possess the Arizona ridgenose rattlesnake without receiving special permits from the Arizona Game and Fish Department. Since this is a relatively rare snake in the United States, an illegal trade has developed for collectors that may further threaten the Arizona population.
Photo and information provided by the Arizona Game and Fish Department, Education Branch

 

[olena]

State Reptile

Arizona Ridge-Nosed Rattlesnake

Eleven different species of rattlesnake occurs within the geographical boundaries of Arizona. That's one third of all known species of rattlesnake; more than any other state in the United States. Rattlesnakes are divided into two genera: Crotalus and Sistrurus. Arguably, among Arizona's crotalid rattlesnakes the ridgenose is one of the most unique. Its scientific name, Crotalus willardi, comes from crotalum, the Greek word for rattle, and willardi, for Frank C. Willard, the Tombstone man who first found a specimen in the wild. This was the last rattlesnake to be named by herpetologists in the United States.
The Arizona ridgenose rattlesnake is a small snake. Rarely does an adult ridgenose weigh more than 3 or 4 ounces or exceed a length of 24 inches. Newborn ridgenose are usually 6-8" long and may weigh as little as one-fourth of an once (about as much as a quarter). Its upturned nose scales gives this species its common name. Its most characteristic markings are bold, white stripes on its brown face. It has often been speculated that the Chiricahua Apaches modeled their war paint after this snake's facial markings.
In Arizona the ridgenose rattlesnake inhabits only a few mountain ranges in the south central part of the State. Throughout its range, the ridgenose generally occurs at elevations of 5,000 to 8,000 feet in cool canyons with oaks and pines. Ridgenose rattlesnakes are quite secretive, being active mainly in early morning or late afternoon. On a very humid afternoon, they can sometimes be found quietly seeking the lizards, centipedes, small snakes or small mice that are their main food.
The Arizona ridgenose rattlesnake is perhaps the most beautiful of all the state's rattlesnake species and is listed with "Threatened Native Wildlife in Arizona". It is illegal to kill or possess the Arizona ridgenose rattlesnake without receiving special permits from the Arizona Game and Fish Department. Since this is a relatively rare snake in the United States, an illegal trade has developed for collectors that may further threaten the Arizona population.
Photo and information provided by the Arizona Game and Fish Department, Education Branch

 

[olena]

State Flower

Saguaro Cactus

The saguaro is the largest cactus in the USA, commonly reaching a height of 12 metres and an age of up to 200 years. It is one of the most characteristic plants of the Sonoran Desert, but actually has a quite limited geographical range, centred on southern Arizona and extending into western Sonora (Mexico). Within its range it can be extremely abundant, forming thick forests among desert trees and shrubs. It is particularly common in the Arizona Upland subdivision of the Sonoran Desert, around Tucson and Phoenix. One of the principal reasons for this is that the saguaro requires a reasonable amount of water - the annual precipitation averages -- cm in this region - and is fairly tolerant of frosts. Further south it is replaced by other large columnar cacti, such as the cardon, which are intolerant of frost. Further north it is limited by severe frosts. And in the regions of lower elevation to the west it is limited by drought.
The images above show that the saguaro can be a dominant feature of the landscape. But it almost always is accompanied by a high concentration of desert trees and subtrees, all of these being supported by the relatively high rainfall which occurs twice each year - in spring and in autumn. These trees act as "nurse plants" to the developing seedlings, which grow extremely slowly in their early years. The protection of a nurse plant helps to prevent the seedlings from being eaten by animals, and also provides shade and a more humus-rich, moisture-retentive soil in which the seedlings can develop.
Saguaros remain vulnerable to environmental damage throughout their lives. In particular, they can be blown down or broken by storm-force gusts of wind. They also can be damaged by lightning and by frosts in exceptionally cold years. Frost damage is probably responsible for the "sagging" and tapering of major branches, often seen near the edges of the saguaro's natural range.
The main stems of saguaros are supported by woody ribs, on the outside of which is a thick cortex of succulent, water-holding tissue and a thick epidermis to prevent water loss. The ribs of the stem are heavily spined, with a characteristic pattern of spines arising from each areole.
Saguaros flower in spring, producing many buds near the tops of the stem and main branches. The bell-shaped flowers are about 8-10 cm wide, and are visited by bats, bees and doves. When pollinated, they give rise to succulent fruits, each about 8 cm long, which split open to reveal a red, juicy pulp containing up to 2000 small, black seeds. These fruits and seeds are eaten readily by many birds, mammals and insects. Seed dispersal is achieved mainly by birds (Gila woodpecker, white-winged doves, house finches), which eat the pulp and deposit the seeds in their faeces. The tendency of these birds to perch (and defaecate) on the branches of trees helps to ensure that the seeds are deposited at the base of nurse plants. The seeds germinate rapidly (about 5 days) in response to late-summer rains, but only a very small fraction ever give rise to seedlings that survive the early years. Long-nosed bats also feed on the fruits, but they defaecate while flying or in their roosts, so they are thought to be of little significance in regenerating seedlings
For many years it has been assumed that bats are the major pollinators of saguaros, because the flowers have all the features characteristic of bat pollination - nocturnal opening of the buds (although they remain open through to midday), heavy scent, copious nectar, etc. However, studies in which individual flowers were caged to exclude different types of pollinators in either night or daytime suggest that bees may be the more important pollinators - at least in some study sites. Even so, two species of bat that migrate annually from Mexico into Arizona (the lesser long-nosed bat and Mexican long-tongued bat) depend heavily on the flowers of saguaros, cardons and organpipe cactus to supply the protein (from pollen) and sugars (from nectar) that they require during their northwards migration.
Saguaros provide habitat for several animals. The most conspicuous of these is the Gila woodpecker, which creates many of the nest holes seen in mature saguaro stems. Each year the woodpecker creates a new nest hole, and the previous one is then occupied by insects, lizards or occasionally by the ferruginous pygmy owl. The gilded flicker also produces nest holes in saguaros. Occasionally, the major branches of saguaros can have large twig-nests of hawks such as the red-tailed hawk or the Harris hawk.
"Monstrose" growth
Saguaros can occasionally develop in a grossly distorted way, termed mostrose growth. This form of growth is familiar to many people who collect cacti, because commercial nurseries purposefully create this growth pattern for decorative effect, by damaging the apical mersitem of the plants. One spectacular natural example is shown in the image below. In this case the damage might have been caused by frost but seems more likely to have been caused by an insect or other factor that disrupted the meristem, because the nearby plant is of similar age and has not been damaged. For whatever reason, the interesting point is that the disruption is permanent and has been perpetuated in all the subsequent growth. Another example of this monstrose growth can be seen in cardon.

 

[olena]

Two-tailed Swallowtail
Papilio multicaudata

Description 3 3/8-5 1/8" (86-130 mm). Large; 2 tails on each wing. Yellow with narrow black stripes. HW edge above and below lined with bright blue patches; black border spotted with yellow and orange; between border-spots each wing points outward in a series of partial tails, and 1 long and 1 medium tail. Female has broader stripes, more blue on HW, and orange cast.
Similar Species Western Tiger and Pale Tiger swallowtails have only 1 tail and broader stripes; Pale Tiger creamier overall.
Life Cycle Yellow-green egg. Apple-green caterpillar has yellow, black-rimmed eyespots on black-banded hump; becomes reddish before pupating. Feeds on various cherries (Prunus) and ashes (Fraxinus) and on common hoptree (Ptelea trifoliata) in Texas; folds leaves into protective tent while feeding.
Flight February-November in Texas; spring and fall broods in California; single June-July brood in Rockies and Cascades.
Habitat Semiarid canyonland, mid-level mountains, and gardens; also moister parts of dry areas, especially canyon bottoms.
Range E. British Columbia and e. Washington along Canadian borders to Dakotas, south to Oklahoma, Texas and through California to Baja; also Mexico and Guatemala.
Discussion The largest western tiger, this species is equally at home in the wild canyons of the Colorado Desert or in a Denver suburban garden. The smaller Three-tailed Tiger Swallowtail (P. pilumnis), a Mexican species, appears rarely in the lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas and in southern Arizona. It is yellow with broad black stripes; the corner projection of the hing wing is developed into a third tail. Its caterpillars feed on laurels (Lauraceae).

Previous Natural States
Alabama
Alaska
Utah
West Virginia

 

[Snowwark]

"Like many of our amphibians, Arizona tree frogs spend most of the year inactive."

LOL....I'm thinking I might be related to these guys...

Olena, is the Arizona Ridge-Nosed Rattlesnake poisonous? Although they say it's only 24" long, that's still too much snake in my books!!

I'm going to have to check this again, I can't see the pictures!

Thank you very much, Heather!

 

[olena]

Can you see them now?

 

[olena]

And yes....they are venomous.

Warning Rattlesnakes, Copperheads, and Cottonmouths belong to a group of snakes known as pit vipers. These dangerous snakes have a heat-sensitive sensory organ on each side of the head that enables them to locate warm-blooded prey and strike accurately, even in the dark. The curved, hollow fangs are normally folded back along the jaw. When a pit viper strikes, the fangs rapidly swing forward and fill with venom as the mouth opens. The venom is a complex mixture of proteins that acts primarily on a victim's blood tissue. If you hear a rattlesnake shaking its rattle, back away. The snake is issuing a warning, and if the warning is ignored it may bite. There are many factors (temperature being the most important) that determine how a snake will react when confronted by a human. Venomous snakes should always be observed from a safe distance. Pit vipers are never safe to handle. Even dead ones can retain some neurological reflexes, and "road kills" have been known to bite.

 

[Snowwark]

Yes, I can see them now Heather!!

Wow, that is one giant cactus!!!

Thank you!

 

[mickeyfan1]

Goodness me, here I am cruising the boards, and what do I see? My home state!!! It's always nice to see the info, everyone should come and visit. Anytime from now till next June, the weather is wonderful. When the air temp is 90, it feels like 75, that is the "dry heat" factor. I don't have a lot of plants due to the fact that we don't irrigate out yard, but the palm trees don't mind. If anyone would like, I can post some pictures of what my front yard looks like, it is very typical desert landscaping.

 

[olena]

I've been to AZ many times. I love the landscaping there. Everyone seemed to have rocks for grass and a pool in the back.

Please post some pics...

 

[amid chaos]

Olena...a very nice post...quite informative!!! Thank you.

I love that cactus!

 

[nativetxn]

I'm proud to be a native Texan but if I could live anywhere in the world it would be Arizona. I just love the desert and the mountains and the high country and the cactus....I could live without the reptiles, though

 

[olena]

Not to mention the tarantulas and scorpions!

 

[mickeyfan1]

Originally posted by olena
I've been to AZ many times. I love the landscaping there. Everyone seemed to have rocks for grass and a pool in the back.

Please post some pics...

My front yard with gravel:

Part of my back yard with pool:

But on either side of my house, one neighbor has fake grass in front and dirt in back, and the other has real grass front and back. Neither has a pool or spa, 8 houses on the cul-de-sac, and they are the only "dry" homes.

 

[olena]

LOL! I was right on then...

Great yard! Thanks for the pics. Do you grow any flowers there?

 

[olena]

Also, please tell us about the trees.

If you don't know much, post what type they are and I'll see what I can dig up....

 

[Snowwark]

Your neighbour has fake grass and dirt? Is the grass like astro-turf?

Great pics Mickeyfan1, thank you!!

....sigh....I wish I had a pool...

 

[mickeyfan1]

Trees in the front are - The large one is a Texas Mulberry, it has fuzzy yellow flowers in spring and fall, and then grows seed pods. The pods dry, open and have little red berries inside which fall out and no one eats. Then the pods dry out even more and fall off the tree. And make a mess! The tree on left in the front is an oleander, pruned into the tree shape. It has peach coloured trumpet shaped flowers almost all year round, they open up and fall off the next day. And make a mess! The tree behind it is unknown name, we call it the purple flower tree, it gets a shoot of purple flowers (like a glad, but smaller and more dense) in the early spring, they stay about a month and when that is done, it make very large (1-2 inches) ovaly seed pods. The bushes across the front are cape honeysuckle, the get orange honeysuckle flowers with no scent. To the right the bushes are some type of grass which have dark red wheat looking stalks and the other bush gets yellow flowers all over and then so many seed pods that they get weighted down. And along the property line are standard oleanders. That side is the neighbor with the fake grass. It is a lot like astroturf, but longer, just like grass. It cost the previous owner 3600 dollars (USD) to install. But that was good, because they only had dirt since 1987, very dusty!

In the back by the pool - actually that is an older picture, and the large tree on the right and the tree behind the gazebo are now gone. The right tree was also a Texas Mulberry and it was a disaster at the pool due to the dropping of flowers, berries and pods. The pods never get soft, so they would fall into the pool, sink, and then totally clog the vacum pipe. The flowers on the other hand would not sink and after a strong wind, the whole pool would be yellow! The tree behind the gazebo was a chilean mesquite. They don't get too tall, but they get very wide. It was always growing over the fence wall into the other neighbors yard space, and with the new gazebo, it was too big. The sticks to the left of the gazebo is a Desert Willow. It is green up till about December when it gets cold enough to drop all its leaves. Otherwise it is very green starting in March and has beautiful purple flowers all the time which attract hummingbirds and bees.

That's my story. I don't grow flowers because I get the full sun all day in the back, and almost all day in the front from late spring to late fall, but people do grow roses here, they arte getting ready to bloom, usually in October. I also have 2 small fan palms and one large "pineapple" palm ((named for the way the trunk looks when it gets about 5 feet tall, which mine had only about a one foot tall trunk, but the fronds are over the roof line)) and one Navel Orange tree, which had 4 oranges this year for the first time.

We have a large citrus orchard right behind our house, and in February, the blossoms smell like heaven. When we moved here, I was used to the standard flower in the spring, fruit in the fall trees, but citrud have flowers in Februarym, mature fruit at the same time, when the flowers are done, the trees get picked, and then they will get picked again in Novemeber and December. My oranges are still very green, because ny tree is only about 5 years old. I am hoping for more next year.

And the pool is open from May till October, depending on the water temp. It stays about 92 from June till August sometimes going to 94 or 96, but now is about 90. SO I am still enjoying it almost every day.

OK, back to the normal flower and garden board!