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Madera Canyon
Madera Canyon is a canyon in the northwestern face of the Santa Rita Mountains, twenty-five miles southeast of Tucson, Arizona. As part of the Coronado National Forest, Madera Canyon has campsites, picnic areas, and miles of hiking trails. The canyon is also used as a resting place for migrating birds, and it is thus known as a premier birdwatching area. Madera Canyon was originally named White House Canyon, after a prominent white adobe house was built there in the late 19th century. The canyon was renamed sometime in the early 1900s, although some locals still use the original name. Flora and fauna Madera Canyon is located in the Santa Rita Mountains, which is one of the largest of the Madrean Sky Islands. The canyon and its immediate surroundings are therefore home to wide variety of flora and fauna, ranging from cactus covered desert in the lower reaches of the canyon to aspen and fir forest on Mount Wrightson. With fifteen species of hummingbird, elegant trogon, sulphur-b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Santa Rita Mountains
The Santa Rita Mountains ( O'odham: To:wa Kuswo Doʼag), located about southeast of Tucson, Arizona, extend from north to south, then trending southeast. They merge again southeastwards into the Patagonia Mountains, trending northwest by southeast. The highest point in the range, and the highest point in the Tucson area, is Mount Wrightson, with an elevation of , The range contains Madera Canyon, one of the world's premier birding areas. The Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums, Education center, education and Research institute, research centers, created by the Federal government of the United States, U.S. government "for the increase a ...'s Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory is located on Mount Hopkins. The range is one of the Madrean sky islands. The Santa Rita Mountains are mostly within the Coronado National Forest. Prior to 1908 they were the principal component of Santa Rita National Fore ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Elegant Trogon
The elegant trogon (''Trogon elegans''), previously known as the coppery-tailed trogon, is a near passerine bird in the trogon family native to Central America. The etymology of the word trogon comes from the Greek word ''trōgein,'' meaning "to gnaw", which describes how this species prepares its nests in trees. Taxonomy ''T. elegans'' has five recognized subspecies, including the nominate subspecies: *''T. e. elegans'' Gould, 1834 *''T. e. ambiguus'' Gould, 1835 *''T. e. canescens'' Van Rossem, 1934 *''T. e. goldmani'' Nelson, 1898 *''T. e. lubricus'' J. L. Peters, 1945 BirdLife International and Handbook of the Birds of the World consider ''T. e. ambiguus'' to be its own species, as ''Trogon ambiguus'', with ''Trogon elegans'' ''sensu stricto'' being the Central American population. The IUCN Red List follows this taxonomy, but Avibase and Clements do not. Phylogenetic research suggests a monophyly with '' T. rufus'', '' T. mexicanus, T. personatus'', '' T. aurantiiventris'', ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
USGS Map Of Santa Rita And Patagonia Mts 1910
The United States Geological Survey (USGS), founded as the Geological Survey, is an agency of the U.S. Department of the Interior whose work spans the disciplines of biology, geography, geology, and hydrology. The agency was founded on March 3, 1879, to study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, and the natural hazards that threaten it. The agency also makes maps of planets and moons, based on data from U.S. space probes. The sole scientific agency of the U.S. Department of the Interior, USGS is a fact-finding research organization with no regulatory responsibility. It is headquartered in Reston, Virginia, with major offices near Lakewood, Colorado; at the Denver Federal Center; and in NASA Research Park in California. In 2009, it employed about 8,670 people. The current motto of the USGS, in use since August 1997, is "science for a changing world". The agency's previous slogan, adopted on its hundredth anniversary, was "Earth Science in the Public Servi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rocky Mountains
The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in great-circle distance, straight-line distance from the northernmost part of Western Canada, to New Mexico in the Southwestern United States. Depending on differing definitions between Canada and the U.S., its northern terminus is located either in northern British Columbia's Terminal Range south of the Liard River and east of Rocky Mountain Trench, the Trench, or in the northeastern foothills of the Brooks Range/British Mountains that face the Beaufort Sea coasts between the Canning River (Alaska), Canning River and the Firth River across the Alaska-Yukon border. Its southernmost point is near the Albuquerque metropolitan area, Albuquerque area adjacent to the Rio Grande rift and north of the Sandia–Manzano Mountains, Sandia–Manzano Mountain Range. Being the easternmost portion of the North American Cordillera, the Rockie ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Orographic Lift
Orographic lift occurs when an air mass is forced from a low elevation to a higher elevation as it moves over rising terrain. As the air mass gains altitude it quickly cools down adiabatically, which can raise the relative humidity to 100% and create clouds and, under the right conditions, precipitation. Orographic lifting can have a number of effects, including precipitation, rain shadowing, leeward winds, and associated clouds. Precipitation Precipitation induced by orographic lift occurs in many places throughout the world. Examples include: * The Mogollon Rim in central Arizona * The western slope of the Sierra Nevada range in California. * The western slope of the Wasatch Range in Utah. Specifically the Little and Big Cottonwood Canyons. * The mountains near Baja California North – specifically La Bocana to Laguna Hanson. * The windward slopes of Khasi and Jayantia Hills (see Mawsynram) in the state of Meghalaya in India. * The Western Highlands of Yemen, which rece ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sonoran Desert
The Sonoran Desert () is a hot desert and ecoregion in North America that covers the northwestern Mexican states of Sonora, Baja California, and Baja California Sur, as well as part of the Southwestern United States (in Arizona and California). It is the hottest desert in Mexico. It has an area of . In phytogeography, the Sonoran Desert is within the Sonoran floristic province of the Madrean region of southwestern North America, part of the Holarctic realm of the northern Western Hemisphere. The desert contains a variety of unique endemic plants and animals, notably, the saguaro (''Carnegiea gigantea'') and organ pipe cactus (''Stenocereus thurberi''). The Sonoran Desert is clearly distinct from nearby deserts (e.g., the Great Basin, Mojave, and Chihuahuan deserts) because it provides subtropical warmth in winter and two seasons of rainfall (in contrast, for example, to the Mojave's dry summers and cold winters). This creates an extreme contrast between aridity and moistur ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Santa Cruz River (Arizona)
The Santa Cruz River ( "Christian cross, Holy Cross River") is a left tributary of the Gila River in Southern Arizona and northern Sonora, Mexico. It is approximately long. Course The Santa Cruz has its headwaters in the high intermontane grasslands of the San Rafael Valley to the southeast of Patagonia, Arizona, between the Canelo Hills to the east and the Patagonia Mountains to the west, just north of the international border. It flows southward into Mexico past Santa Cruz, Sonora and turns westward around the south end of the Sierra San Antonio near Miguel Hidalgo (San Lázaro), thence north-northwest to reenter the United States just to the east of Nogales, Arizona, Nogales and southwest of Kino Springs. It then continues northward from the international border past the Tumacacori National Historical Park, Tubac, Arizona, Tubac, Green Valley, Arizona, Green Valley, Sahuarita, San Xavier del Bac, Tucson, Marana, Arizona, Marana, and Picacho Peak State Park to the Santa Cruz ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Riparian Corridor
A riparian zone or riparian area is the interface between land and a river or stream. In some regions, the terms riparian woodland, riparian forest, riparian buffer zone, riparian corridor, and riparian strip are used to characterize a riparian zone. The word ''riparian'' is derived from Latin '' ripa'', meaning "river bank". Riparian is also the proper nomenclature for one of the terrestrial biomes of the Earth. Plant habitats and communities along the river margins and banks are called riparian vegetation, characterized by hydrophilic plants. Riparian zones are important in ecology, environmental resource management, and civil engineering because of their role in soil conservation, their habitat biodiversity, and the influence they have on terrestrial and semiaquatic fauna as well as aquatic ecosystems, including grasslands, woodlands, wetlands, and even non-vegetative areas. Riparian zones may be natural or engineered for soil stabilization or restoration. These zones ar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wild Turkeys
The wild turkey (''Meleagris gallopavo'') is an upland game bird native to North America, one of two extant species of turkey and the heaviest member of the order Galliformes. It is the ancestor to the domestic turkey (''M. g. domesticus''), which was originally derived from a southern Mexican subspecies of wild turkey (not the related ocellated turkey). Taxonomy The wild turkey was formally described in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the tenth edition of his ''Systema Naturae'' under its current binomial name ''Meleagris gallopavo''. The type locality is Mexico. The genus name ''Meleagris'' is from Ancient Greek μελεαγρις/''meleagris'' meaning "guineafowl". The specific epithet ''gallopavo'' is a late Medieval Latin word for a wild turkey: it combines Latin ''gallus'' meaning "fowl" and ''pavo'' meaning "peacock". The word was used in 1555 by the Swiss naturalist Conrad Gessner in his '' Historiae animalium''. Six subspecies are recognised: * ''M ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ring-tailed Cat
The ringtail (''Bassariscus astutus'') is a mammal of the raccoon family native to arid regions of North America. It is widely distributed and well-adapted to its distributed areas. It has been legally trapped for its fur. Globally, it is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List but is a Conservation Strategy Species in Oregon and Fully Protected in California The species is known by a variety of names, such as ring-tailed cat, miner's cat, civet cat, and cacomistle (or cacomixtle), though the last of these can refer to '' B. sumichrasti''. The ringtail is the state mammal of Arizona. Description The ringtail is black to dark brown in color with pale underparts. The animal has a pointed muzzle with long whiskers, similar to that of a fox (its Latin name means 'clever little fox') and its body resembles that of a cat. The ringtail's face resembles a mask as dark brown and black hair surround its eyes. These animals are characterized by a long black and white "ringed" ta ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Coati
Coatis (from Tupí), also known as coatimundis (), are members of the family Procyonidae in the genera '' Nasua'' and '' Nasuella'' (comprising the subtribe Nasuina). They are diurnal mammals native to South America, Central America, Mexico, and the Southwestern United States. The name "coatimundi" comes from the Tupian languages of Brazil, where it means "lone coati". Locally in Belize, the coati is known as "quash". Physical characteristics Adult coatis measure from head to the base of the tail, which can be as long as their bodies. Coatis are about tall at the shoulder and weigh between , about the size of a large house cat. Males can become almost twice as large as females and have large, sharp canine teeth. The measurements above relate to the white-nosed and South America coatis. The two species of mountain coati are smaller. All coatis share a slender head with an elongated, flexible, slightly upturned nose, small ears, dark feet, and a long non-prehensile tail use ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
New World Warbler
The New World warblers or wood-warblers are a group of small, often colorful, passerine birds that make up the family Parulidae and are restricted to the New World. The family contains 120 species. They are not closely related to Old World warblers or Australian warblers. Most are arboreal, but some, like the ovenbird and the two waterthrushes, are primarily terrestrial. Most members of this family are insectivores. This group likely originated in northern Central America, where the greatest number of species and diversity between them is found. From there, they spread north during the interglacial periods, mainly as migrants, returning to the ancestral region in winter. Two genera, '' Myioborus'' and '' Basileuterus'', seem to have colonized South America early, perhaps before the two continents were linked, and together constitute most warbler species of that region. The scientific name for the family, Parulidae, originates from the fact that Linnaeus in 1758 named the n ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
