Sonoran Desert Naturalist

An extensive guide of over 1000 web pages covering the study of the nature in the Sonoran Desert. Many, many photos, watercolors, and descriptions of birds, insects, arachnids, plants, and habitats of the Sonoran Desert. Where to hike and what Natural History to see.

Venomous insects in the Sonoran Desert include many bees and wasps. Surprisingly some ants sting worse than many bees! These are our all-important pollinators, so we must protect them anyway.

Coleopterist's aren't sure who said it but it rings true: If you want to know the Creator study his/hers favorite subject: Beetles. There are way more kinds of beetles than any other order of animals in the Sonoran Desert.

Picture guide to common birds in Arizona's Sonoran Desert. Plus a guide to Riparian Birds and also to Desert City Birds.

Big bugs, small bugs, noisy bugs, colorful bugs, water bugs, seed bugs, aphids and hoppers! Picture guide to some Sonoran Desert True Bugs. So many bugs, so little time.

Butterflies in the Sonoran Desert: An amazing variety of butterflies and moths are found in the Sonoran Desert with both tropical elements and temperate mountain and chaparral elements.

Ants of Arizona

A fantastic journey into the Lilliputian world of ants ... lots of detailed photos and natural history descriptions by Dale Ward. Despite their small size ants are among the most important keystones in the ecology of the Sonoran Desert and other Arizona habitats.

Guide with color photos and line drawings to almost 400 species of Sonoran Desert Plants. A few are still missing from the guide. If you can, please submit a good photo of a missing species with data to mjplagens@arizonensis.org.

Eight-legged Critters in the Sonoran Desert: Spiders, Scorpions and Mites. Save one or two mildly dangerous most are more interesting than scary.

This bold red mountain rises above the teaming city. It enitces both experienced and inexperienced to climb and explore.

Arizona Registry of Big Trees

Complete listing of Arizona's National Champion trees. Coordinated by Ken Morrow. Shown here is probably the single, largest flowering plant (angiosperm) in the United States, proof that Arizona is more than a desert.

Ponderosa Woodland Biota

Cool mountain forests are just an hour or two drive from the hot deserts. A completely different set of plants and animals live among the conifers.

Sycamore Woodlands are among the most glorious of natural landscapes in the desert southwest. Dozens and dozens of places are called "Sycamore Creek" or "Sycamore Canyon". Exploring these places always surprise and amaze an observant naturalist.