Flowers & Birds with Pinau Merlin at the Boyce Thompson Arboretum

Climb aboard the bus for another wildflower ed-venture! On this tour we head for the beautiful Boyce Thompson Arboretum, with its dramatic cliffs, stream, lake, and varied habitats. In addition to the flower shows, the Arboretum, the oldest and largest arboretum (over 300 acres) in Arizona, is listed as an Important Bird Area due to the riparian area and lush gardens. There is a high species richness and sometimes large numbers of migrants stopping over.

The diversity of habitats at the Arboretum provides many microhabitats where a variety of different flowers can be found. We’ll wander several trails and explore along the creek to see what gifts Nature has in store for us. We’ll have our picnic lunch in stunning and scenic surroundings and then explore more of the Desert Garden, Cactus and Succulent Garden, and other trails depending on where the best flower shows are at the time. The first Tuesday of the month Boyce Thompson generously offers free admission, so the arboretum will be full fellow nature lovers! We finish up watching for wildflowers along the road on our drive home. Expert guides are on hand to help ID the flowers, plants, and birds we see. Please pack a sack lunch. Tohono Chul will provide snacks and water for the return journey.

More about Pinau Merlin:

Pinau is a nationally known speaker and naturalist and is the author of several books (including the Guide to Desert Holes, Guide to Bird Nests and Eggs, and is a contributing author to the Natural History of the Sonoran Desert) as well as over 80 articles about the wildlife, natural history, and ecology of the Desert Southwest. Pinau taught natural history at the U of A and was the Outreach Coordinator for the UA/USFWS Jaguar Project. She also works on numerous nature documentary films (including BBC, National Geographic, and others) as a natural history consultant and critter wrangler.

Pinau has designed natural history centers, interpretive exhibits, nature trails, and wildlife habitats for a variety of organizations in the Southwest. Her insights and observations about the natural history and wildlife of the Sonoran Desert have been featured on PBS, NPR, and in Smithsonian and National Wildlife magazines, among many others. She is especially interested in the adaptive strategies of plants, birds, and wildlife and in interpreting animal language.