For those of you who know me well, you are probably aware that I am obsessed with owls. They have been my favorite animal for about 5 years now. Before that it was moose and in elementary school it was unicorns.
This past Saturday, Noemi the multimedia editor and I trekked out to Cave Creek, Ariz. to attend Desert Discovery Day. It is one of those events you are supposed to bring your children to and has several informational booths and activities along a short nature path. We went, and it was highly likely we were the only college students there, but it was totally worth the embarrassment of doing a treasure hunt with ten year olds and creating leaf rubbings with crayons.
The tour guides were enthusiastic about our awkward participation, but we learned some pretty cool nature facts. For instance, it take as saguaro cactus seed 10 years to grow just an inch out of the ground!
[caption caption="Saguaros lined the walking trail at the Jewel Creek Preserve." align="aligncenter" height="400" id="attachment_127688" width="225"]
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The best part for me was seeing four owls up close. There was a great horned owl, two burrowing owls and a saw whet owl. The saw whet owl is named for the sound a saw makes when sharpened on a whet stone, they have similar noises.
[caption caption="A Great Horned Owl watches people at Desert Discovery Day.Photo credit: Noemi Gonzalez." align="aligncenter" height="337" id="attachment_127689" width="600"]
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I highly recommend any stressed out college student to take a day to be a kid again and venture out into nature. Its not how I usually spend my Saturdays but it was refreshing to get off campus and explore.
Reach the writer at Newlin.tillotson@asu.edu or on Twitter @Newlin777.
Newlin's 3 a.m. Diary: A Day with Owls
A Great Horned Owl watches people at Desert Discovery Day.Photo credit: Noemi Gonzalez.
