Friday Creature Feature: Turkey Vulture

September 25, 2020

Our bird of focus for this week’s creature feature is the turkey vulture (Cathartes aura). Despite the name, turkey vultures are more vulture than turkey—they belong to the vulture family—and…
Read more »

Friday Creature Feature: Lesser Long-Nosed Bat

September 17, 2020

For this week’s Friday creature feature, let’s take a closer look at the lesser long-nosed bat (Leptonycteris yerbabuenae), one of the Sonoran Desert’s most important pollinator species for plants like agave…
Read more »

20 Fun Facts about Sky Island Geology

September 14, 2020

Did you know that all of our favorite Sky Island mountain ranges are the direct result of millions of years of geological expansion, erosion, volcanic activity, landslides, snow melt, and…
Read more »

Supporting Pollinator Restoration in the Sky Islands

September 10, 2020

The Sky Islands of southeastern Arizona and northern Sonora are home to a diverse range of pollinator species, including insects (like bees and butterflies), hummingbirds, and bats. U.S. Fish and…
Read more »

Flora Feature: Patagonia Mountain Leatherpetal (Graptopetalum Bartramii)

July 3, 2020

For this Friday Flora Feature, we’re exploring a rare herb-succulent found in the Arizona Sky Islands. Commonly called the Patagonia Mountain leatherpetal, Bartram’s stonecrop, or Graptopetalum bartramii Rose, G. bartramii belongs to the Crassulaceae (stonecrop) family. It is…
Read more »

Friday Creature Feature: Hooded skunk

May 22, 2020

  Today’s Friday Creature Feature is the hooded skunk (Mephitis macroura). This little creature has been captured on Sky Island Alliance cameras as part of the Border Wildlife Study and…
Read more »