Happy Valley Trails

One of the criteria at the top of our list when we were searching for a house in Phoenix twelve years ago was that we would be able to hike and ride our mountain bikes in the desert without having to drive more than ten miles to the nearest trailhead. Better yet, we'd be thrilled to have trails within walking distance from our front door. We found the perfect place, confirmed after a walk in the rain into Deem Hills Recreation Area from our prospective home just north of Happy Valley Road. Perhaps we became intoxicated by the sweet smell of creosote in the air, or captivated by the rainbow arching over the saguaro-studded ridgeline. A contract was signed the next day and we've been hiking and biking out our front door nearly every day since!

Miraculously, the number of trail miles to hike and bike near our neighborhood has multiplied over the past decade. The City of Phoenix expanded the formal trail system in Deem Hills from a few miles to over eight in 2010. A year later, fourteen miles were carved into the hills of the newly designated Sonoran Preserve just east of I-17, well within our ten-mile circle. Less than a year ago, twenty more trail miles were created, along with expansive parking and restroom facilities at Apache Wash, just south of Carefree Highway. To the south and west, Glendale's Thunderbird Conservation Park and Peoria's WestWing trail system double again our options.

These city parks and preserves are just a sampling of the network of desert trails that have earned the Phoenix Metropolitan area a spot in the top ten of the world's most Biophilic Cities, a program that recognizes urban areas that have intentionally incorporated ways for people to interact with natural landscapes into daily life. Grand designs for a 242-mile Maricopa Trail that will link all nine Maricopa County regional parks and a 336-mile CAP Recreation Trail planned to extend the entire length of the Central Arizona Project canal (CAP) are also underway, which would make the Central Valley of Arizona one of the most bike-able, walk-able and equestrian friendly suburban areas in North America.

Come see…and walk, or ride...for yourself!

The Many Superpowers of Lesser Nighthawks

A sure sign of summer in Phoenix suburbs is the return of Lesser Nighthawks that migrate north from Central and Sough America to breed and feed in the Sonoran Desert, while at the same time, many people flee to escape the heat. Between late April and October, moonlit nights and early mornings are excellent times to catch a glimpse of these ghost-like birds, as they silently dance through the air catching insects. In dim evening light, flashes of white on the tips and tails of dark silhouettes may be all you'll see, but near a lighted ball field or street light, you can get a better look at the long, pointed wings and striped plumage that make them resemble a small falcon. Nighthawks are not hawks at all, though, and lack the fierce talons and sharp beak that are primary hunting tools for birds of prey. Instead, their erratic float-and-flutter flight pattern, wide mouth, tiny beak and tiny feet are some of their most notable features.

Their dawn and dusk, or crepuscular, feeding habits and gaping mouth earned them and others in their family of birds the common name, "nightjar." Somehow they were also dubbed "goatsuckers" because they were once believed to steal milk from nannies, but there is no hard evidence for this bit of folklore. The wide mouth has also led many naturalists to speculate that nighthawks are capable of picking up their own eggs and moving them away from would-be predators, or into shade during especially hot days, but again, well-documented observations are lacking.

However, it is true that nighthawks are masters of camouflage at every life stage. As adults, striped and mottled brown and gray feathers enable them to blend perfectly with rough-barked tree branches or a
pebbly desert floor. Unless you just happen to disturb one by walking near a nest or roosting sight, it is extremely rare to see a lesser nighthawk during the day, even if you are ardently searching for one.

A female nighthawk has the additional superpower of being able to tolerate surface temperatures over 110 F as she shelters her pair of eggs or newborn chicks with the shade of her own body. The mottled eggs are laid on open ground with not other nesting material to insulate them. After eighteen days of incubation, the downy calico chick hatch and are ready to fly within a couple of weeks.

One strategy that nighthawks use for keeping cool during our scalding summers is called "gulag fluttering," which is basically a kind of panting, or evaporative cooling. The extra wide mouth, in this case, acts like a miniature swamp cooler, helping to lower body temperature. Lots of birds do this, but nightjars can also vibrate their throats to enhance the cooling effect.

Acrobatic flight, deep camouflage and extreme heat tolerance are just a few of the nighthawk's superpowers.

What are yours?