Wilder is proud to have its former headquarters recognized as the first Tucson Audubon Habitat at Home site. The landscape is constantly evolving to keep up with the maturing plants and knowledge we have gained. The story starts with what was once a manicured yard (the transformation had already begun in the ‘before’ photo shown) – an even, well-groomed layer of rock, a single south American mesquite, a border of purple-heart. Neat, orderly, and utterly sterile.

I grew up on the east side of Tucson, and played in a yard and neighborhood that took its birds for granted. Cactus wrens, thrashers, Cooper and Harris Hawks, coveys of quail, vermillion flycatchers, the constant murmur of doves. My new mid-town residence was sadly lacking all of these. The only constants were mockingbirds and the occasional verdin and, of course, English sparrows and pigeons.

Flash forward a decade or two. Gambel’s quail, brown-crested flycatchers, curve-billed thrashers, and cardinals are consistent sights. A phainopepla has shown up the last three springs to feast on wolfberries, graythorn berries and our immature, but growing mistletoe. This spring a pair of Abert’s towhees nested and successfully raised a baby in a wolfberry-ironwood thicket outside our bedroom window. There are warblers and vireos and birds we call skulkers that have so far evaded identification.

It’s our refuge and has become a haven for a variety of wildlife. One plant at a time, small additions have blossomed into a desert jungle.