Walking Across the Desert With Mike Fay
Saguaro National Park consists of two large parks on either side of Tucson, Arizona. The east is very different from the west, and both are obviously different than the city between them. Still, the same birds, bugs, pollen, wind, and water are swirling about them all. They are all part of the same story.

As part of the 2011 BioBlitz in Saguaro, National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence (and University of Arizona alum) J. Michael Fay walked some 70 miles over the course of seven days on a transect across both parts of the park and the city between them, noting the first time he saw each plant species in an area, and identifying and tallying every bird he saw or heard along the way.

The photos below take you along moment by moment through open landscapes and close-up details. They show many of the park rangers and local scientists who accompanied Mike for a few miles or days at a time, and they reveal highlights of the experiences and knowledge they shared.

Learn more about Mike Fay’s philosophy of transecting in this archived post on nationalgeographic.org and in Henry David Thoreau’s essay, “Walking.”
['Andrew Howley']
['Walking', 'Nature Photography', 'Ecology', 'Nature', 'Desert']