Upcoming Events

Coati Kids Club member families enjoy a special event with animal encounters, grounds exploration, and crafts. Today's theme: Saving Species

Join the Desert Museum for a delightful day trip to Southeastern Arizona's desert grasslands! These grasslands and surrounding agricultural areas are dotted with artificial lakes, ponds, and mudflats providing habitat for winter birds, including at least twelve species of raptors and numerous waterfowl (ducks and geese). Thousands of Sandhill cranes migrate from as far away as Alaska to spend the winter near Willcox. Join us for a spectacular day of discovery as we explore the Willcox area–one of the region's birding hot spots. We will meet at Park Place Mall and bring a sack lunch. Very little walking is required. Transportation included.

What to Expect: Travel to Willcox playa with stops en route to observe birds and their behaviors. Maximum traveling elevation is 4,200 feet, sometimes on dirt roads. Program will operate rain or shine.

For details on pricing, registration, and the full trip itinerary, click learn more and scroll down.

Contact E-mail: [email protected]

A live storytelling event presented by Odyssey Storytelling in partnership with the University of Arizona’s Arizona Institute for Resilience and the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum.

The Sonoran Desert is changing, and so must we. As invasive grasses spread and wildfire dangers intensify, scientists, land stewards, and community members are working together to restore balance and resilience to the place we call home.

Community storytellers will share personal journeys of discovery, collaboration, and care for our fragile desert ecosystem. Through science and story, we’ll explore what it means to live, work, and thrive in this landscape—and how we can protect it for generations to come.

Join us for an afternoon that bridges art and science, sparking new connections and igniting hope for a more resilient Sonoran Desert.

Storytellers:
Amy Juan - San Xavier Coop Farm & UA Indigenous Resilience Center
Frankie Foley - Saguaro National Park, Buffelgrass Program
David Yetman - UA Southwest Center/Journal, Social scientist
Jesús Garcia –Cross-border Sonoran Desert Ethnobotanist
Sonya Norman – Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, Public Programs Coordinator

John Goraj - National Forest Foundation - will perform a song!
Are you a member of the pack at the Desert Museum? Members receive $5.00 off Odyssey Storytelling ticket prices! Simply login as a member here to receive your discount. Ticket sales support the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum.

This event is part of the Arizona Institute for Resilience project on “Science, Art, and Ecology of Sonoran Desert Fires."

More information

Join the Desert Museum for an incredible 5 day excursion across the border. Our voyage of discovery includes the Seri Museum in Nuevo Bahía Kino, a visit to the Prescott College Research Station, a panga ride to the mangroves of Isla Tiburón, birding in the estuary of Laguna de la Cruz, a walk in a cardón forest, and of course, meetings with the Seri people themselves with a very special opportunity to participate in the Indigenous Language Day Festival. Our guide, retired ASDM cultural conservationist Jesús García, enthusiastically shares the culture of this desert people as well as the natural and geological history of the Central Gulf Coast subdivision of the Sonoran Desert. Our adventure also includes time on the beach of Kino Bay with its intensely blue water, as well as daily helpings of fresh seafood and opportunities to support the Seri with purchases of their handcrafted goods.

Note: You will need a valid passport book to take this trip. Your passport book must be valid for at least 6 months after our travel dates.

For details on pricing, registration, and the full trip itinerary, click learn more and scroll down.

Join the Desert Museum for a fun day trip that will transport us to a prehistoric time!

Did you know that we had large Ice Age mammals in southern Arizona? At the Murray Springs archeological site along the San Pedro River, near Sierra Vista, we will learn about the Pleistocene megafauna which roamed the savannahs. Alongside these mammals lived the Clovis people, great hunters, which we know from their fluted projectile points. For lunch we will stop at the Holy Trinity Monastery to have a picnic (pecans and fresh baked bread are for sale, too). Our last activity will be combing the St. David Formation for gypsum crystals. Transportation included.

For details on pricing, registration, and the full trip itinerary, click learn more and scroll down.

Contact E-mail: [email protected]

Join us for a celebration of springtime and the diverse plants, animals, and people of the Sonoran Desert! Our grounds will be bursting with life and filled with fun pursuits. You can explore our newest interactive exhibit, Spadefoot Splash; bioblitz with the Young Naturalists and add sightings to our iNaturalist project; dance to live music including Mr. Nature’s Music Garden; make art with the  Art Institute; enjoy talks and walks highlighting the flora and fauna of the Museum, meet community organizations; get your face painted, and more!

Join the Desert Museum on an unforgettable trip through Baja California, packed with lessons in Ecology, Geology, Birding, Whale Watching, Cowboys and Ethnobotany! Led by the incomparable Jesús García and geologist/raconteur, Fred Nials, we travel by motorcoach down the entire length of the Peninsula, traversing desert chaparral, a fertile valley of grape and olive orchards to the captivating Cataviña desert with its forests of boojum, elephant trees and cardón. At Ojo de Liebre Lagoon, one of the few places in the world with up-close Grey Whale watching opportunities, three days of off-the-grid “glamping” await. Surrounded by a lush date palm oasis, our stay in San Ignacío includes a day trip to see pictographs of remote Baja. Our time in Loreto Bay includes snorkeling with tropical marine life at Isla Coronado. Experience the charming mining communities and the artists’ haven of Todos Santos as we travel to San José del Cabo, and the famous Los Arcos rock formation at the southern tip of Baja. Our return is by air.

Note: You will need a valid passport book to take this trip. Your passport book must be valid for at least 6 months after our travel dates.

For details on pricing, registration, and the full trip itinerary, click learn more and scroll down.

Junior Girl Scouts pre-register for this special event through the Girl Scouts of Southern Arizona. The event includes a live animal presentation, dinner and breakfast, and an evening of fun in and around the Packrat Playhouse.

Coati Kids Club member families enjoy a special hike off grounds at Cienega Creek Nature Preserve.

Join the Desert Museum for a weeklong trip exploring the most significant archaeological geography in the United States. Our tour focuses on Puebloan archeological sites of southwest Colorado and northwestern New Mexico. Ancestral Puebloans blended work and worship; they were master artisans, farmers, astronomers, traders, and skilled engineers, creating an extensive trade network throughout the San Juan Basin and beyond. Highlights include two days at UNESCO World Heritage sites, Mesa Verde and Chaco Canyon National Parks, as well as Monument Valley, Aztec Ruins, and the seldom-visited sites of Hovenweep and Lowry House ruins. The tour culminates with two nights at the former Harvey House, La Posada in Winslow, followed by a day exploring Hopi Second Mesa.

Our personal guides are naturalist Jesús García and geologist/geomorphologist Fred Nials, highly educated in Native American history and in the fields of archaeology and anthropology. This exceptional tour offers a unique opportunity to visit a vibrant archeological region with expert interpretation.

For details on pricing, registration, and the full trip itinerary, click learn more and scroll down.

Contact E-mail: [email protected]

Join the Desert Museum for the ultimate birder's weekend trip! Southeastern Arizona is a paradise for birders. Join us for three full days exploring different elevation habitats as we search for great birds. Among our targets will be the Mexican Chickadee, Elegant Trogon, Montezuma Quail, Painted Redstart and Red-faced Warbler. We will also do some owling at night and set up a blacklight to see what insects we can attract.

Led by Jeff Babson, owner of Sky Island Tours, who is an expert birder (and has a keen eye for butterflies and dragonflies).

The price of this tour is all-inclusive covering three meals a day, lodging and transportation from Tucson. We will stay at the Southwest Research Station nestled in the oak-pine woodland of Cave Creek Canyon.

For details on pricing, registration, and the full trip itinerary, click learn more and scroll down.

Contact E-mail: [email protected]

Coati Kids Club member families enjoy a special event with animal encounters, grounds exploration, and crafts. Today's theme: Who Dung It?

Coati Kids Club member families enjoy a special event with animal encounters, grounds exploration, and crafts. Today's theme: Who Dung It?

Dinosaurs walked the Desert Museum surroundings 150 million years ago, and they roamed as far north as Colorado and Utah (and farther!). Join the Museum’s second Dinosaur Tour as we follow the Jurassic spoors–bones and trackways–left by these creatures. This means not only museums but also in the field, visiting active quarries with a first-hand look at the hard dusty work behind new discoveries. As a very special component of this tour, we will be accompanied by vertebrate paleontologist, Advait M. Jukar, PhD, whose research and imagination will bring these creatures to life. Besides checking out All Things Dinosaur (e.g., dino roadside attractions in Holbrook), we’ll explore oil production in Rangely, Colorado; contemplate rock art left by Fremont Culture people; and visit the capitol of the Navajo Nation, Window Rock, New Mexico. And for river-lovers, we offer an optional one-day boat trip down the Green River between Flaming Gorge and Dinosaur National Monument. The wonders of the Great West!

For details on pricing, registration, and the full trip itinerary, click learn more and scroll down.

Contact E-mail: [email protected]

Coati Kids Club member families enjoy a special event with animal encounters, grounds exploration, and crafts. Today's theme: Saguaro Harvest

Coati Kids Club member families enjoy a special event with animal encounters, grounds exploration, and crafts. Today's theme: Nocturnal Toxins

Join the Desert Museum on an extraordinary trip through Northern Spain via slow train!

On this tour we learn about Bronze Age castros, Roman gold and iron mining, and Asturian and Cantabrian traditional lifeways. As a counterpoint to the old, we visit Bilbao’s Guggenheim Museum of modern art, and learn about and taste Basque culture. We explore the hinterlands of farms, forests and hamlets, walking a stretch of the Camino de Santiago. Our coastal route follows the narrow-gauge local train, the FEVE, from which we hop on and off for stays at seaside towns, where we drink apple cider and enjoy regional seafood and Asturian fabada. Then there is the fairytale scenery: the northern edge of the peninsula falls dramatically into the Cantabrian Sea in steeply tilted rock walls. To complement the landscape, we share lessons on the geology of the Iberian Peninsula. This is the land that the Celts originated from, and that the Basques continue to inhabit. This trip is bound to be filled with memories of a lifetime.

Led by Sonya Norman, Jesús García, and Jim Malusa. Sonya will provide perspective on being the daughter of a Spanish "Valenciana" - sharing the gastronomy, history, and sites of her mother's homeland. She is a native of Tucson, has a B.S. in Geosciences, plants trees and collects rainwater in her neighborhood, and helps control buffelgrass in the Tucson Mountains. Sonya is the Public Programs Coordinator for the Museum. Jesús García will provide perspective from the Kino Heritage Fruit Trees Project - detailing the legacy of Jesuits missionaries on modern Mexican agriculture, and the connections between Old World and Sonoran traditional knowledge. Jesús grew up in the farming and ranching town of Magdalena, Sonora. Jim Malusa, retired University of Arizona botanist and Museum volunteer, adds to our natural history lineup.

Note: You will need a valid passport to take this trip. Airfare is NOT included.

For details on pricing, registration, and the full trip itinerary, click learn more and scroll down.

Contact E-mail: [email protected]

Coati Kids Club member families enjoy a special event with animal encounters, grounds exploration, and crafts. Today's theme: Flower Power - Pollinator Party

Join the Desert Museum in an exploration of the cathedrals, synagogues, markets, farm towns, ancient castles and sunny beaches of Spain as we trace the cultural and agricultural roots of the Southwest. Tour a late 19th Century rice processing plant, bird the estuary and rice fields of La Albufera, follow the evolution of Iberian Copper Age pottery through its refinement into Baroque ceramic art, and see the masterpieces of El Prado. During the fall grape harvest you will tour a rural winery, walk fields and orchards, make paella, even see the Holy Grail... Destinations include Barcelona, Valencia, Toledo and Madrid. This trip is very personalized with a maximum group size of 16. It's sure to offer an intimate cultural and educational experience that will stay with you forever.

In the Southwest we use the adjective "Spanish" frequently and loosely. Indeed, many elements of our culture originate in Spain. But, the 16th - 18th century Christian Spain that colonized the Americas was the sum total of its previous occupants - Arabs, Jews, Visigoths and Romans.

Led by Sonya Norman and Jim Malusa. Sonya will provide perspective on being the daughter of a Spanish "Valenciana" - sharing the gastronomy, history and sites of her mother's cosmopolitan port city and of her grandfather's farming town of Villar del Arzobispo. Sonya is the Public Programs Coordinator for the museum. Jim has biked and hiked through the Cantabrian and Pyrenees ranges of Spain reporting on reclusive wolf and brown bear populations, as well as on the reclusive Knights Templar of Soria. Jim, a retired botanist, has written for Natural History and Discovery magazines and is the author of Into Thick Air: Biking to the Bellybutton of Six Continents.

Note: You will need a valid passport to take this trip. Airfare is NOT included.

For details on pricing, registration, and the full trip itinerary, click learn more and scroll down.

Contact E-mail: [email protected]

Celebrate Indigenous art and culture at the Indigenous Arts Fair on Saturday, November 14th from 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. at the Desert Museum!

Meet talented artists, watch live demonstrations, and shop authentic handmade jewelry, pottery, paintings, and more. Experience tradition, creativity, and connection in a vibrant outdoor setting. Free with admission!