Tanque Verde the ride of your life

Tanque Verde the ride of your life

Dawn comes to Tanque Verde as if someone had a hand on a celestial dimmer dial -- first a gradual lightening, then a hint of pink.

Tanque Verde's a resort ranch just outside Tucson. I'm up early to do a nature walk, a seemingly pointless activity in drought-ridden southern Arizona.

At first glance, there's not much in the sand-coloured soil but mesquite bushes, whose needle-like thorns repel predators, and cacti. The only real eye-catcher is the giant saguaro. It's found only in the Sonoran Desert and, if it survives 60 or 70 years, starts to sprout arm-shaped appendages.

But an hour with naturalist Rick Hartigan, an ex-cop with a passion for birding, proves this really is a living desert. Hartigan says 180 or more species of birds either live in or come through the 260-hectare property.