Mesa spreads across the eastern Salt River valley in the Sonoran Desert, with the Superstition Mountains standing up to the east. Gila woodpeckers, curve-billed thrashers, and mourning doves hold the desert neighborhoods, and desert cottontails and ground squirrels work the gravel yards. The Salt River just northeast runs through genuine desert canyon, with wild horses, great blue herons, and desert bighorn sheep on the cliffs above the water.
Everything below is pulled live from recent research-grade observations near Mesa. Browse by group, explore the map, and identify what you find with Huck.
96,603
recent observations
30
species listed
16
birds
10
plants
2
insects & arthropods
Naturalists have logged 96,603 research-grade observations across the 30 most-recorded species near Mesa. The most frequently seen is the saguaro, with 11,047 recorded sightings.
Birds account for the largest share of what gets recorded there (16 of the species listed here), followed by plants (10).