Saguaro Boot

October 16, 2018

This is a Saguaro Boot bird nest. It is a hard shell of callus tissue formed inside a saguaro cactus (y’know, the big ones in road runner cartoons 🌵) after a bird pecks through the skin and burrows down into the cactus to create a hollow space for its nest. The lignin callus takes a long time to harden, often over a year to create an entire nest. When the cactus dies it’s soft tissue rots, leaving behind the hollowed out woody structure that often has the rough shape of a boot, hence the name Saguaro Boot. Several different birds create saguaro boots including the Gila Woodpecker and the Gilded Flicker, often forming a complex of many adjoining nests in a single cactus (saguaros can grow to be 50’ tall!). The creator of this particular nest was most likely a Gilded Flicker. Native Americans of the southwest often used saguaro boots to store and carry water. Although it is now illegal to collect saguaro boots from the wild in Arizona this particular example was sustainably harvested many years ago by desert pixies on hot springs satsang vision quest retreat in southern Nevada. Also pictured is a blue jay nest with sea biscuit ($25) and a robin nest with sea urchin ($12). #birdnest#saguaroboot#oddities#curios#curiosities#nature#nest#naturalhistory#birds