Sonoran Desert plants and wildlife have seen a lot of change since 1776. Learn about the shifts in our natural environment that have helped shape Arizona as we look toward the next 250 years.

A lot has changed here since the founding of the United States in 1776. 

People living on O’odham and Piipaash land 250 years ago would have woken up to a vibrant song in the morning as cardinals, wrens, great-tailed grackles, curve-billed thrashers, red-winged blackbirds, house finches, verdin, Gila woodpeckers and mourning doves were all happy as could be, chirping away in their desert homes. 

Depending on the season, Canada geese, cedar waxwings, orioles or yellow-rumped warblers may have been visiting or passing through, adding their voices to the song. In the summertime, cicadas would have buzzed loudly in the background. Those living here back then might have looked on a turkey vulture, wings outstretched, warming in the sun to greet the day, and maybe done a big stretch themselves. They would have prepared for rough seasonal weather, what we call monsoons and haboobs, and made time to maintain waterways, including canal systems that had been in place for centuries. Coyotes would call to each other at sundown.

The land that would eventually become Arizona was then home to the northernmost population of jaguars on the continent. At that time, javelina began moving northward from Central America, successfully establishing themselves throughout the Sonoran Desert. This was decades before Phoenix was settled and decades more before Arizona blossomed from territory to state.

Elsewhere in the developing United States, house sparrows were brought to North America as a way of controlling caterpillar populations. Russian thistle was introduced, and the resulting tumbleweeds quickly made their way west, where they became a symbol that echoed what the settlers perceived as a region of vast emptiness. 

It was only about 140 years ago that European starlings, with their impressive vocal range, were introduced, creating competition for resources that spanned the continent. Shortly after that came bullfrogs, also eager to compete. The soundscape of the place was changing. 

Arizona plant life has seen its share of changes in the last 25 decades. Buffelgrass was introduced in the 1930s to stabilize cattle populations, and in a few decades, it became one of the most notorious invasive species. The first time the invasive weed called stinknet (globe chamomile) was seen in the States was 45 years ago, and the first recorded sighting in Arizona was in 1997, 15 years later. By the 2020s, stinknet was a regular feature on the news; the seas of yellow blooms, despite appearing picturesque, took over large parts of the desert, choking out native plant species and posing a massive threat to the ecosystem.

The jaguars that had been here for centuries were all believed gone, with the last recorded kill in 1964 by a hunter from the U.S. government. Throughout the 1980s, a “feral” population of a type of African parrot known as the rosy-faced lovebird was established in Tempe, perhaps by accident. The birds acclimated quickly, and colonies of them can be found in neighborhoods across the Valley. In the 1990s, what was believed to be the oldest documented saguaro cactus in Arizona, living in Saguaro National Park and estimated to be over 300 years old, died of a bacterial infection. The landscape was changing, too, but the river and canals continued to provide water for all the living things in the Valley.

In 1996, an unexpected sighting of a jaguar ignited a spark of hope for the conservation minded. Ample video evidence reveals that the jaguars are taking their land back. 

On any given day in 2026, the canals still carry water, coyotes still call to the sunset and birds still sing to the sunrise. Some new voices have joined in, but the original song is still there amidst the cacophony of ongoing life. Many migratory birds still use the same path on their journeys today, called the Pacific Flyway, so you can also expect them to make an appearance when the season is right. 

The desert’s wildlife is deeper in the wild now than before, but our desert home is still full of life. Life was here 250 years ago, it is here now, and it will be here beyond the next 250 years.

Still, a lot more will change by 2276.