Gopherus morafkai

My second sighting of a desert tortoise in Sabino Canyon. Coming across one of
these is pretty rare, and seeing only two in the roughly 7 years of photographing
in Sabino Canyon almost every weekend bears this out. They might be a bit more
common, but spotting them is the greatest challenge. On this morning I happened to
be looking in the right direction to catch something smooth that looked out of place.

This guy was under a mesquite tree, surrounded by prickly pear cactus on three sides
and a barbed wire fence on the other. I had to crawl under the barbed wire fence to
get a relatively clear shot. Even so, I was thrilled to be able to log another sighting.