Variable Checkerspot
A Variable Checkerspot captured on Mingus Mountain. The background was very busy and mostly dead stuff so I added a couple of textures to make it a little more interesting.
Posts from the ‘Wildflowers’ Category
Jun 3
May 6
Violet Snapdragon
There is nothing more exciting for this wanna-be botanist than to find a species I’ve never seen before. It doesn’t happen much anymore because I’m exploring in the Preserve so often but I was lucky this past Saturday. While looking for another species, I came across a Violet Snapdragon (Sairocarpus nuttallianus) growing right next to the one I had been looking for! Of course I had no idea what it was so I went to my main source, Steve Jones, and he came through as always. Thanks Steve! And thanks to Chris for helping me hike back up to get a better look yesterday. (It’s a very steep trail)
What look like hairs all over the plant are actually tiny tack-like glands. Very cool.
May 1
Prickly Poppy and Beetle
We had very few Prickly Poppies in the Preserve this year but I did see a few out at Brown’s Ranch. This one had a Blister Beetle who was was moving out to start chomping on the petals.
Apr 28
A Sweet Volunteer
In gardening and botanical terminology, a volunteer is a plant that grows on its own rather than being deliberately planted. This volunteer is called Sweetbush (Bebbia juncea) and it’s one of my favorites. First because it’s a very drought tolerant native but mostly because it has curly stamens 🙂 I used Photoshop to convert to Black and White.
Apr 20
Plateau Morning Glory
Because of the narrow leaves, I’m venturing a guess this is Plateau Morning Glory. I’ve been calling it Texas Bindweed but according to SEInet, that’s a smaller darker pink flower which I also photographed last week in Rackensack Canyon. I love that place! Anyway…when the sun is really bright and almost overhead, try shooting at a very wide aperture. It does something nice to the strong light. For this image, I shot with a Canon 70-200 IS at f/2.8. The ISO was at 200 so my shutterspeed was 1/3200 of a second. Plenty fast enough to negate any camera movement.
Apr 18
Wildflower-Photography Walk
Yesterday, along with botanical expert Steve Jones, I led a Photography/Wildflower walk to Brown’s Ranch. Not many flowers to see this year so this Desert Holly (Acourtia nana) was a real treat. My wide angle lens was almost touching the plant which makes it look larger than it is but in reality, they’re so tiny, they are almost impossible to spot unless you know what you’re looking for.
Apr 14
Desert Holly
Lots of Desert Holly (Acourtia nana) is surfacing on the Brown’s Ranch trail. This photo makes them look to be easy to find but they are TINY! Although they can reach 8 inches tall, they are typically much smaller in our area. The leaves we’re seeing are only a couple of inches tall. The flowers are especially difficult to see so…if you hike the trail in the next few days, look very closely on the sides of the trail….especially beneath Creosote or trees.
Mar 31
Spring Memories
An infrared capture from the Spring of 2008. What caught my eye first in this scene was the huge Chainfruit Cholla Skeleton (fire). I positioned myself low in order to include Poppies in the foreground and a nice Saguaro specimen in the background.(False color introduced by swapping channels.)
