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.
Posts from the ‘Sonoran Desert’ Category
May 1
Apr 30
Salmon Prickly Pear
Javelina LOVE non-native cactus so in years past, this poor Prickly Pear has not been allowed to fully bloom. But Javelina Cafe is now closed so all my non-natives finally have a chance to show off and they are making up for lost time. Besides what you see here, there are at least 25 more buds waiting to open on this Prickly Pear! I had fun photographing the blooms with various lenses yesterday. I couldn’t decide on just one image so here is a collage.
Apr 29
IR a Bee
Yesterday I went in search of bees gathering pollen on Prickly Pear Blooms. Infrared converted Canon 5D, Custom WB, Canon 100mm Macro lens
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 23
River Eggs
Roots hanging over the bank of Oak Creek – Topaz enhanced. These river rocks looked like eggs hidden among the roots. Probably not chocolate 🙂
Apr 23
Sedona Flora
A quick shot of a plant near our campground. I think it might be Ground Cherry but I sent a request for ID to my botanist friend Steve for confirmation. Whatever it is, I always try to get a better shot of it than I did last time. I like the dead grasses in the background. Update from Steve…it’s not Ground Cherry. It’s probaby a Nightshade which is poisonous. Still a fun photo op 🙂
Apr 21
Torch
Two blooms opened yesterday on my Torch cactus. An apropos common name for this gorgeous cactus. More blooms to come, I hope!
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.
