Apr 18
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
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.
Apr 9
Snake season is upon us! This guy greeted a friend and I on a trail yesterday. He was literally inches from the path but we would never have seen him if he hadn’t warned us. Intrigued, we experimented to see how far away we needed to be before he got upset and it was always about 10 feet. Don’t know if that’s typical but it was interesting. 🙂
Captured with my Canon SX1. (I would have preferred my SLR in this case)
Apr 2
On a recent hike, I came across a mother Owl with 3 Owlets. What a treat! Only one of the babies was turned toward me but I could see the other two moving. I was carrying my Canon Compact camera that day and thought it did a great job considering how far away I was.
Mar 30
So what do you do when you have to lead a wildflower hike (this past Sunday) and there are no flowers? You wing it! Lucky for me, I had two great assistants. Botanist Steve Jones entertained everyone with flora trivia and Chris Rutz filled us in on the ranching history of this area and gave us a climbing lesson. In this photo, he’s pointing out anchors embedded in the rock to which a rope is connected. Before Chris started climbing, I always thought climbers used the rope to pull themselves up but it is there strictly for safety in case they fall. All in all, a really fun morning! Thanks again, Steve and Chris 🙂
Mar 29
This Side-blotched Lizard was the smallest reptile we found on Saturday.
Mar 28
Monster is right! He hissed and snarled at us as we were trying our best to photograph him and gather data for the Reptile survey. CLICK HERE if you want more information about this dangerous creature. Be sure to click the link on the page that features the sounds the Gila Monster makes. It’s exactly what we heard! This is only the third time I’ve seen one in the wild in the sixteen years we’ve lived here. It was exciting 🙂
Mar 27
Yesterday I had the privilege of spending the day with Herp expert Bryan Hughes. With permission from the City of Scottsdale, we roamed a wash and within two hours we came across a female Crotalus molossus aka Black-tailed Rattlesnake. I’ve only ever seen Diamondbacks around here so it was a real treat. Doubly so since Bryan said he rarely sees them! He said she was an old female and she might be filled with babies. Since the snake was facing Bryan, I’m guessing he got a fantastic shot. I didn’t want to move so I was happy with this view 🙂
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