When Prickly Pear cactus become severely dehydrated, they often take on colors like yellow, red and purple. I shot this one at the very end of our hike yesterday. I need to go back with my macro lens and work this!
Also…a repeat of yesterday’s photo. With no sun, it wasn’t a great exposure to begin with. I did a quick Photomatix HDR which I didn’t particularly care for it so I worked on a single image this time turning it B/W with a hint of color. Much better, I think.
Prickly Pear cactus fruit came early and didn’t last long because of a lack of rain.
I took this image yesterday in a private garden which obviously doesn’t allow Javelina 🙂
The native Prickly Pear cactus (Opuntia engelmannii) are blooming in the North end of the McDowell Sonoran Preserve and it looks like we’re going to have multiple blooms on many of them.
Happy Valentine’s Day! This heart is courtesy of a Javelina (Collared Peccary). They love chomping on fresh new pads of the Prickly Pear cactus. If they take a little nip in just the right place, sometimes we’re treated to a pad or two in the shape of a heart. It’s hard to get upset with these animals even when they overturn every one of my Cactus looking for fresh roots!
http://www.desertusa.com/magnov97/nov_pap/du_collpecc.html