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Posts tagged ‘marcus landslide’

A Search For a Queen

Arizona Queen of the Night is very common in our area but extremely difficult to spot. It looks like a stick or dead branch, doesn’t it? Click the link at the beginning of this post to see the amazing flowers this unassuming cactus produces! I’ve been wanting to find one on the future Marcus Landslide trail so Chris and I went out on there yesterday morning with a goal of locating one. Two and a half hours of searching and success! (NOTE: finding one in the open is not typical. They prefer the support of a shrub like a Creosote but a 1995 fire destroyed almost everything). Anyway….I was excited but also disappointed because it wasn’t easily accessible (at least until the trail is done). It’s OK, though, because where there’s one, there are more so the search goes on. I welcome the challenge 🙂

Fire

I’m late with my photo this morning because I forgot I was leading a couple of friends out to the Marcus Landslide. Thank goodness they sent me a note to let me know they were leaving their house or I would have been sitting at my computer in my PJs when they came 🙂 (Fire devastated most trees in the Landslide area leaving these skeletons. I captured this one using my infrared converted Canon 5D. The color is result of a custom white balance.)

Xenolith

A xenolith (Ancient Greek meaning “foreign rock”) is a rock fragment which becomes enveloped in a larger rock during hardening. I captured this great xenolith in the Marcus Landslide area yesterday. Hope I can remember this location (forgot my GPS) so I can catch the Hedgehog and Brittlebush in bloom. What a scene that would be!

Marcus Landslide Sunrise

Sunrise over the Marcus Landslide (the rippling ground at the end of the rays) as seen from Sven Tower II. A little chilly this morning but totally worth it. Thanks, Chris, for being my Sherpa. 🙂

Sleeping Camel Not

OK…I had a few comments which agree with Chris so here’s what I’m seeing. I guess his snout isn’t really long enough to be a camel but it could be a dinasaur camel. They probably looked different. OK…I’m stretching here 🙂

Sleeping Camel

Chris didn’t see it but to me it kind of looks like a Camel lying down with an ice pack on his head. (he’s facing to the right) A Camel with a hangover? Maybe? 🙂

Shot in HDR and a slight B/W treatment.

American Snout

I was extremely excited to spot an American Snout on my own this morning! I first saw it flitting around a Desert Lavender (which are in bloom at the moment) but these butterflies are so small you don’t really notice the snout without binoculars or a zoom lens so I thought it was something else. Thanks to my friends at CAZBA for introducing me to this species 🙂

Faces, Faces, Everywhere!

Pareidolia is an affliction I don’t mind being afflicted with and since the McDowell Sonoran Preserve is filled with faces, my affliction is working overtime 🙂  Anyone want to admit they remember the cartoon character on the right?!

(FYI…You might think Chris was was pasted in but he was actually standing there)