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| Ceanothus |
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| Bush Poppy in foreground |
Despite the lack of snow this past Winter, there are some fabulous blooming wildflowers and shrubs on the mountain this Spring.
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| Lupine |
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| Scarlet Bugler |
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Showy Penstemon |
One of the great aspects of planting native wildflowers is that they are adapted to living in your "patch" in the world. Unlike my previous neighbor who could grow a multitude of flowers no matter whether they were native or not, I struggle to keep plants alive. However, I am having GREAT success with the native plants that we added to our yard! The butterflies and birds seem pretty appreciative about my success as well.
If you remember, during migration, we had between 30-40 hummingbirds fattening up at our backyard feeders. Filling up the feeders with nectar numerous times a day was exhausting. Now, the few hummingbirds that have made our yard their home for the Summer have flowers to get fresh nectar.
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| Verdin |
The Living Desert is a great place to visit before it gets too hot. Besides seeing the animals on exhibit, it's great to walk among the colorful, blooming trees, flowers and cacti and to look for wildlife hidden within them.
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| Queen Butterfly |
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| Lesser Goldfinch enjoying a bath |
We discovered a garden oasis on the grounds that was filled with birds and butterflies.
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| Zebra-tailed Lizard |
One of the fun parts of going to the desert is looking for lizards that we don't see in the mountains. We were lucky to spot this appropriately named Zebra-tailed lizard. It blends in extremely well in the sandy washes until it takes off at top speed on its hind legs with its tail curled up over its body. Wow!
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| Desert Spiny Lizard |
When you hear rustling under a bush, keep an eye out for the source. We discovered this large, bulky Desert Spiny Lizard. It's turquoise dew lap, interspersed yellow scales and black shoulder wedge are striking. These lizards are pretty serious about their territory! We witnessed two Desert Spiny Lizards rolling and tustling after an initial warning display of bulking up and pushup behavior. The winner chased the loser about 8 feet before we lost sight of them in the underbrush. Whew!
This post has been mostly about flowering plants and lively lizards but I have to share the biggest surprise of the week! If you ever watch Mountain Chickadees, you know they tirelessly forage and store seeds, right?
Imagine your surprise if while you were wearing this slipper, a Mountain Chickadee landed on your foot and stashed a sunflower seed next to your shoelace! Ha I couldn't make that story up! It really happened.
"In every walk in Nature, one receives far more than he seeks."
John Muir
Photos and content by Robin Roberts.
Click on photos to enlarge.
