Monday, February 27, 2017

Some First Sightings at Sabino Canyon Today

Last evening's pink clouds dissipated by morning and we started off golden





It must have been a good omen because, after almost two months, we saw a nice white tailed deer today on our Sabino Canyon walk. 

 
 
 
 
 
 

It is also evident that the flowers will be popping out in the next week or two.

The Creosote bushes will soon be full of yellow blooms.


The Ocotillo have sprouted their green leaves and many now have buds at the tips



Fairy Dusters are trail side in a lot of places.



We have also seen some of the smaller flowering plants showing green leaves and flowers. They are starting to show up underneath Mesquite trees and Creosote bushes. This is a Caliche Globe Mallow



Fiddlenecks are really little.  They have hairy leaves and stems and tiny golden flowers that are smaller than the head of a pencil eraser.


The Cryptantha are similar with white flowers that are almost like little dots. I will need to bring a better lens to get them in focus.



This is a larger one called a Blue Dicks and is the first one we've seen this year.




Then there are some that we can't quite identify at the moment.  We are going on a nature walk on Wednesday and will have some questions for the naturalists.  Or maybe you can help.


 




 

One thing we are sure of is that with the flowers blooming we will also start to see more butterflies.  This fellow is the first one that has stayed still enough to photograph this year.  It is about an inch across and we think it is a Tiny Checkerspot. 
 

 




 

 

 





 











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