Took the Camera this Morning

We took the camera on our morning walk today.  This is what we saw. Outside the front door is the wash and the mountains.






There was a nice Gambel's  Quail near the back fence.

 

Lots of trees in the wash. A mesquite on the left, the yellow in the back are the flowers of the Palo Verde. The pinkish flowers on the right are on a tree we haven't identified.  But it is still pretty.

Most of the flowering bushes are not indigenous to the area and we don't know their names. They are colorful nevertheless.






                                                                         


The red buds on this one open up to reveal tiny yellow flowers.





These are the flowers on the Honey Mesquite. There are a lot of them around here.





There are 144 units in our little gated community. This is the most splendidly decorated doorway of them all.                                                   






The covered parking sheds make great shady nesting areas for the multitude of sparrows but the road around the community is not the best place for bird watching.



If you look down at the ground on any walk now,  you will usually scare up some lizards.  They spook so easily and move so fast that it is hard to get a decent photo of them. With the big camera I did manage to get a few that aren't too blurry today.

This is a Western Whiptail we think. He or she is surrounded by Palo Verde flowers. They are now falling like snow.



We think this may be an Arizona Alligator Lizard.

Not sure about this guy.
                                                                                            

 

 Time to head back to our apartment for our second cup of coffee.

 

 

Hold it. Can you see the lizard looking like a curved stick in the midst of more fallen Palo Verde flowers?

 

He crawled up on the curb and we think it is another Arizona Western Whiptail and the best lizard shot of the morning.

 

 

And finally my favorite photo for this walk. This is probably a variety of Agave. The little yellow dots are actually more palo verde flowers that have hung up on the spines.

 

 

Thanks for walking with us this morning. It was nice around 7:30 but it will be close to 100 degrees by noon.  We have taken to not walking in the afternoon any more.  I wonder why.