Quest for desert violet

Last weekend Cyndi, Emily and I went on a quest seeking the spring wildflower Beckwith's Violet (Viola beckwithii). Emily located the first one, despite my assertion that I would be the first.

I also spotted Emily training for the Redneck Olympics on the barbed wire balance beam.

Red Rocks NCA

After a delicious lunch, Cyndi's Dad drove east of Las Vegas, toward the mountains and took us to visit Red Rocks National Conservation Area. Hikers, horseback riders, and rock climbers all enjoy the sandstone formations and mountains beyond. You can see the hiking trails running up the ridge and also along the creek bed.

The Common Ravens enjoy the landscape, too!

The wildflowers here were stunning.

The Orange Globe Mallow grow in my yard. Who would imagine such color in a dry desert environment.

The cactus flowers, like this Beavertail Cactus were equally brilliant.

Cyndi used to spend time here as a youngster, so in addition to enjoying the beauty she enjoyed recollections of fun times spent in this area and told me stories of horseback rides and camping trips in these mountains. She was grinning the whole time. Mountains can do that for one's spirit, I've found.

Here in this wash an Ash-throated Flycatcher came very close to us. By now I was getting more familiar with this sort of flycatcher. Many of the flycatchers do look alike, but where they are found is a clue to their identity. The Ash-throated are more likely to be found in dry desert areas, while the Dusky-capped are more likely to be found in wooded areas.

This White-throated Swift went by and I was very lucky this time. Usually they're gone before I can raise the camera, but this one did a half-circle around me, staring down at the camera so I had time to focus and take one image before it rocketed off. The swifts are closely related to hummingbirds ... both types of bird have very little use for legs and feet and are aerial acrobats.

Cyndi pointed out this flower, Purple Sage. I had heard the word before, but had never seen these wonderful flowers on the sagebrush in the desert. What a colorful show!

Sonoran Desert

As we drove north out of Patagonia, again on our circuit around the Santa Rita Mountains we came to a Border Patrol checkpoint. We were asked if we were American citizens, and where we had been. When we explained we'd been birding the Border Patrol agent asked if we'd been to the Patagonia-Sonoita Creek Preserve. I guess "yes" was the correct answer, because he allowed us to pass.

We arrived at the Gilbert Ray campground, in the Tucson Mountain Park, near the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum and Saguaro National Park around dusk, but it was still hot and sultry. Here's a Curve-billed Thrasher atop a Saguaro in the last light of the day.

We pitched our tent and walked around in the evening air, happy that the sun had set.

This Desert Cottontail was enjoying the cooler temperatures, too ... by cooler, I'm meaning maybe 90 degrees or something. A Roadrunner ran by, but was gone before I ever thought to raise a camera or binoculars. I guess it had places to go.

There were many other kinds of cactus growing there, not just Saguaro.

As we walked back to our campsite, past the campground's well-lit entry booth, about a dozen Lesser Nighthawks were circling and feasting on the insects attracted by the lights. By then it was too dark for photos.

True to form, the next morning I was up before the sun. (What can I say, I thought I heard an owl.) And, the Lesser Nighthawks were still awake at that dawn hour.

The Black-throated Sparrows were up and about, too. Everybody was singing as they awoke.

I'm not sure of the temperature, but I'd describe it as hot, before the sun rose.

As the sun came over the horizon, I could finally clearly see all the cactus that lived here.

And, in the morning light I spied my first Cactus Wren. This is one large wren!

And, the Saguaro were in bloom!

Atop many of the Saguaros a bird would feast on the pollen and nectar. This is a White-winged Dove, but the Thrashers and Gila Woodpeckers were everywhere enjoying the morning meal as well.

Here's our campsite. We quickly took down the tent, as Cyndi put it, "before it gets hot." Yeah, right, too late for that.

Far away in the distance a bird sat atop a Saguaro. I had to get closer, and closer. It looked a lot like a Cardinal ... but with a yellow bill! Yay! At last, the Pyrrhuloxia.

Growing Things

Last year my subdivision Homeowners' Association sent me a letter saying that they disapproved of my yard. They really were not any more specific than that, so I had to guess what was on their mind. I trimmed some branches, took out one dead cherry bush, and patched some brown spots in the lawn.

But there was a strip between my house and my neighbor's house that was very narrow and difficult to keep watered. It was rather brown and could have been the cause of the letter. Who knows.

So, I dug all the grass out and put in some plants that might be tolerant of less water, and covered the area with landscaping cloth and bark to try to keep in some moisture.

This is what it looked like last October.

And, this spring ... in May.

And, today! The orange Day Lily plant will bloom soon. The tall grass is a native bunchgrass called Great Basin Wild Rye.

A bit obsessed with my landscaping, you say? I have to be. It's the law.