Showing posts with label band-tailed pigeon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label band-tailed pigeon. Show all posts

Tuesday, April 12, 2016

I love spring

On the road

My commute home from work site--skirting the storm.
 It's so great to see the hills all green after years of drought.
Check out how the rainbow is doubling itself (at the bottom).

One of the cutest things I've EVER seen: baby killdeer
with its siblings and very busy parents at Merced National Wildlife Refuge.
Check out that TINY wing! =)

Snow goose, also at the Merced NWR.
That beak makes me think of a sock puppet, for some reason... =)


This native phlox was SO frothy & pink (on highway 166) we HAD to pull over
during our drive to Carrizo Plain NM.

The Carrizo Plain NM: a fascinating place.
Heaven for a minimalist, and I was anxious to visit, since
the last time we saw it, it was 4 years into a drought.
 Soda Lake stirred by wind.

Carrizo Plain had greened up nicely, thanks to El Niño.

Desert candle (Caulanthus inflatus), a species I'd never seen before, at Carrizo Plain NM.
Another thing we saw from the car & stopped to investigate. =)

We drove up elevation from Carrizo & found purple puddles of Phacelia. So great!


Closer shot of Phacelia--love those flamboyant anthers. =)

More wildflower puddles, north and uphill of the Carrizo Plain.


Back home

Band-tailed pigeons appeared under our bird feeder—that was a first!
They are SO much bigger than mourning doves (upper left corner).
Love their bright beaks & feet.

Ladybird beetle upon lilac. Ah, spring! =)

 The new climbing rose we just bought is making me swoon.
 I have a thing for anthers...

Wavyleaf soap plant (Chlorogalum pomeridianum) beading water beautifully. =)


Lovely variegated miner's lettuce (Claytonia spp.) on our property that caught my eye.
So stylish! =)

Last, a wild hyacinth (Dichelostemma capitatum) on our property.
What an elegant beauty.

I hope you all are having a marvelous spring (or fall).
It's a pretty amazing thing.

xoxoxobb

Saturday, April 20, 2013

More shots from Big Bend & Am. SW...

Quick quiz: If this was a wren,
what kind of wren might it be??
Yup. Cactus wren! =)

Fun w/photography at night in a moving vehicle.
Now that I've lightened it up, I now see the video store is "ADULTS ONLY."
Classy. However, the moon was GLORIOUS.

At the Rio Grande in Big Bend NP.
Assuming this is cliff swallow housing.

Why minimalists love the desert:
 Yum.

I assume this is some kinda desert mallow.
It was adjacent to the ol' Rio Grande in Big Bend NP.

Beautiful tree at Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum. 

 Shot I took when it was nigh onto night.
Long exposure, rental car holding camera.
But I'm super glad I took these shots,
'cause it was the only time I got to see this super interesting area. 

"Yeah, yeah, I'm gorgeous. I know.
Got anything I can kill?"
 Harris's Hawk.

Gila woodpecker totally ignoring me.
 And looking SO BEAUTIFUL!

 White-winged dove.
 Dig the cheek/neck sheen.

Female cardinal looking SO coy and adorable.

The flirtiest band-tailed pigeon I've ever encountered.

Tippy top of a boojum tree (Fouquieria columnaris), or cirio.


This was all late Feb, early March.
Especially for you folks still in snow,
hope the virtual sunshine helped. =)

xobb