Stella's Social Club

[drumstick diva]

Dar how do those birds sit on the cactus and not, I imagine, get impaled on the spines?? When you take your hike, do you ever encounter poisonous snakes? The wild flowers are beautiful.

 

[tazcat70]

Lovely pictures! I love the baby goats! And Arizona! So pretty. I actually own 2.5 acres near Yucca, so I love seeing the pics.

Kathy, that is a lot of boys. I keep thinking about going and getting a few chicks from him. Maybe later. I can't believe everyone wasn't clamoring for your chocolate Orps.

 

[kathyinmo]

Great pictures! Is that smog or fog?
I love the flowers.
Here - I turned your pictures for ya..........

 

[kathyinmo]

Kathy, that is a lot of boys. I keep thinking about going and getting a few chicks from him. Maybe later. I can't believe everyone wasn't clamoring for your chocolate Orps.

Come and get 'em! I need to look through them and see how many chocolates I got and how many blacks.

 

[mlm Mike]

Great photos Mahonri!

 

[Mahonri]

Kathy,

THANKS for turning the pics!

I did that before I downloaded and they still ended up on their sides!!!

As for downtown Phoenix. AIR POLLUTION and DUST. It has been a very cloudy day here... but no rain.... which we desperately need.

Mary,

Not bluebonnets... but similar.

Nancy,

YES, I have encountered many rattlesnakes on my days walking the trails... and a coyote or two and some ringtailed foxes and lots of wild quail and lots of jack rabbits.

There have been so many times walking the trails that I WISHED I'd taken my camera and so today, I did... I should have taken more pics of the myriad of wildflowers because there is only a two week window for most of them.

As a biology major at the Univ. of Utah, we would often take field trips to a state park just north of St. George.

On one hike up above our campsite, we went to an area that had just received a lot of rain a few days previos. We saw ponds with tadpoles in them. These tadpoles become frogs, mate and lay eggs in the mud that can lay dormant for years... until it rains and then the quick two to three week cycle of their lives runs once again. The desert is an amazing place. But I'll be honest, I wish we could skip June, July and August. May and September are enough HOT for me.

 

[debs_flock]

I did that before I downloaded and they still ended up on their sides!!!

I've had a few do that to me lately too, I couldn't figure it out so I just deleted them.

 

[gryeyes]

Dar, lovely photos! I just love Ocotillo, dunno why. I once spent a two- week eternity in Marfa, Texas. My BF at the time took me on a drive to the Rio Grande, through desert (Duh!) I found gorgeous. I had a film camera then and took rolls and rolls of photos. Ocotillo was my favorite, but the tiniest blue wildflowers also captured my eye. I also took pictures of a natural spring-fed pool about four feet across with little live FISH it!!!! How does that happen!?!? Nature is wonderful. And road-runners.... All my roadrunner photos had blurs, not roadrunners, in 'em. I got back to work with the prints after my vacation and bored the heck out of my co-workers. "Oh, more rocks," they said. Then I was told there were roadrunners in Carmel Valley (in Monterey County, in which I lived). One hot summer day I discovered ocotillo blooming at the end of my block in Seaside.

 

[1muttsfan]

I know what you mean about the road runners, I have been trying to take pictures of dolphins, and boy they are hard to photograph - by the time you figure out where they are they have already blown and dove down again. Saw 2 adults with a youngster yesterday, they are so neat to watch, sleek and beautiful.

 

[Hangtown Farms]

Pics from my morning hike.... violet and yellow flowers...

Valley just to the east of Squaw Peak.

Squaw Peak

Downtown Phoenix in the distance... if you look carefully you can see Chase Field.

Brittle bush.... pretty yellow flowers.

Camelback Mountain in the distance...

Squaw Peak from the top of a hill to the east...

A barrel cactus.

Saguaros

Saguaros up close Why does it turn my pics?

Sorry it turns my pics... "On the trail"

Orange flowers

Cholla or "Jumping Catus"

Palo verde tree to the left, Ocotillo to the right. The Ocotillo will be blooming soon with bright red flowers. Both of these trees are known as nurses for baby Saguaros.... They can't grow as young plants unless they are in the shade initially.

Blooming creosote

Blooming violet flowers... these only last for perhaps a week and then they are gone till next year, IF it rains in February.

A very young (40 or 50 year old) saguaro, growing in the shade of a Palo verde tree.

Squaw Peak from another vantage point.

Another interesting little Cacti... don't know it's official name. Looks happy to be there.

Home of some cactus wrens....

There's a nest in there....

And there is mama... daddy had just delivered some goods and flew away.

Mama Cactus Wren, waiting for her mate to return with goodies for the chicks in the nest.


Wish I could take cool photos like Mary... but this is just from my Cannon point and shoot.

pretty pictures. Nice Lupine and looks like California poppy from a distance. Ocotillo aka Octopus plant