Cactus Kate

It’s been a while since I have posted, and that is because I have been SUPER busy – with work AND fun!

Rich and I went camping May 16/17 in Ten Mile Wash, and did some exploring, and had a great time.  Here are some photos for you to enjoy.  You can live vicariously through my pictures, and see why there are still SOME things I like about the Moab area…it’s absolutely beautiful, when you get far enough away to appreciate the lack of tourists.

The first photo below is a little double arch in the Ten Mile Point area.  It was great, and we climbed up on top of it.  The second is an incredibly bright ball of paintbrush (Castilleja chromosa).  After that is a GREAT photo Rich took of some Rough Mule’s Ears (Wyethia scabra) near Tombstone Rock.  Last is a Yucca harrimaniae that I just thought looked nice in its surroundings.

There were SOOOO many birds in the morning!  I got to add a Blue Grosbeak to my life list, although I didn’t get a very good picture of him.  I am posting the pictures I DID get, though, because it’s the only way I can convey how BLUE he was!  There were lots of Say’s Phoebes around where we camped, and lots of Ash-Throated Flycatchers.

There were Yellow Warblers everywhere, too.  I only managed to get a decent shot of Mrs. Yellow Warbler, though.  Mindy had a GREAT time running around, chasing lizards, getting in the wash and getting soaked, etc.  The first photo of her below is after one such wash experience, and she looks utterly annoyed that I would dare to photograph her looking goofy and skinny-legged.

Below are some panoramic photos I took and pieced together.  They turned out alright, and they show the area a little better than a single picture can.  The first is of the Rainbow Rocks area, the second is where we camped (if you look closely, you can see the red 4-Runner near the right side of the photo), and the third is from one of the MANY ‘Ten Mile Point’ areas.

We really did have a good time, and took lots of great pictures.  It had been years since I went camping, and I forgot how much I love sleeping out in the wild, where it is so quiet your ears ring, and so dark it’s amazing, and you can see every star.

Thanks for reading!

Hi, folks.

I have been doing a little birding, along with just enjoying the nice weather.  Here are some recent bird sightings:

A Downy Woodpecker, a Western Scrub Jay – thinking he’s funny (actually, I think he was looking under that rock), and a pair of Mountain Bluebirds (why does the male always get to be the flashy, fancy one?!):

A Lazuli bunting, and a Say’s Phoebe:

Seems to be a lot of blue in the bird world right now.  …guess ‘blue is the new gray’, eh?

Also, there was an American Goldfinch in one of my trees the other day.

Enjoy your birds!

The desert is finally coming alive with beautiful flowers!  I love wildflowers.  They are everywhere here in the spring.  What you will see in this post are flowers that are blooming right now.  I took all these photos within the last week.  I apologize for the gross lack of scientific names, but it’s late, and I don’t want to look them up.

Slender Cryptantha, Yellow Cryptantha, and Yellow-eye Cryptantha:

1 Crescent Milkvetch, 2 Rimrock Milkvetches, and a Funnel Lily:

Common Paintbrush in habitat and up close, and 2 views of Western Peppergrass:

A TINY flower that I can’t identify, Dwarf Evening-Primrose, Pale Evening-Primrose, and the first of 5 Cisco Woodyaster:

4 more Cisco Woodyasters.  The last one was pink, and of the hundreds we saw today, this was the only pink one.  All others a lovely white.

3 Penstemon utahensis (the whole plant, up close, and in habitat), and one Desert Parsley:

2 Prairie Wild Onions, and 2 Rock-Cress:

A forest of Bottle Plants (AKA Desert Trumpets, AKA Eriogonum inflatum), a solo Bottle Plant (well, I guess it has a friend…), and a can in the midst of the forest for scale:

Yes, I know.  “Whew“, you’re saying. “That was a PLETHORA of photos“.  Enjoy your own area wildflowers!