is coming on strong and the nearby canyons are nicely fragrant, at least for a little while. It is unfortunate that you can’t scratch-n-sniff the image below to enjoy the experience.
Cliffrose (Purshia mexicana).
Finches behave like...
crack-addicted maniacs around the thistle feeder.
Having fun with the Milky Way...
in May around Castle Valley, Utah.
Great Basin gopher snake...
slithering across my driveway and approximately one meter in length. Although its markings resembles a rattlesnake, it lacks a rattle and is non-venomous.
Great Basin gopher snake (Pituophis catenifer deserticola), also known as the bull snake.
Fruita, Colorado claims to be...
both the dinosaur and mountain biking capital of western Colorado as the terrific sign on this grain elevator proudly suggests!
Sustained water flow...
on Mars is evidenced in the sedimentary landform in Jezero Crater, a river-dominated “Gilbert-type” delta system, as seen in this recent imagery from the Perseverance rover on Mars.
Annotated image captured on 7 May 2021 (Sol 77) by the SuperCam Remote Micro-Imager. The thickness of the foreset bedded unit is difficult to determine, but it is at least many meters thick. Note the tangential lower contact between the foreset and bottomset beds.
Diagram illustrating the sedimentary processes and depositional architecture of a prograding (advancing) deltaic system (from research.net).
Busy bee on globemallow blossom...
Globemallow bee (Diadasia diminuta). The orange blossom is about 1 cm across!
Apricot globemallow (Sphaeralcea ambigua).
Spring bloom status update...
for the high desert of southeastern Utah.
Hopi blanketflower (Gaillardia pinnatifida).
Utah penstemon (Penstemon utahensis).
Narrowleaf yucca flowers (Yucca angustissima).
Aluminum mining...
in red rock canyon country.
Claret cup cactus...
produce some of the most striking flowers on the Colorado Plateau.
Claret cup cactus (Echinocereus triglochidiatus).
Yoga exercises...
at the heronry today on the Colorado River.
I am shooting these at a distance of ~150 yards, with a Canon EOS 5D Mark IV and the Canon 500 mm f/4 EF lens with the EF 1.4x III extender for an effective focal length of 700 mm, on a tripod-mounted gimbal head. I am stunned at the optical quality and ability to acquire tack-sharp tracking focus of this camera/lens under, admittedly, near perfect lighting conditions.
Birds of Castle Valley...
gallery has been added today! Follow the hummingbird and head to the main menu and select Gallery and you’ll find it in the growing list.
Male Black-Chinned Hummingbird (Archilochus alexandri).
Pollination in action...
Midday shot of rough mule’s ears below Parriott Mesa.
Dinner is on the way...
European Starling (Sturnus vulgaris).
Meals on wings! (The nest is under the corner of the metal roof.)
Desert varnish...
paints the natural canvas provided by the Navajo Sandstone escarpment above the Colorado River near Goose Island.
Desert varnish is an extraordinarily thin patina of rust-colored manganese and/or iron oxide found on stable exposed rock surfaces in arid environments.
The cows cometh...
to graze the open range. As destructive as they are, they are delicious.
Well above the Colorado River...
between Professor and Castle Valleys is a land surface covered by well rounded pebble- to cobble-sized gravels, chiefly composed of igneous and metamorphic clasts. They are not terrace gravels related to the Colorado River located 320 meters (1,000 feet) below. Rather they have weathered from the Cutler Formation, having been deposited in braided stream channels approximately 300 million years ago.
Strike valley within the Early Permian-age Cutler Formation with Adobe Mesa on left. While not obvious here, this land surface is littered with well rounded stream cobbles. (Click on image to enlarge.)
Well rounded cobble-sized igneous and metamorphic clasts that have weathered from the Cutler Formation, with their provenance being the Precambrian basement rocks in the ancestral Uncompahgre Mountains that existed further east during Permian time.
Introducing Mattie...
the adorable Australian Shepard pup down the lane.
Biggest and baddest sunflower...
in canyon country, and another on my personal favorite list. The leaves may indeed be rough, but the blossoms are huge and occur in large clusters that dot the desert landscape.
Rough mule’s ear (Wyethia scabra) beneath Parriott Mesa.
The bloom marches on...
in the high desert of southeastern Utah.
Yellow cryptanth (Cryptantha flava).
Larkspur (Delphinium andersonii).