Desert Packrat: The Payoff from the Precip

Thursday, August 15, 2013

The Payoff from the Precip

The western flank of Tortoise Mountain

All the rain we've had recently here in the northern Chihuahuan Desert has begun to pay dividends. The desert is greener than I've seen it in a long time, and it's filled with colorful flowers. Becca and I decided to hike up a long arroyo toward Tortugas (Tortoise) Mountain, and we were rewarded with the discovery of many Dayflowers. I paid the price for the decision, though, as I was bitten in several places by sand flies. The bites itched pretty badly for about fifteen minutes then eased off.

A splash of yellow

Ready for action

Loggerhead Shrike

Dayflowers and dog

An arroyo that runs out of Tortugas Mountain

Mesquite Tree flowers

Hedgehog Cactus and Becca

Ocotillos (aka "Buggy Whips") in the western foothills

Prickly Pear Cactus

A fifteen-foot-tall Ocotillo

Petrified silicone implant

Littleleaf Ratany

The seed pod of a Rain Lily has burst open

Just another Dayflower

How green is my desert?

2 comments:

Dr. K said...: Beautiful photos, Packrat. I hope we get rain for at least another month.; August 16, 2013 at 8:16 AM
Scott said...: The images are exquisite today, Packrat. I especially like the mesquite flowers.

I just "nuked" (i.e., sprayed with Roundup herbicide) about 1/4 of my vegetable garden that had gotten so overrun with dayflowers that they had killed everything else in the garden. Kali said it was s total loss, so she said we ought to start over in that section; I couldn't have agreed with her more. The common species here is a real menace! Now I've got a mass of ugly, brown dying plants right at the front of my garden.; August 16, 2013 at 11:25 AM

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