Blooming yellow

Photo by Ned Harris 4/27/2013

Bur Marigold (Bidens aurea). Look along the creek for these flowers on tall, thin stems. They are often in bloom (like now) when they aren't supposed to be (late summer and fall). They may look slightly different than in this photo, of course. The appearance of all living things is influenced by genetics and environment. Sometimes the variations in appearance between members of the same species are great. Take humans, for example.

Photo by Ned Harris 4/30/2014

If you've been walking along the road into Sabino Canyon, you've probably noticed the bright yellow flowers of Jackass Clover (Wislizenia refracta, now in the Cleome Family). And yes, that's really the common name! I didn't make it up :-) Feel free to use freely.

Paper Wasps

Photo by Ned Harris 4/30/2014

Paper wasps tending a nest on one of the restrooms in Sabino Canyon. Bug Eric (Eric Eaton) had this to say about them:

Yes, those are eggs in some of the cells. The capped ones have pupae inside. All wasps are the same species: Polistes major, but different subspecies. Yellow one is P. major major, dark ones are P. major castaneicolor. This might be a rather unusual situation.

More info on the wasps of this area can be found here (on the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum site).

Aye, Matey!

Photo by Ned Harris 4/30/2014

These Marine Blue butterflies are - you guessed it - mating. The female will fly off and lay eggs on host plants; for this species, Leadwort (Plumbago zeylanica) and Velvet Mesquite (Prosopis velutina), among others. The caterpillars that hatch from these eggs will need to eat an appropriate host plant, so it's important to get it right. The caterpillars (larvae) eat and grow, then pupate; i.e., take themselves almost completely apart and re-build with wings. After emerging, they fly off to start the cycle again. That, my friends, is complete metamorphosis.

Up snake-i-scope

Photo by Ned Harris 4/30/2014

Click on this (and all photos in this blog) for a larger view. This beauty is a Sonoran Whipsnake (click the words for more info from the Reptiles of AZ site). Another great photo on page 41 of A Naturalist's Guide to Sabino Canyon, 2nd edition, 2012. If you don't have one of those yet, wait no longer! Send me an email and I'll let you know how to purchase.

Squirrely

Photo by Ned Harris 4/30/2014

Last stop on Ned's last nature walk of the season was a photo session with this Round-tailed Ground Squirrel, calmly munching on a saguaro flower bud under the ramada by the tram hut. Please don't feed these little guys human food, as cute - and seemingly tame - as they are. (We were all happy to see that something other than a cheez-it was being consumed.) Keep 'em wild!

Whoooo are yoooo?

Photos by Lenor Lavelle, late-April 2014

In a nest in a tree in a neighborhood near Sabino Canyon, (at least) two Great Horned Owlets are hooting it up. Look a bit like koalas, to me.

First seen in April!

Photo by Marty Horowitz 4/23/2014

The first Saguaro (Carnegiea gigantea) blossoms in Sabino Canyon were seen on April 1! No foolin'! A month later, nearly every saguaro has some! Gorgeous!