Water Colors

Photos by Marty Horowitz 12/9/2015

Let's continue to reflect beauty in all we do! Happy New Year!

Leaves, too

Photo by Marty Horowitz 12/3/2015

Wild Cotton (Gossypium thurberi) leaves

Leaves

Photos by Marty Horowitz 12/9/2015

Spectacular colors in the riparian area trees!

As we close out the year, I'd like to thank the photographers and guest bloggers who helped make this blog spectacular again in 2015, especially Ned Harris, photographer extraordinaire; Marty Horowitz, Fred Heath, Mark Hengesbaugh (collectively known as HaHoHeHe)!

Also Bob Wenrick, Gene Spesard, and, of course, my very own Honey-Matt!!

Others include: Phil, Bill, Dennis and Lyn; Alan, Vaughn, and Wayne; Dan, Don, and Daniel; Elaine, Linda, Lenor, Marge, and Roger; Angie, Cindy, Jeannie, Julie, Ricki, Suzi, and Terry; and The Serpent Princess of Dancing Snake Nature Photography!

Thank you all for sharing the beauty of Sabino Canyon with Your Daily Dose!

Ragged Rock Flower

Photo by Bob Wenrick 12/9/2015

Ragged Rock Flower (Crossosoma bigelovii) is in bloom along the Bluff trail.

And a bonus book recommendation. The Invention of Nature: Alexander von Humboldt's New World by Andrea Wulf. High time to give Alexander credit for many ideas about the natural world that we take for granted today.

Fall in Winter

All Photos by Julie Miller 12/11/2015. Click on photo for larger view.

Thanks, Julie, for the wonderful walk!

Art of the Damsel

Photo by Marty Horowitz 12/3/2015

Looking like abstract art, a Great Spreadwing couple. 

Fred Heath reveals that the Great Spreadwing doesn't deposit her eggs in water. He writes:

They are generally common in Sabino late in the year, but I’ve never seen so many as were along the creek above the dam. Lots were sitting in overhanging branches in tandem. I kept watching to see them oviposit in the water, without success. I have since found out why. According to Dennis Paulson (Dragonflies and Damselflies of the West), they lay eggs "in leaf petioles or stems of herbaceous or woody plants, sometimes well above the water (perhaps highest known odonate oviposition at 44 feet above water)." The newly hatched larva then "….leaps and flips about until it gets to the water…" Who knew!!

Now you know, too!

Click on this link for more photos, including of a female ovipositing on a leaf. 

Scary Apples!

On the first Ned-less walk of the season, Jane took some photos to try out her new phone-camera lens, including this one we staged.

Photo by Jane Gellman 12/2/2015

I showed the Fantastic Four (Lyn, Fred, Bob, and Marty) this scary fruit on the 2nd walk, too; and staged another shot for Bob.

Photo by Bob Wenrick 12/9/2015

What is this bizarre-looking thing? I'm so glad you asked. It's the dried fruit of Balsam Apple (Echinopepon wrightii) (Echinopepon = from Greek echinos = spiny, prickly; pepon = large melon). Click the link to see photos of the tiny flowers and green fruits of this plant. There's still a seed in the left section in Bob's photo. On the right side in Jane's.

We first noticed this plant last year in the riparian area above the dam, and this year it has spread to several other areas. Good thing it's a native! I think the dried fruits look like little hedgehogs. Or maybe frightened porcupines!