Jeremy's Birds (and More)

4 Peaks in 4 Days: Day 3 - Mt. Sunflower, KS There wasn't much around this "peak" except for certain varieties of Bos primigenius , but I posted this to round out the trip. Day 4 was spent driving back home so I don't have any photos from that day. We did see this,  Black Swallowtail Butterfly , at Robbie's house where we crashed at the end of Day 3.  One of her kids had captured it in a Mason jar, which gives this photos its unique look.

4 Peaks in 4 Days: Day 3 - Black Mesa, OK This doesn't show the "peak," but, then again, there really wasn't one. It does show what the area generally looked like. We esentially hiked to the top of the bluff on the left to the highpoint. Plains Lubber ( Brachystola magna) . The biggest grasshopper I've ever seen in my life. It was early in the morning so it wasn't moving very well and I was able to get it up on my hiking staff. The photo doesn't do justice to how big this was for a grasshopper. Texas Horned Lizard . This reminds me a bit of Stich from Lilo and Stich for some reason.

Birds Lark Sparrow .   Horned Lark Western Kingbird

Wildflowers Bush Morning Glory ( Ipomoea leptophylla ) . This is in the morning glory family, but does not grow on a vine Whitemouth dayflower ( Commelina erecta )  aka Widow's tears, Day flower. One of the coolest flowers I think I've ever seen. I really like the distinctive two blue petals, once white. Bractless Blazingstar ( Mentzelia nuda ) . Unknown Sunflower/Aster . Yellow flowers of this type are probably the hardest for me to identify just due to the sheer number of similar looking plants. If you have any ideas let me know

Cacti and Yucca Soapweed Yucca ( Yucca glauca ) . The branches at the top of the stem is very rare to find, usually it is just a strait stem with a cluster of pods. Tree Cholla ( Opuntia imbricata ) . More tree cholla, I included this shot for the very cool spider web attached. 

4 Peaks in 4 Days: Day 2 - Carlsbad Cavern, NM Guadalupe Peak was just a few miles from the Carslbad Caverns so we decided to stop and check it out. The first photo is of the natural enterance and I posted one more as a representative sample of the caves. They were really quite cool. The night before we had stopped by to see the bats exit from the cave.  Although the Park wouldn't let us come as close as usual, we did see thousands of Brazilian or Mexican free-tail bats exit the cave. Silverleaf Nightshade ( Solanum elaeagnifolium ) aka Purple Nightshade. Desert Prickly-Pear ( Opuntia phaeacantha ) aka Brownspine pricklypear, Tulip pricklypear. Cave Swallow .  There were hundreds flying all around the natural entrance.  Given the millions of bats in the cave and the swallows, I'm surprised that there are any  insects anywhere near the cave.  Canyon Wren . Also near the natural entrance into the caverns.

4 Peaks in 4 Days: Day 2 - Guadalupe Peak, TX This was the best shot of the peak. We were about half-way there when this was taken. The posts below show the flowers, shrubs, and other plants and wildlife we encountered on this trip.

Wildflowers Hartweg's Sundrops ( Calylophus hartwegii ) . Evening-Primrose family. We started the hike before dawn and these flowers were everywhere. As the sun came out and began to strike the flowers, they quickly closed up. Pale Evening Primrose (Oenothera primiveris) Also of the Evening-Primrose family. Mexican Silene ( Silene laciniata ) . Probably the most distinctive flower we saw on the whole trip. Wild Blue Flax ( Linum lewisii ) . Golden-beard Penstemon ( Penstemon barbatus ) .

Animals Crevice Spiny Lizard . The very distinctive neck band and tail bands made this one easy to identify. It was a fairly large lizard too. This was the only animal we saw that I got a photo of, but I did also see a Mountain Chickadee and White-Throated Swift (both birds). 

We saw these ladybugs on the top of Gudalupe Peak. When I first saw them, I thought they were the fruit of the bush they were clustered on, but on closer inspection discovered they were lady bugs. All of this type of bush were covered as thickly as this one, but I wasn't able to identify the bush.

Cacti and Yucca Engelmann's Prickly Pear ( Opuntia engelmannii ) . This was growing atthe very top of the peak. It would have been a better shot if the flower were more fully in bloom. Sotol ( Dasylirion liophyllum ) , aka desert spoon. A very cool looking plant. I love the long stem.

Shrubs Mock Orange bush, ( Philadelphus genus) . There are several specific varieties and species which are very difficult to distinguish. For my purposes, mock orange is sufficient. Mohave buckbush, ( Ceanothus greggii )  aka desert ceanothus.  If you look closely the flowers are actually several smaller flowers bunched together. These smaller flowers are closed rather tightly in this photo which gives it a distinctive look. Cliffrose ( Purshia mexicana ) . I like how tissue paper thin the flower is on this plant

Unknown plants This shrub has pink and white trumpet type flowers. I would have thought it would be easy to identify, but I have found nothing like it in any of the guide books or on the net. This purple flower is also quite distinctive, but again, could not identify it.

4 Peaks in 4 Days: Day 1 - Wheeler Peak, NM Wheeler Peak.  This shot was taken at William's Lake, just before the brutal assent, 1,000 ft in elevation in just over a mile!  Below are the plants and animals we encountered along the way. We saw this Yellowbelly Marmot on the very peak. It was very accustomed to humans and was looking for a handout.