Jeremy's Birds (and More)

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

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.

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 ) .

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.

Subalpine Larkspur . The flowers are pretty, but the mass of flowers is the most impressive. We saw these along the trail as we first started out, it was very damp and humid, which felt strange for a hike in arid NM.

You can see the Shrubby Cinquefoil in the foreground of this shot of William's Lake. California Corn Lily,  aka False Hellebore. These were growing next to the lake. I'm in the shot to show how tall they grow. These Mountain Bluebells threw me at first because of the pink color. They were all over the place. I found out when I came back that the pink color is quite common when the plant is immature. Other flowers seen on this hike: Colorado Columbines and Elephant's head.