As I took the dogs out for their first morning walk today, I noticed the moon was perfectly placed behind Verna’s big saguaro cactus, so I stopped and snapped this photo with my little pocket camera. There were a lot of open flowers today, further enhancing the moon’s effect on the photo. Not bad for a little cheapie digital camera. Click on the image to enlarge.
I hiked up the hill behind the house today to see if our compass cactus had any flowers. I wasn’t disappointed – the cactus had two flowers open and more to come. The flowers and buds are arranged in a circle around the crown of the barrel. Click on the image to enlarge.
I happened to be up by the west property line where one of our Queen of the Night cacti lives. I was happy to see a flower bud growing again this year. I took a snapshot of the cactus and upon later inspection I found what appear to be two other buds forming. The bud I noticed is circled in the image above and the two suspected buds to be are indicated by arrows. Click on the image to enlarge.
Last year’s flowers from this cactus may be seen here.
This is the fourth day that the big saguaro cactus out front had had flowers opening. This photo was taken from the driveway this morning. Of course these flowers are now closing this evening, but will be replaced with many more flowers that will open over the next several weeks. Click on the image to enlarge.
I couldn’t positively identify the species of this lizard from the little desert guide book we have. Nonetheless, it just sat on the river rocks in front of the house watching me as I sprayed for weeds in the rock garden. It didn’t flinch when I took out my little camera and snapped this photo. It only moved when I had to climb up on the rocks to spray a weed higher up. Click on the image to enlarge.
I was out by the irrigation box next to the big saguaro cactus out front when I noticed a bird on the top of some of the flower pods. I usually carry my little point-and-shoot camera, so I retrieved it and took several shots of the bird on the pods. This photo was the best of them, so I am posting it here. The bird is a cactus wren, the state bird of Arizona. The flower pod upon which it is perched is going to open and be the state flower of Arizona. Click on the image to enlarge.
