A pair of curve billed thrashers built a nest in a cholla in front of our house. They have three eggs in the nest as of today. We hope to be able to get photos of the birds feeding the hatchlings soon. Click on the image to enlarge.
May 2013
Three Prickly Pear Flowers
Here’s more of the spring crop of cactus flowers. These three were adjacent on a cactus paddle. I had to duck under a palo verde tree in bloom to get to the cactus underneath. Notice the center flower has a bee gathering nectar. Click on the image to enlarge.
Pink Cholla
Most of the cholla cacti on and around our property have yellow or copper flowers. Not far from our house, however, there is a cholla that produces these bright pink flowers. I stopped and got a photo of one of the flowers. Click on the image to enlarge.
AR1734 – “Great Horned Sunspot”
I read about this sunspot on SpaceWeather.com today. Seeing the article prompted me to get out the tripod and solar filter out and try to get a picture of my own. In the enlarged version of this image, you can see that I managed to capture the structure of this unusual-looking sunspot (inset). Click on the image to enlarge.
From SpaceWeather.com
Around the world, amateur astronomers are snapping pictures of behemoth sunspot AR1734 as it crosses the solar disk. In Buffalo, New York, photographer Alan Friedman noticed something when he rotated his picture 90 degrees. “Sunspot 1734 has a definite owlish look!” “But who gives a hoot,” he continued, “this grand active region looks fantastic from every perspective.”
The owl could be poised to explode. Sunspot AR1734 has a ‘beta-gamma’ magnetic field that harbors energy for M-class solar flares, almost-certainly Earth-directed because the sunspot is facing our planet. NOAA forecasters estimate a 45% chance of M-flares on May 6th.
Cleveland Sage Flowers
Cleveland Sage (a.k.a salvia clevelandii) is a shrub that grows in our courtyard. This is the third year for the sage and their beautiful (and fragrant) flowers in our yard. Click on the image to enlarge.
From Wikipedia:
Salvia clevelandii (Cleveland sage, Blue sage, Jim sage and Fragrant sage) is a perennial plant that is native to Southern California and northern Baja California, growing below 3,000 ft elevation in California coastal sage and chaparral habitat. The plant was named in 1874 by Asa Gray, honoring plant collector Daniel Cleveland.
Climate Change
This one is for our friends in the Northern plains, Great Lakes and Northeastern areas of the country who still wait for spring . . .
Lawyer’s Tongue Cactus – Spring Update
The cactus we rescued from a nearby park has four new paddles this spring. It started out as a single paddle in 2010 and has grown to the point where I’m going to have to plant it out in Damsel’s rock and cactus garden west of the house. I posted about this cactus when two new paddles appeared in July of 2011. I also posted about it last August. Click on the image to enlarge.