Roseate skimmer
On October 4th I photographed a dragonfly that I take to be a roseate skimmer, Orthemis ferruginea.
Why the photograph doesn’t show six legs remains a mystery.
© 2018 Steven Schwartzman
Frost and frostweed ice
As yesterday gave way to today, the temperature in Austin dropped below freezing, so out I went this morning to check on a stand of frostweed (Verbesina virginica) that I rely on in Great Hills Park. Sure enough, a couple of dozen plants had done their magic ice trick. The one shown here did so right next to a straggler daisy (Calyptocarpus vialis) that conveniently harmonized with it by getting frosted in its own right. If you’d like a better view of the straggler daisy, click the thumbnail below.
And if you’re not familiar with the frostweed ice phenomenon, you’re welcome to read more about it.
© 2018 Steven Schwartzman
Purple wood-sorrel flower opening
From the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, here’s an opening bud of purple wood-sorrel, Oxalis drummondii, on September 26th. Since then I’ve continued to see these small flowers in various places around Austin, including right at home. Speaking of which, if you’d like to see what an open flower of this species looked like in our yard in 2016, you can check out a post from then.
© 2018 Steven Schwartzman
Onederful
Here on day 11 in month 11 of the year is something appropriate for veterans of arithmetic:
Keeping an eye on goldeneye
I began seeing Viguiera dentata, known as goldeneye, flowering in Austin around the middle of October, which is normal timing for these bushes. When I did several closeups of flower heads along Spicewood Springs Rd. on October 22nd, some drops of morning dew or residual rain hadn’t yet evaporated. The light was dull, so for this picture I used flash, then softened harsh parts of the image a little when processing it.
In contrast, on a sunny November 1st I stopped to photograph a good goldeneye stand along RM 2222 about a mile west of Capital of Texas Highway. The tree is a mesquite, Prosopis glandulosa.
And in the “more is more” category, here’s a closer look at the interplay between the bare branches and the masses of goldeneye flowers:
For those of you in cold places, may all this yellow brighten your day. Even in November, Texas still knows how to put on a wildflower display.
© 2018 Steven Schwartzman
A dramatic view from Guadalupe Mountains National Park
On this date two years ago, the next-to-the-last day of our grand trip through the southwestern part of the United States that you’ve been seeing pictures from, we reached Guadalupe Mountains National Park in west Texas. We hoped to see some fall foliage but we arrived so late and the weather was so gloomy that we abandoned that idea. Instead I offer you this view from there with Apache plume (Fallugia paradoxa) in the foreground and a dead tree, a mountain, and dark clouds beyond it. The Apache plume tufts show you which way the wind blew.
As we continued on to New Mexico, the dark clouds played a role in the dramatic sunset you saw here early last year.
© 2018 Steven Schwartzman
Life and death in Saguaro National Park
Behold a fishhook barrel cactus (Ferocactus wislizenii) in the eastern sector of Tucson’s Saguaro National Park as we saw it two years ago today:
Hardy as desert plants are, they all eventually meet their demise. Here’s what a barrel cactus look like then:
Oh, all right, it was Saguaro National Park, so I guess I’ll have to show you a saguaro cactus (Carnegiea gigantea). This one had two particularly enfolding “arms”:
And here are the stately remains of a saguaro with upraised “arms”:
© 2018 Steven Schwartzman
