More than petroglyphs and a shade-seeking squirrel

At Petroglyphs National Monument in Albuquerque on June 13th I saw plenty of flowering broom dalea plants (Dalea scoparia). Unlike the squirrel that tried to stay in the shade, these plants thrive in heat and bright sunlight. Here’s a closer look:

© 2017 Steven Schwartzman

More than petroglyphs

I photographed more than petroglyphs at Petroglyph National Monument in Albuquerque on June 13th. Presumably to avoid the heat of the sun, this squirrel kept scrunching itself down into some of the narrow shadows cast by a picnic shelter.

© 2017 Steven Schwartzman

Petroglyph National Monument again

On June 13th we visited Petroglyph National Monument in Albuquerque for the second time, our previous visit having been in the fall of 2014. This time we walked a trail we hadn’t on that first visit, the Cliff Base Trail in Boca Negra Canyon.

The third picture gives you a feel for the desert landscape around there.

© 2017 Steven Schwartzman

Rocky Mountain iris colony

Click to enlarge.

On June 9th, after we’d driven clockwise more than half-way around the Enchanted Circle Scenic Byway north of Taos, New Mexico, I came across this happily flowering colony of Rocky Mountain irises. Given the wildflower’s popular name, which I learned on the trip, I was later surprised to find out the scientific name is Iris missouriensis. As far as I know, the Rocky Mountains don’t make it into that state; sorry, Missouri.

Today’s picture confirms what the website of the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center says of this species: “it often forms dense, large patches in low spots in pastures, where the tough leaves are avoided by cattle.”

After the reactions to the rattlesnake in the previous post, I’ll bet many of you are relieved to see wildflowers again.

© 2017 Steven Schwartzman

Ocotillo and mountains at sundown

Later on October 3, 2014, I pulled over at another rest area on Interstate 10. This time it was the one above Las Cruces, New Mexico, and I photographed an ocotillo (Fouquiera splendens) against a backdrop of the Organ Mountains at sundown. You can see that the upper portion of the closer ocotillo stalk still had a trace of sunlight on it, while the lower portion was already in shadow.

© 2015 Steven Schwartzman

Four-wing saltbush

Last November I temporarily stopped showing photographs from my September trip through parts of the American Southwest so that you could see some of the many things going on in nature in Austin during a colorful late-autumn. Now let me reach back and show some more pictures from my trip. Mixed in with those images are likely to be a few more-recent ones from Austin.

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In a November 9th post that showed petroglyphs in New Mexico and Arizona, the second photograph also let a four-wing saltbush plant creep in at the lower right. Melissablue said she was “tickled that we are still treated to botany.” At the time, Atriplex canescens was only “a member of the supporting cast,” as shoreacres put it, but now four-wing saltbush gets to play the starring role. The in-situ picture above and the closeup below of another specimen are from two sections of Petroglyph National Monument in Albuquerque on September 23, 2014.

© 2015 Steven Schwartzman

Petroglyphs

After the recent posts with nature photographs from Petroglyph National Monument in Albuquerque, a couple of people asked to see pictures of petroglyphs, so here goes. The first photograph is from September 23rd; the flowers at the base of the rock are broom snakeweed.

This second picture is also from the Boca Negra Canyon section of Petroglyph National Monument on September 23rd. This time the plant at the lower right is a four-wing saltbush, Atriplex canescens.

And here are some petroglyphs from September 30th at the Deer Valley Rock Art Center in northwest Phoenix. Note in the lower right what appear to be two male deer.

© 2014 Steven Schwartzman