This morning I went for my usual morning hike. I headed west over the rim of the Peloncillo Mountains. At my location, that rim isn’t very high, but it still gives a great view of the surrounding area and the Chiricahua Mountains to the west. At the crest, as I was admiring the scenery, a Scott’s Oriole flew into some Ocotillos right in front of me, sun behind me. I thought sure, as soon as I raise up the camera it will fly off. But it didn’t. I took 77 photos as it foraged in the flowers. The bird was definitely pollinating too.
My favorite, nice light, nice action, nice background, great bird! What more could one ask for? I have lots of images like this one. This image shows the pollen on the bird’s face and bill. This one turned out very nice too. I’ve never seen a male Clark’s Spiny Lizard this colorful. At first, I wasn’t even sure what species this was. It doesn’t have the typical banding on the front legs, although there is some. The lizard posed so I could see the ventral blue patches. A Great Horned Owl, still apparently on a nest. This is getting pretty late in the season for that. Slender Janusia, Cottsia gracilis. This is the only species of Janusia in the region. I don’t think I’ve ever seen it before. I copied the following from Southwest Desert Flora: A rare species in the United States, where Slender Janusia is found primarily in Arizona with small populations in New Mexico and Texas. It is also common in Baja California and Mexico.
