Landscapes and Plants of New Mexico Day 1

View of White Sands NM from the New Mexico Museum of Space History

Trans Mountain Expressway outside El Paso, TX

New Mexico Landscape

Agave, possibly “century plant” (Agave americana)

Sunset in Las Cruces

Hard to say for sure but maybe a Chihuahuan Spotted Whiptail (Aspidoscelis exsanguis) with less of a tail and eating an insect

Might be a variety of Leucophyllum (Leucophyllum sp?)

Cactus close up 1

I think this is a variety of globemallow (Sphaeralcea sp?) but could be wrong

Bird in silhouette

Horticultural variety of lupine (Lupinus sp?) photobombed by a what I thinks is a fly (Order diptera)

Might be globemallow (Sphaeralcea sp?) with a visiting bee

Ant carrying another insect

I think this is a horticultural variety of lupine (Lupinus sp?)

What I think is red mountain ice plant (Delosperma dyeri ‘Psdold’) 2

Mountain in Alamogordo, NM

Pretty sure this is a grapefruit tree (Citrus X paradisi)

Cactus close up 2

What I think is red mountain ice plant (Delosperma dyeri ‘Psdold’) 1

Having reached Las Cruces the day before we spent the day seeing some sights of New Mexico. Unfortunately the shutdown of the government prevented us from visiting White Sands National Monument/Missle Range as well as many other places in southwestern New Mexico. So we decided to head up to Alamogordo just outside of the White Sands and visit the New Mexico Museum of Space History, after visiting the New Mexico Farm and Ranch Heritage Museum in Las Cruces. Suffice to say, this a nature photography blog not a travel blog 🙂 but both museums are worth a visit, especially the Farm and Ranch Museum which has some very kind and knowledgeable volunteers.

At the Farm and Ranch Museum there were  a lot of horticultural and agricultural varieties of plants. Century plants abound in the southwest with their towering flower stalks, and of course many cacti of which I took several close-ups. A fly (rather than a bee, click here for a nice page telling you how to tell) decided to visit what I believe was a horticultural variety of lupine. Also some form of mallow and leucophyllum (Don’t think it’s the “Texas Ranger” variety (Leucophyllum frutescens) but the link gives you an idea). Of the agricultural variety we have grapefruit trees which I didn’t realize are a hybrid, indicated by the ‘x’ between genus a species, Citrus X paradisi.

After the museum we headed to Alamogordo, famous for the first atomic bomb tests held nearby at White Sands and the nearby Holloman Air Force Base. There is a lot of history of both the atomic age and space flight due to tests and research conducted nearby. The Space History Museum also happened to have some nice grounds and offered a nice view of the White Sands National Monument’s famous white sands. The white sands are due to a high gypsum content and while driving by on the way to Alamogordo you can see some of the dunes next to the highway (which are very long and straight). On the grounds there were some beautiful ice plants, though they seem to be invasive, especially in California (link to pdf). Some insects were out and about including an ant hauling off another insect and bees visiting flowers. In a quick point and shoot, I caught a lizard which I think may be a Chihuahuan spotted whiptail having caught a meal and lost the tip of its tail at some point.

Year in Nature Photography – Day 122

Day 2 of Arizona backyard photography.

For today we have another silhouetted animal, this time a lizard. Caught another lizard feeding on some rotting watermelon. These lizards are quite skittish and even movement at this distance will scare them off so I had to do some long distance ID for this one. Based on the color of the head and some of the patterning I’m guessing it is a desert spiny lizard which can have some quite brilliant scale coloring. The linked source indicates that females will have reddish/orangish heads during breeding season. Also apparently they can change color from light to darker to aid in the absorption (dark color) or reflection of light (light color).

In the deserts of Arizona most of the little rainfall they receive comes during the monsoon season. I’ll post about this later but this season brings out the paloverde root borer which is a member of the longhorn family of beetles and one of the largest beetles in North America. As the common name suggests, the larvae (grubs) feed primarily on the Mexican palo verde trees but will feed on other non-native trees as well. Despite their rather fierce looking mandibles (jaw, mouth parts) they seem to be vegetarian.

Cacti can be as difficult to identify as most other plants. A lot of details such as the number of folds, number of needles, how the needles are clustered, etc. distinguish different species. If you manage to catch it in flower you’ll have an easier time, unfortunately I seemed to have missed that event. All that aside, I’m pretty confident that I have a picture of a saguaro cactus with a hole in it. Saguaro’s can live for up to 200 years and many reach over 40 feet in height. They start producing flowers around the age of 55, which are borne at the tops of the ‘arms’ and main stem. The flowers bloom at night and are pollinated by birds, bats, and other insects. Some may have holes in them that may have been created by birds such as Gila Woodpecker and the Gilded Flicker for nesting. I’ll have more on cacti in later posts, but you can also see a fruit of a prickly pear type cactus.

Hole in a what I’m pretty sure is a Saguaro (Carnegiea gigantea)

Paloverde Root Borer (Derobrachus geminatus)

Gambel’s Quail (Callipepla gambelii)

Prickly Pear Cactus bud (Opuntia sp?) Could be the cow’s tongue again

Lizard in silhouette

Difficult to know for sure but guessing a Female Desert Spiny Lizard (Sceloporus magister)

Year in Nature Photography – Day 121

Day 1 of Arizona backyard photography. It’s going to be a challenge to ID things I saw on my trip, but fortunately my aunt had a book of “Plants of Arizona” which I browsed through so I have some direction to head. I have several pictures of critters that I saw from their porch and due to the bright sun gave me just a silhouette, which makes for an interesting picture but virtually impossible to identify.

Today’s pictures include a bird of paradise bush (this is at least one of the colloquial names and what my aunt called it), which despite the name isn’t related to bird of paradise flower, familiar in floral arrangements. This is why local and regional names can be confusing and why we use scientific names. There are a lot of prickly pear type cacti in their yard but this particular one seems to be a cultivated variety and is named for the tongue shape of the pads. I’ll talk more about cacti in another post. Also their yard had families of gambel’s quail running around.

Stay tuned, there’s plenty more to come.

I’m going to go with Cow’s tongue cactus (Opuntia engelmannii var. linguiformis)

Bird in silhouette

Gambel’s Quail (Callipepla gambelii)

Bird in silhouette (sp?)

Bird of paradise bush (Caesalpinia gilliesii)

Bird of paradise bush (Caesalpinia gilliesii) bloom