Hello Tucson! Part I

Burroweed flower (Isocoma tenuisecta)

Flying over the desert

Arizona bordered mantis (Stagmomantis limbata) back focus

Unkown lizard

Close up of what I think is a fishhook barrel cacti’s fruit (Ferocactus wislizeni)

Prickly pear cactus maybe cow’s tongue? ( Opuntia engelmannii)

Mist clinging to a river as seen from above

Center city of Philadelphia

Arizona bordered mantis (Stagmomantis limbata) close up 3

Arizona bordered mantis (Stagmomantis limbata)

Leaving Philadelphia

Arizona bordered mantis (Stagmomantis limbata) close up 2

I recently took a trip to the Southwest for a cousin’s wedding, plus mini family vacation, and of course I took some pictures. The first day in Tucson I am splitting into two posts as there were a lot of pictures. I personally enjoy air travel and seeing the world from above. I would be fine with a ‘glass bottom’ or at least a live feed, especially if it could tell me what I was seeing. If you look at the picture from the Fontana Lake Experience post of the mist on lake Cheoah Lake the picture in this post of mist on a river is what it might look like from above. This part I of II is from my Aunt’s house with part II from Tohono Chul where my cousin got married.

In my aunt’s yard I snapped a picture of a fishhook barrel cacti’s fruit, a cow’s tongue cacti’s fruit, and a blooming burroweed. Lastly, my dad spotted the mantis on the wall (images rotated), which was kind enough to stay still and let me take some real close up pictures. I knew it wasn’t the usual Chinese or European variety you often see around the East Coast and looking through the BugGuide.net (useful site for insect ID) leads me to suspect that this is an Arizona bordered mantis. Enjoy and be sure to check back to my last Week in Tucson, Arizona series from June/July of 2012.

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.

Gambel’s Quail (Callipepla gambelii)

Bird in silhouette (sp?)

Bird in silhouette

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

Bird of paradise bush (Caesalpinia gilliesii)

Bird of paradise bush (Caesalpinia gilliesii) bloom