April may have been amazing, but it was nothing compared to the explosion of life during May. My 2-page spread doesn’t even come close to representing all that we encountered throughout the month. And the 15 species I chose as “picks” aren’t even a third of those making an appearance …… enter stage left and right!
Noticeably missing was the black chinned hummingbird. They arrived mid-May, and began defending breeding territories. One of these years, I hope to find one of their miniature nests to see what building materials the hummers use. Until then, their aerial performance is always breathtaking!
Then there was the morning Luna nearly stepped right in the middle of a really upset, hissing and striking prairie rattlesnake, practically right out our front door! It was a scary few moments until we determined Luna did not get bit! Whew. Roy expertly wrangled up the guy, herding him into a 5-gallon bucket, and relocated him a safe distance away. (I may cheat and add him to my June “Littles,” if you don’t mind, along with the first rattlesnake encounter of the season! Gotta love the desert.)
Included in the long list of flowering plants, was prickly pear cactus. Several species began opening their buds to reveal 20-30 delicate waxy yellow to apricot colored petals per bloom. It didn’t take long for the pollinators to find these delicacies!
Blooming in the foothills (5,000’ up to 7300’ elevation), there was milkwort, fleabane, scarlet globemallow, banana yucca, sundrops, milkweed, paintbrush, golden weed, common hoptree, puccoon, several species of pink-flowered hedgehog cactus, blazingstars, bee blossom, tahoka daisy, NM thistle, ……. etc. I could go on and on! And even at nearly 9,000’ elevation, rock jasmine, valerian, creeping mahonia, prairie bluebells, pasque flower and dwarf lousewort were all in bloom.
All in all, a bountiful full-on Spring bloom!
A big shout-out to “Made by Fay” for the inspiring “Littles” idea! Stay tuned for the next installment of “Littles.”
June 22, 2023
a curious nature 