Real genuine desert

Wow! Im totally amazed. I actually got to go down to the real Arizona desert today. Being up in the mountains is certainly awesome when it comes to the temperature, but its a little more like what Im used to back home. The desert on the other hand is Mars, I swear. I went down with the botanist as she wanted to check out some flowering plants that she would like to monitor for nectar consumption. As soon as she parked the car I was out the door and off like a shot, unhindered by the various wicked plants scraping my legs to pieces (whats a few more scratches?). Oh there were lizards and bugs and cactuses and all sorts of fun things to take pictures of. No snakes however, next time.

Now, I apologize for yet another picture of a bird, but its no ordinary bird, and its a photo I promised myself (as well as others) that I would get. You bet, a Roadrunner!!

And another animal that posed for me, A jackrabbit

And finally an insect photo, a cicada spending some time on a century cactus . These cicadas are very creepy as when you approach them, they will flush from vegetation making a very quick and very loud cicada noise that makes a desert rookie like me jump a few feet.

I hope to get down there again soon, as the Yucca's are about to flower and some century cactuses have put up huge flower spikes (looking like 3 m high asparagus) and they will hopefully flower in a month or so. Hope you all are enjoying the site and sharing in at least a small part of my excitement!