Perfection on a Wednesday

The weather is absolutely gorgeous and the cactus are beginning to bloom. The perfect Wednesday. :)

Fuchsia cactus bloom. Ridiculously pink! 

Crimson hedgehog cactus blooms

Cydno Longwing

 White peacock butterfly

 Unsure of the name of this striking butterfly...

 Daisy :)

Little Hummingbird and Friends

It's been about 80F outside so there has been an explosion of flowers in the gardens. Lots of invertebrates and a few hummingbirds taking advantage of all the early blooms here at Springs Preserve. 

 Cute little hummingbird enjoying the Mohintli flowers

 Painted lady on some mescal bean flowers

 Common lilac

 Daisies at dusk

 Spicebush butterfly

 Carpenter bee. Those eyes!

Pink cactus bud

More butterflies and a hummingbird moth!

I'm so happy to have the butterfly habitat open here at the Springs Preserve! It will be hard to not flood my posts with butterfly pics each week! :) I was also super excited to stumble upon a very fast hummingbird moth that let me get several shots in before zooming off.

  Hummingbird moth!

 Zebra longwing

 Julia longwing

 Isabella longwings

 Buckeye butterfly

 Spicebush butterfly

Blue morpho butterfly

Springs Preserve Butterfly Habitat Spring Opening

Springs Preserve Butterfly Habitat opened for Spring today. A few new species added so I expect I will find myself wandering in a few days a week. Enjoy! :)

 Zebra Longwings

 Red cracker butterfly

Julia Longwing winged opened

Julia Longwing winged closed

 Isabella Longwing

 Monarch

SpicebushSwallowtail

Cloudy Day

Today is cloudy with temps in the upper 60s. Just perfect for Las Vegas :)

 This morning's Sunrise at Mount Frenchman

 Pink fairy dusters are some of my favorites

Sunny honey bee

Pretty blue flowers peeking through the grass

 Vibrant orange California poppy

Rat in a Tree!

There are rats in the trees! This poor fellow was about 10-15 ft up in the middle of this tree in the gardens. I'll check up on him later and see if he gathered enough courage to work his way back down.

 Poor rat! :(

The apple blossoms are losing their petals and are preparing to become yummy apples!

 Bee :)

 Aloe buds

With all of the recent rain our cactus are going to have some amazing blooms soon!

Things That Fly

Sometimes things that fly are cute and sometimes they are freaky. I was super excited to finally catch a little humming bird buzzing about some penstemon flowers this afternoon. Boy, she was fast! I was surprised I got her in focus. I also found a cool looking moth with some interesting bumps that I believe to be a Looper moth.