Summer Lovin

Summer is in full swing with temps reaching 111F by the weekend. The flowers continue to bloom like the little soldiers they are. We also had a couple of Say's Phoebe fly catchers visit us. They have a very high pitched "PEE-UR" call that kinda sounds like a laser gun. :)

Thankful

Rain in the desert is always welcome and appreciated. :)

Palo Verde tree trunk

Last Days of Fall

Enkoyed another beautiful sunny day. The high today is a perfect 70 degrees fahrenheit, but it will drop down to 58 this Sunday. That's cold for us thin-blooded Las Vegans!

 Springs Preserve

 

 Baja fairy duster

 

 Adorable little bird with some pretty red plumage

 

 Love my bees

 

 Strawberry flower

 

Little moajave blue butterfly



The Clark County Wetlands Park in Las Vegas

The Clark County Wetlands Park provides lush habitats for over 300 species of plants and animals while improving the quality of the Las Vegas Valley's water supply. The Clark County Wetlands Park includes 2,900 acres of water, trails, and trees along the Las Vegas Wash. My family and I enjoy walking along the several trails that are available. My son and I enjoyed seeing several desert cottontail bunnies, road runners, and many different species of birds on our walk Sunday.
 

 

Morning Flowers

I love apache plume plants. Such beautiful textures and shapes in the morning sunlight. The honey bees are loving the abundant langman's sage also!

 

 

 

Beauties and the Beasts

It's official! The Springs Preserve butterfly habitat in Las Vegas is now open! 500 painted lady and mourning cloak butterflies were released inside on September 18, 2014. It was an amazing amount of work to complete, but the end results are stunning. Here are a few shots of our painted lady butterflies as well as some large desert hairy scorpions that I had to relocate from one of the public areas on site. I love the diversity of my workplace. :)

 Painted lady on one of the fountains

 

 I love the pink and gold lantana in the butterfly habitat

 

 Painted lady on a daisy

 

 Minutes after release this lady was enjoying stretching her wings

 

The Desert hairy scorpion has a sting that is about as painful as a honey bee sting unlike the bark scorpion which is smaller but has a sting that is more like liquid fire.

 

 These guys were not too happy about being relocated

 

I love that the tub used to capture and hold my scorpion friends had a sticker that said "Time to Reorder". :)



New Springs Preserve Butterfly Habitat

I'm very excited about the new butterfly habitat that is scheduled to open in a few weeks at Springs Preserve in Las Vegas. Here's an early look at the build  as it was in early July and now. It's going to be awesome! :)

 

 July 2014

 

September 2014



Bee Nice

A few of my favorite bee and bee fly shots :)

 

Cute lil bee fly

 



 Bee in prickley pear cactus bloom

 Love the pink, orange, and green hues

 Soft focus is almost ethereal

 

This bee fly had beautiful patterns and colors on its wings



Summer Desert Flowers

 Anticipation

 

 Texas olive Flowers

 

 Grass Flower

 

 A night blooming cactus waiting for evening to open

 

Compass barrel cactus bloom