Winging it

Too many photo opportunities in the Springs Preserve butterfly habitat and the gardens to pass up! The cactus are looking spectacular and the butterflies continue to pose nicely. :)

 Orange barred sulfur butterfly

 Spicebush butterfly

 Dual Monarchs!

Buckeye butterfly

 Monarch 

Argentine giant cactus bloom

Easter lily cactus bloom

 Golden cactus bloom

 

 Ladybug :)

Flowers, Flowers, Flowers

Flowers everywhere at Springs Preserve!

 Bee on Orange Ball Buddleja

 Spotty :)

 Colorful aloe stalk

 Desert Bluebell

White Gold

Away from the desk

The Springs Preserve is at its most beautiful so it is nice to get away from my desk and enjoy the sun! :D

Mojave aster

 Skipper butterfly! :)

Collared lizards

 These purple beauties are called 4 o'clock flowers

The cactus are still blooming like crazy

Cone flower

 Lots of happy bees

 I'm finally seeing more ladybugs out and about

Spring Break

Spent the last few days enjoying the small Xeric Garden at UNLV http://facilities.unlv.edu/landscape/xeric.html and the Marjorie Barrick Museum https://www.unlv.edu/barrickmuseum with the kids. Both are free and it was a pleasant visit. We especially enjoyed the bold and colorful paintings by John Millei.

Due to Spring break my Monday at work has been hectic, but enjoyable due to the 80F weather and the spike in Springs Preserve visitation. :D

 Pink primrose

 Daisy blue

 Rock roses

 This was the first time I have ever seen a robin in Las Vegas. Pretty darn cool!

 Callistemon bottlebrush shrub

 Southern White butterfly

 Orange barred sulfur butterfly

 Monarch

As the afternoon begins to fade the funnel weavers begin to edge out along the trails.

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