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Cholla and Ocotillo, Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, California.

There is a place called the Cholla Garden in Joshua Tree National Park, I think this location is even better – almost as many cholla, but it is also full of blooming Ocotillo right now!

I photographed this last week as I was scouting for the past weekend’s workshop.  I forgot to take a photo of the workshop participants, but we had a great time!  It stopped raining right before the workshop began, and we had a nice variety of clouds and weather the rest of the day, followed with nice weather on Sunday.  One of the unexpected benefits of leading tours and workshops is the opportunity to meet really nice, very interesting people, and last weekend was no exception!

Yellow-Throat-Monkeyflower, Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, California.

I have found a beautiful, thick patch of this colorful wildflower recently.  Here I decided to focus on an individual plant – in the future, I think I will try to include the entire patch.

Swainson's Hawk, Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, California.

For many people, Anza-Borrego is famous for its desert wildflower bloom which in wet years can be amazing.  But, when a birder thinks of Anza-Borrego, they probably think of the Swainson’s Hawk migration that takes place this time each year.  On a record day, more then 1,000 hawks stopped in the valley where the town of Borrego Springs is located to roost for the night.  I personally have seen groups as large as a 100, with dozens roosting in the trees near our camp.  The stay the night, and then move on the next morning.  Last year over 3,000 hawks migrated through this area.

Beginning on February 15, volunteers begin a local hawk watch where they count the migrating hawks – the peak of the migration is in March.  You can see the hawk watchers with their spotting scopes on top of a large mound of dirt along De Giorgio Road north of Big Horn Road, very near to where this photo was taken.

Chuparosa, Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, California.

This was at sunrise less then an hour ago.  I was hoping for a bit more on an interesting sky, so I likely will return to this location again. Sounds like we might have some clouds and interesting weather coming this weekend.

Speaking of this weekend – I do have a couple spots left for my Anza-Borrego workshop.  The second weekend is sold out, but with lots of wildflowers and interesting weather on the way – this could be a good one!

Brittlebush, Anza-Borrego State Park, California.

I am long over due for a promised wildflower update for Anza-Borrego.  I have gotten a little carried away with the Desert Bighorns – yesterday we saw some newborn lambs!  I’ll share those next week.

I would say, by in large it is turning out to be a pretty good wildflower year, with some big hits and misses.  Despite less rain, the flowers are looking better then last year probably in large part to the more seasonable temperatures – last year was much colder.  There is a good chance this area might receive more then a half of inch of rain this weekend – it that happens, it could really be a great year!

I’ll start with the misses – the biggest one is the famous fields along Henderson Canyon Road.  Historically, this area has been very colorful, and its popularity was helped thanks to its location along a paved road.  Last year, Sahara Mustard moved into this area in a big way.  This year, there isn’t much in the way of new Mustard growth except along the side of the road where is was freshly graded clear last year, but there aren’t any wildflowers either.  It is just large fields of standing dead Sahara Mustard.

Now the hits.  The closer you get to the mountains, the better the wildflowers.  That area appeared to receive more rain Wednesday, and probably will receive more this weekend.  Glorieta Canyon is looking nice, especially with the colorful red chuparosa.  There is a nice variety of flowers up Coyote Canyon – not thick fields, but a a range of  colors that includes many of the ocotillo.  But, the best place has to be Borrego Palm Canyon – not only lots of wildflowers, but I have seen sheep on every visit so far.  Borrego Palm Canyon has a lot of brittlebush, chuparosa, ocotillo along with many other blooming wildflowers.  I think the surrounding areas will be improving this week, especially with the forecasted rain, but if you are hitting Anza-Borrego this weekend, Borrego Palm Canyon is your best bet right now.

I’ll provide more updates as thing change next week, and as I scout for my upcoming Anza-Borrego photography workshops.

Another Peninsular Bighorn Sheep from Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, California.

Here is another photo from Monday’s hike in Borrego Palm Canyon.

Peninsular Bighorn Sheep rams, Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, California.

The population of this subspecies of Desert Bighorn is estimated by some at less then 300, so it was a real treat to spend time with 9 rams yesterday afternoon!  This was in Borrego Palm Canyon.