Joshua Tree National Park

Ron NiebruggeCalifornia, Photos, Travel 11 Comments

Wildflowers in Joshua Tree National Park

Wildflowers in Joshua Tree National Park, California.

I had been hearing wonderful things about the Southern Entrance to Joshua Tree NP, and I must say they were accurate.  The fields of flowers in this couple mile stretch are every bit as good as 2005 in my opinion; there are wonderful fields with a beautiful variety of color!  I wish I had gone a little sooner as many are a little past prime.

I liked how the last light of day was just hitting the top of the flowers – it almost made them glow.  On the downside, by this time of day the poppies had all closed up – 2 hours earlier, this filed had lots of bright yellow poppies far more visible.

 It is interesting to compare this year with the famous bloom of 2005.  This year there is lots of California Sage and Poppies.  In 2005, this area had lots of lupine and Brittlebush.  Here is the same location from 2005:  Joshua Tree Wildflowers.  Of course in both years there were dozens of other wildflowers mixed in.

Desert Lily

Ron NiebruggeAnza-Borrego, California, Photos, Travel 5 Comments

Desert Lily

Desert Lily

The Desert Lily is a popular wildflower that can be hard to find, but not this year in Anza-Borrego, they are numerous.  I have seen the flower, or at least the plant throughout the Park – there are even some growing in the Pumpkin Patch!

Desert Sand Verbena

Ron NiebruggeAnza-Borrego, California, Photos, Travel 2 Comments

Desert Sand Verbena

Desert Sand Verbena, Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, California.

The weather has warmed up here into the low 80’s this week.  We had rain in 3 of our first 8 days here, and now the warm weather seems to have jumped started the wildflowers, they are suddenly showing in many more places now.  I think the next week or two should be pretty good.

Pumpkin Patch

Ron NiebruggeAnza-Borrego, California, Photos, Travel 9 Comments

Pumpkin Patch, Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, California

Pumpkin Patch, Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, California.

This is such an interesting, almost lunar like place.  I waited until after sunset and the lite the pumpkins with a flash light during a 30 second exposure.  I have wanted to try this technique at this location for some time – it just seemed appropriate for some reason.

Costa’s Hummingbird Nest

Ron NiebruggeAnza-Borrego, California, Photos, Travel, Wildlife 8 Comments

Costa’s Hummingbird

Costa’s Hummingbird Nest.

 I thought I would stick with the bird theme.  This hummingbird is tiny!  According to Sibley, it is one of our smallest birds – it weighs in at 3.5 grams.  I shot this right at sunrise with a 600, plus 2x converter, plus extension tubes and still couldn’t fill the frame.

You can see this little gal right outside the Anza-Borrego Visitor Center.  Employees roped off the area surrounding the nest after a dog started sniffing near the nest; that does make finding the bush with the nest a lot easier, look for the barriers.