Adelie Penguin, Antarctica.
Who like penguins? An Adelie Penguin last month in Antarctica.
Salisbury Plain
Salisbury Plain, South Georgia, Antarctica
A photo of Salisbury Plain – this place is amazing!
For a long shot chance to win $100,000 – hurry over to my Facebook page.
Anza-Borrego Wildflower Outlook
Desert Lily from last night in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, California.
I have two bits of good news regarding the desert wildflower bloom in Anza-Borrego. First, not only are there lots of wildflower plants popping up all around – some areas are really green, but there are actually a few wildflowers already blooming as you can see from this desert lily photographed yesterday. I have also seen patches of sand verbena as well.
But, there are very promising looking areas, I think in a few weeks it could be a good year – maybe not a great year, but certainly much better then the last three. Maybe it is because the plant is easy to recognize, but I’m seeing lots of desert lilies in particular – one of my favorite desert wildflowers.
On top of that, it rained most of the night late last week, so that will only help, that is as long as things don’t get too hot. The forecast is for highs in the uppers 70’s, low 80’s for the next week, as long as we avoid the 90’s I think we are ok.
What is the other good news? The lack of Sahara Mustard! Articles in the local newspaper speculated last year that three years of drought should have killed off the seed bank of this highly invasive species, and so far, that seems to be true!
I have been spending at least a month here for a number of years each winter so I have a pretty good feel for the wildflowers, but if you don’t believe me, here are some other opinions:
Anza-Borrego Desert Natural History Association wildflower outlook.
Even the Park Ranger who I obtain my workshop permit from thought it could be the best year in many years – baring a hot spell.
So fingers are crossed, I’ll keep posting updates here. I still think the best bloom won’t be for a few more weeks and will go well into March. The upcoming warm weather might speed things up a bit, in fact, the Swainson’s Hawks have already begun their migration through the area – the earliest this has ever been recorded.
Antarctic Humpback
Humpback whales, Hope Bay, Antarctica.
This was an exciting morning – we had two humpback whales just swimming and resting around and underneath my Zodiac They were doing the same thing with Joe’s boat that you see pictured here – it was a thrill! The only bummer – I had left the little card out of my GoPro. 🙁 This was in Hope Bay, Antarctica.
Arizona Spring
Wildflowers from March, 2010, one of the last years for wildflowers, Tonto National Forest, near Phoenix, Arizona.
Well that two weeks at home sure went fast! We are now in Arizona picking up our RV then will head to Anza-Borrego. We picked an expensive time to pass through Phoenix with a big golf tournament and even bigger football game taking place in the area this week.
It has rained off and on through out the first evening adding more rain to what has been a decent year for precipitation. It has been a few years since we have had decent desert wildflowers, maybe this year will better. More rain is in the forecast for the end of the week.
This is going to be a busy stretch of travel. After 5 week in the desert, I’m home for 3 days before heading to the Arctic for a Northern Lights photo tour.
Recent Comments