Desert Agave also known as Century Plant, Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, California.

I found and photographed a couple of these beautiful blooming plants this morning – this is a real treat as it takes some 20 to 40 years, if not more, before this plant blooms and then dies.  A new plant then begins to grow from the periphery and the process begins all over.  So as you can imagine, there are very few of these plants in bloom in any given spring – so it is a real treat to find one!  I have located a couple – this one is in Yaqui Pass, the other in San Felipe Canyon.

It was pretty stormy this morning – I like to think of this weather as a high variance photo opportunity, this is especially true in the desert.  What I mean by that is stormy weather greatly increases the chance for amazing light and unique atmospheric conditions, the kind of conditions that can lead to wonderful photo opportunities.  But, bad weather also greatly increases the chance of coming away with nothing!

I was reminded of that today.  At my first stop, the agave in San Felipe Canyon, I was greeted by hard wind and rain and came away with nothing.  On my second stop, I found calm wind and the beautiful defused light you see here.   At one point I even had a brief rainbow!

Golf course at the Springs at Borrego, Borrego Springs, California.

It rained a little last night, but this morning was beautiful!  Great light, and a rare, at least for this area, rainbow!

Farmer's Market, Borrego Springs, California.

With the weekend just about upon us, I know lots of people are looking for an update to the desert wildflower bloom.  Posting a photo of the wonderful Friday Farmer’s Market probably speaks volumes.  🙂

There is a vary wide variety of small wildflowers blooming in this area right now, and “pedal peepers” who are on the hunt for unique and pretty desert wildflowers won’t be disappointed.  The large carpets of wildflowers that have made this area famous, and that are preferred by most photographers haven’t developed yet.   This, coupled with foretasted winds is why I really can’t recommend visiting this weekend.  I found some wonderful fields of Purplemat this morning, so there are opportunities, but I really think next weekend and the following will be far better.  Stayed tuned here for more updates.

Hey speaking of the next two weekends, I have just one spot remaining for the first weekend of my Anza-Borrego desert photo tour / workshop.  The second one is full.

Greater Roadrunner, Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, California.

I photographed this guy this morning at first light.  I watched him catch a kill a small bird – it was a bit gruesome, but at the same time a bit fascinating, these birds are some hunters.  You can see the residual feather on the end of his bill.

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

We spotted and photographed these guys yesterday afternoon in Borrego Palm Canyon.  I have read some estimates that place the population of the subspecies of Desert Bighorn at only 280 animals.  I look forward to photographing these guys amongst the desert wildflowers.

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

These are the first wildflower blooms of the season  in a year that should soon have a bountiful display of flowers!  Don’t rush down here yet, they are still a couple of weeks out – I found this little spot a few years ago, and it is always the first area to bloom around here, and this year is no exception.

This is looking like it will be a great year for wildflowers as this region has seen lots of rain!  The nearby Ocotillo Wells State Vehicular Recreation Area had the wettest month in recorded history this past January.  The local wildflower experts were saying the final ingredient for an excellent wildflower year would be February rains – well we received a fair amount of rain Tuesday night – the second such storm this month.  So in short, it is safe to say this  will be an excellent year for desert wildflowers!  The only thing that could get in the way now would be the over growth of an invasive species like mustard.

Despite the rain and the predictions, I had to see for myself – and of course do a little photography.  🙂  Well things are very green!  Lots of shoots just starting to rise in many places – thick patches of Lupine and Desert Gold were the most obvious, but there is a wide variety of plant-life that just further confirms my anticipation.

I believe the desert wildflower bloom won’t be limited to Anza-Borrego, the hills  North of Palm Springs are also very green.  I went for a run in the back-country East of Joshua Tree and had to deal with a number of small stream crossings – in places I have never seen water flowing before.  It is pretty exciting.

We will be based in Borrego Springs for the next month or so, but I hope to chase the bloom around the area as it progresses, and will provide updates here on the photo blog.  The California Wildflower Hotsheet, along with its corresponding Yahoo forum is another great resource for wildflower updates during a good year like this one.

Finally, this might be a good time to mention that I only have two spots left for my two Anza-Borrego photography workshops. 🙂

This photo:  Canon 1Ds III, 100 macro lens with 25mm extension tube, f/25 at 1/25 a second.