Wednesday Walk - Scenes from AZ
Here are a few scenes from walks in AZ for this #wednesdaywalk by @tattoodjay
While on a walk with my daughter she spotted this baby horned lizard. It was easy to catch and she was able to hold it a while. We let it go near an anthill where it can eat loads of ants to beef up a bit.
It is always nice seeing the saguaros in AZ especially in spring. I wasn't able to see any blooming this time but I have a nice photo of a cactus wren on top of one for featheredfriends.
This area of Arizona is near the border of Mexico and it is loaded down with cactus everywhere. Quite a few different species from cholla to pad type of cacti cover the landscape. The trees are different too they are palo verde which are green all year round. In spring they have a nice yellow blossom similar to a mesquite tree which also were blooming.
The sunsets are quite nice around here. Almost every sunset is this colorful because of dust in the air.
Back to the cacti. Most of the species were blooming this time. Here is a nopale cacti which is nice and edible. You can cook the pads and the thorns are easy to remove. They kind of resemble a cucumber and okra with a tartish lemony taste.
More cacti for miles, just imagine the first settlers to this area getting all sorts of thorns in their legs as they bushwacked the roads.
On to more finds with my daughter. Here is a dried out hawk moth that was perfectly mummified.
Another species of pad cacti with bigger thorns and yellow flowers. I suspect these are also edible but the thorns make it not as nice to harvest like the nopale cacti. But if you need something to eat in the desert you can always resort to these maybe if you flame thrower them first to burn off the thorns.
Here is more of a stick cacti, possibly a cholla or some other kind. The flowers were quite nice and I noticed a hummingbird flying near this one. Sadly too fast for my camera to capture.
Now for a random peacock. These guys set up a colony on what used to be a monastery but is now just a corporation for events. Throughout the years they tried removing them but there are too many and they are good evaders so people gave up. Now there are at least 30-40 peacocks roaming around.
That's all for now, more soon, thanks for looking :-)
Arizona is so beautiful, and you sure got some great photos of the cacti in bloom.
Late March to Early April is the best time to go there. Otherwise its way too hot or cold and super dry during the winter.
Its been a while I haven't read your post did move to other state?
Ah your daughter is brave to hold that baby lizard.
Just had to go back there a while for my mother's funeral.
Oh sad fo hear that 🥺
Just a part of life, it was 10 years of dementia so in a way it was a relief she finally got to escape that horrible disease.
I've never seen a prickly pear with flowers that weren't yellow! Those red blossoms are very pretty.
Yeah they have all sorts of blossom colors, red, yellow, orange, purple even.
Thanks @jlinaresp :-)
Awesome shots and article @sketch.and.jam friend!!!
Fantastic Saguaro forest! There were some peacocks living in the hills around my place too: they are noisy buggers
Yeah they are loud and unstoppable. People have tried relocating them from the place for years but they manage to evade capture. They once raided our strawberry garden and ate all the green ones.
Bastards! They are hard to catch because the fly surprisingly well for their size and are pretty smart. I think our feral peacocks got eaten (by people)
My Mother in Law was able to catch a pair and they would lay eggs for her in the chicken coop. Taste just like a regular chicken egg just bigger.
Beautiful sunset. Love the mini-horny toad. I saw the comment about your mother passing. My condolences. Its always hard when you lose a parent even when there is dementia.
My daughter was super proud of herself spotting that horny toad. I showed her how to catch grasshoppers and feed them to the chickens lol.
The first five years were rough on me but the last five years I was just hoping she would finally find peace so it was more of a celebration of life rather than a sad funeral.