This is one of the weirdest wildflowers I’ve ever come across (although birdsbill dayflower is even stranger). You can see how this flower got its name (more or less) on the right. On the left, you can see one of the “stork’s” bills starting. I will also complain and say it grows very, very close to the ground … so getting a shot of it required a few calisthenics on my part.
Here are the flowers in more detail:
A tiny spider crawls along coast/California/Mexican hedge nettle at Cape Lookout, Oregon.
Poppies in Arizona on their way to closing for the night. The background is courtesy of some new filters I was trying out.
I made a little trip to southern Arizona last week to see this spring’s spectacular wildflowers.
A trio of butterflies that aren’t supposed to be in New Mexico in November: Two western pygmy blues on the left and an acmon blue (I think) on top.
I’ve lived in the desert southwest for well over three decades, and I never ever knew until this year that tumbleweeds have flowers. They’re teeny tiny, and of course you wouldn’t want to get too close to them because they’re very prickly. Turns out another name for them is Russian Thistle. As you might guess from their name, they actually are not native to the US, and they’re considered invasive. I was finally able to get a decent shot of them, thanks to a rented macro lens (I think they’re really pretty — up close, anyway).