KVelligan

Sunlight filters into a slot canyon highlighting waving striations in the rock carved by water over time

Just went canyoneering in Zion for the first time. Fantastic!

Sunrise casts bright yellow and orange light across the face of the iconic Zion mountain formations of West Temple and Towers of the Virgin

Christmas sunrise at Zion

A bird stands at the edge of a river among dried reeds poking its beak in the water

American dipper 🪶

Rugged layered cliffs rise above the cottonwoods in the Virgin River at Zion National Park. The white branches of the trees contrast with the red walls and vivid blue sky

Merry Christmas from Zion

A back and white spider with a reddish orange abdomen crawls across a glass table top

Found this little dude on my outdoor table today (it’s glass - that why it looks like it’s floating). I think it is Phidippus adumbratus. It was gone before I could get a better picture. It was about a half inch long. Jumping spider!

Beautiful, Nick 🤩

Thank you

You gotta win selfie! 😂 Love them all but that bristlecone is gorgeous

A long rattlesnake is stretched across a trail. It has a black diamond pattern.

Snake sunbathing on the trail. Probably a black diamond or Southern Pacific rattlesnake.

Magenta flowers bloom on a penstemon growing between white quartz

Penstemon newberryi known by the common name mountain pride or Newberry's penstemon. Favorite flower of John Muir.

Both are great ways to escape into a different world

A flock of large birds circling in a cloudy sky after a storm

Shortly after seeing the iridescent clouds, there was a huge flick of birds circling. I couldn’t tell what kind they were.

Large cumulonimbus clouds near where the sun is shining through, have areas of pastel blue, lavender, and yellow iridescence

Iridescent clouds are a diffraction phenomenon caused by small water droplets or small ice crystals individually scattering light. Also called Irisations after the Greek goddess Iris, goddess of rainbows and messenger of Zeus and Hera to the mortals below.

Several small birds are scattered across the broken pavement. They are speckled brown with curving plumes on their heads

A covey of California quail (Callipepla californica) out searching for snacks

A desert cottontail (Sylvilagus audubonii) hides its head under a bush, but its back and and fluffy white tail are sticking out

Yes, you’re totally hidden. I never would have notice that fluffy butt sticking out if I hadn’t seen you run in there. 😂🐰

😂🤣

A small black cat sits in her Totoro bed looking curious

Cute kitty or soot sprite? 🤔🐈‍⬛⚫️

A bright yellow butterfly with black stripes on its wings and "tails" on the hindwings that are often found in swallowtails. It’s hovering over a creamy white flower among green leaves.

Western Tiger Swallowtail (Papilio rutulus). Native to Western North America, from South California to Southern British Columbia and Alberta. 🦋 🌿

I'm endlessly fascinated by how life shapes life. When the Earth Was Green grew out of that affection. 🌱

Golden yellow flowers cover upright flower stalks. Many are still buds, but some are opening like little bursts of sunshine 🌞

From the native garden: Solidago or goldenrod starting to bloom. Gonna have a bee palooza here pretty soon 🐝🌿

A black beetle with dark gray speckled elytra crawls across a dirt trail

The diabolical ironclad beetle (Phloeodes diabolicus). Native to the California Floristic Province in the states of California and Baja California. It eats fungi growing under rotting tree bark and is frequently found under oaks. Lives long for a beetle - 8 years. It is flightless, with fused elytra

The sun rises over rocky granite cliffs with conifers in the foreground. The sky is painted in gradients from baby blue on the edge of the cliff, to pink, to white above

Transitioning to day. The Sierra Nevada never disappoints.

Love this one, Nick. Green blossoms are always fun

Landshark!

A raven stands sideways with its head turned toward the viewer. The sun is shining on its body making the feathers look indigo blue

Sun on the wings of this raven look indigo blue, reminding me that scrub jays and Steller’s are also in the Corvidae family 🌿🪶

Narrow leaf milkweed (Asclepius fascicles) a monarch specific food plant with long narrow leaves. A fruit pod has dried out and opened releasing dark oblong seeds attached to long silky hairs that allow them to be dispersed by the wind. On the dried pod is a black and red milkweed bug (Oncopeltus fasciatus) a Hemiptera (order) or true bug that feeds on milkweed seeds. Its front wings form an X on its back - a common wing pattern for Heteroptera (suborder of Hemiptera).

Pods starting to burst open on the milkweed and release the seeds with their silky hairs. Note the red and black milkweed bug on the dry pod. More info in alt text. 🌿

A profusion of dark pink blossoms with a bee hovering in front of them

Bee moving in on the Crepe Myrtle

Dense frilly clusters of tiny white and pink flowers cover a low shrub with narrow dark green leaves

Now blooming in the native garden: Eriogonum fasciculatum - California Buckwheat. Drought tolerant, important for pollinators, erosion control benefits, post wildfire mitigation, used in a variety of indigenous medicines. The flowers turn a lovely rust color in the fall.

I loved this book.

Dark green leaves surround pale lavender flowers with numerous petals arrayed around yellow orange centers covering the plant profusely on separate short stalks.

From the native garden, now blooming: California aster. Corethrogyne is a monotypic genus of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae. Its only species is Corethrogyne filaginifolia (syn. Lessingia filaginifolia). There does seem to be a ground cover variant, but mine are tall