While in Arizona I saw lots of wildflowers--more than usual, thanks to the extra monsoon rainfall. One plant was this Apache Plume, showing both the white flowers and the "plumes" which are the seedheads. In this case the honey bee and the butterfly photo bombed the image. 9/5/21 wwwsparhawkphotography.com
One of the special birds I always hope to see when I visit Arizona, is this Yellow-eyed Junco. This species only shows up in the US in a small part of the southeast corner of the state. This little cutie actually showed up on the back porch of the cabin in which I stayed in Madera Canyon. He hopped around just a few feet from me, where the raccoons showed up later in the evening. This was certainly one of the easiest bird sightings of the trip.! 9/4/21 www.sparhawkphotography.com
Ten miles above Portal in Arizona, over a steep, narrow, curvy and very rough road, is Rustler Park and campground in the Chiricahua Mountains. When birding there I discovered this very pretty and interesting mushroom growing out of the forest floor. It was the only one in sight, in among the pine trees. I don't know anything about mushrooms, other than the fact that I only "harvest" them with my camera. I think the extra rain in this monsoon season had increased the mushroom growth, as I saw other, different ones, in other places. 9/3/21 www.sparhawkphotography.com
