Observations by zenb

I saw these wildflowers on a hilltop at 9000 feet elevation. The flowers were 5-petal, with 2" tubes. The leaves were small & opposite. I cannot find anything in my wildflower field guides that look anything like it. ID, please!

In attempting to seal an old well shaft, I put some branches into the shaft while I left to get the metal cover. I returned a half hour later, and these kingsnakes were climbing the branches to escape the pit.

I had already taken 2 to the wetted area when I took this photo. The surprise was the snake in the lower left side of the photo! He started to rattle when I was snapping photos! It smelled like a death trap, so I guess there must have been some interesting activity. In some of the photos I could see what appears to be snake skin sheds. There were approximately 6 kingsnakes and one rattler in the shaft.

As of today, all the kingsnakes were gone but the rattler hasn't been able to climb out.

These white bodied birds with black on the bottom and back of the wings flew overhead in loose and sloppy "v" formation. They were quite high in the air, well over 50 meters high. They could have seen the sewage ponds that were about 2 miles from our position. They flew above, hovering, for over 5 minutes, spiraling without formation. Then they regrouped into loose, sloppy "v" formations and flew south.

Could be Ross's or Snow Geese a bit off course in their migration. If Ross's, they are a bit too far west for their wintering grounds. Other biologists were with me at the time, and confirmed this observation.

As I headed up the road to repair a fence, I saw this snake warming itself in the middle of the road which was just beginning to get sun. It was about 8 a.m., and mid-80's. There had been no rain with the previous 48 hours, although it was rather humid. As I stepped closer for a photo, it slid under the low branches of a catclaw acacia tree, and stayed coiled up under there while I repaired my fence.