Spring is In the Air

 

We’re down to our last 9 days here at McDowell Mountain Park.

All of the rainfall this winter is making it a good year for flowers and turning the brown desert green. These were found along the Scenic Trail.

We’ve hiked this beautiful trail many times over the years.

But just last week we spotted a saguaro that looked a bit odd.

A closer look revealed it was a crested or cristate saguaro that we had always missed seeing along the trail.

We taken several hikes on the Bluff trail, which is also a nice trail to bike on. There was a fire in this part of the park back in 1995, which is why there are so few saguaros.

Jim and Ellen taking a little break.

We’ve had a lot of activity at our site. The woodpeckers find creative ways to drink.

A couple of javelinas stopped by for a nice breakfast of grass the other morning. One of the camp hosts said they haven’t seen javelina in the campground for a few years.

I tried to quietly open the window to get some better photos but they ran off when they heard me.

We have a huge palo verde tree at our current site that is home to a very small nest.

This cute little hummingbird spends most of her time there. It’s too high for us to see how many eggs are in it but they usually lay one or two.

I read that the female not only sits on the eggs, but she also builds the nest and takes care of the babies without any help from the male. Hmm, now that doesn’t sound right!

Hope the chicks will hatch over the next week.

We have company coming this week and next, a couple of appointments, and two more work days at Fearless Kitty before we leave. It’s been a good winter.