Here are a few scenes from walks in AZ for this #wednesdaywalk by
While on a walk with my daughter she spotted this baby horned lizard. It was easy to catch and she was able to hold it a while. We let it go near an anthill where it can eat loads of ants to beef up a bit.
It is always nice seeing the saguaros in AZ especially in spring. I wasn't able to see any blooming this time but I have a nice photo of a cactus wren on top of one for featheredfriends.
This area of Arizona is near the border of Mexico and it is loaded down with cactus everywhere. Quite a few different species from cholla to pad type of cacti cover the landscape. The trees are different too they are palo verde which are green all year round. In spring they have a nice yellow blossom similar to a mesquite tree which also were blooming.
The sunsets are quite nice around here. Almost every sunset is this colorful because of dust in the air.
Back to the cacti. Most of the species were blooming this time. Here is a nopale cacti which is nice and edible. You can cook the pads and the thorns are easy to remove. They kind of resemble a cucumber and okra with a tartish lemony taste.
More cacti for miles, just imagine the first settlers to this area getting all sorts of thorns in their legs as they bushwacked the roads.
On to more finds with my daughter. Here is a dried out hawk moth that was perfectly mummified.
Another species of pad cacti with bigger thorns and yellow flowers. I suspect these are also edible but the thorns make it not as nice to harvest like the nopale cacti. But if you need something to eat in the desert you can always resort to these maybe if you flame thrower them first to burn off the thorns.
Here is more of a stick cacti, possibly a cholla or some other kind. The flowers were quite nice and I noticed a hummingbird flying near this one. Sadly too fast for my camera to capture.
Now for a random peacock. These guys set up a colony on what used to be a monastery but is now just a corporation for events. Throughout the years they tried removing them but there are too many and they are good evaders so people gave up. Now there are at least 30-40 peacocks roaming around.
That's all for now, more soon, thanks for looking :-)