As if we needed another indication that spring is springing (way too) early, the bees are going bizzy-buzzy right now on apricot flowers. (Apricot trees? In the desert? They were planted by long-ago pioneers to the valley.)
The temp hit 82F yesterday. Yowza. Way, way too warm for mid-March. In good news: Yay, BEES!
Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat the heck are you doing out in mid-March?!
I don’t know what minimum temperature these little critters need to pop out into the open wide world, but it was at least 74F in Disappointment Valley yesterday.
Not quite 80 … but the weather(wo)man says it’s coming. 😦
I love seeing these lizards – they’re my favorites! – but I never think about seeing them in the middle of March. (Yes, yes, I am starting to watch for the first snakes of the season … !)
Going back a couple of days, to the time before the wind when the mountains were still clear on the northwestern horizon.
I read an article recently about how lack of dust on the snow of the mountains is a good thing. … And it is (dust causes the snow to melt more rapidly). … But I imagine that those same researchers will find a pretty “good” layer of dust after this weekend, and that just joins the bad news of “skimpy snow” (according to the article) to begin with.
Still, we have to admire the positive, and that’s Flash and all our other wild ones in that magnificent landscape. … And pray for a wet(ter???) spring.
Corazon’s band was in the same area that evening, and even though you can’t see his face and eyes, I liked this pic as he led his band away toward water.
Gaia leads Juniper and Mysterium up a trail.
It looks pretty parched out there, but signs of spring are *everywhere*.
These elk greeted me on the way out of Spring Creek Basin. If they look “hazy” or dim, that’s because of the blowing snow.
Mostly cows and last year’s calves, but one young bull was with them.
Mama and youngster check in with each other before they follow the group over the hill.
Here, I think they were watching some mustangs I couldn’t see because of a hill to my right.
Note that this was a snow wave after the earlier/overnight big snow (the 2 inches or so) had already mostly melted. What you see is starting to semi-stick again.
That wave didn’t last long … and neither did the semi-stuck snow. 🙂
It wasn’t until I got out there with Sancho and the bands that I realized how LUCKY Spring Creek Basin got with the snow. Lower Disappointment Valley (especially center and right background, which is sort of westish) either didn’t get snow or didn’t get snow that stuck … or maybe it was rain? (Spring Creek Basin is within Disappointment Valley.)
The sunshine came out while I was with the mustangs, but …
… in that far distance (western/southwestern Disappointment Valley, and the Dolores River canyon(s) is out there), another wave of snow was drifting across the landscape.
By the time I got back to my buggy after a two-mile round-trip hike, the eastern part of the basin was under beautiful sunshine, but the sky to the north/northwest/west/southwest was DARK. I didn’t go far heading out before I was back into the wind-driven snowstorm.
It was WET snow, and it was melting fast. By the end of the day (before then for a lot of areas), most of that snow had soaked right into the very desperate soil, which is a huge relief and blessing.
YaYaYaYaYAYAYAYAY! 🙂
Did you see it??
This early morning’s lunar eclipse sure enough featured the “blood moon” phase of totality, as seen above from Spring Creek Basin over Disappointment Valley in southwestern Colorado.
It.
Was.
COOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Leaving the shadow.
What an amazing experience to see the moon go from full brightness to pretty dark (OK, that might also have been the clouds during the full first half of totality) back to super bright just before it set over the southwestern ridgeline of Disappointment Valley.
I hope ya’ll saw it. If not, allow the anticipation to build before the next one, around New Year’s Eve/Day (?) in 2028/2029! 🙂
Merlin (the app) tells me this is, in fact, a mountain bluebird. I know it looks green. Pretty sure it’s not the camera/lens/white balance/color cast because it looked green in person!
That big white disc behind it is the MOON!
I got kinda skunked again trying to photograph it rising because of thin clouds that were just enough to block/blend the moon as it rose behind the eastern(ish) ridges. When I got back to my buggy from a fairly long walk into Spring Creek Basin looking for the *right* place to stand and shoot (spoiler: I didn’t actually find it), this beautiful fellow flew in to check me out from the utility wire right above me and the road. How sweet! How did it know I needed a pick-me-up? 🙂 These bright blue flashes of gorgeousity are everywhere right now. … I’m not sure whether they’re early … or right on time. The temp hit 68 insane degrees yesterday.
He gave me enough time to unpack my camera from my bag, fiddle faddle around and change some settings from moon-shooting … and of course, he posed like the gorgeous creature he is (see top pic) … before he flew off. I got this pic (above), and then everything else was a green blur (pretty sure that’s a superhero character: “The Green Blur”).
And it was a beautiful evening after all. 🙂
Back to current conditions, though this pic of Winona was taken the day before the snow-that-stuck-day (as opposed to the blowing-snow-didn’t-stick-at-all-days).
So peaceful … but we need a lot more of those snow-sticking days for the good of the rest of our year!
Spring Creek Basin Mustangs 