Bare Faced Curassow, Costa Rica

 

Yes, I really do take all these photos except as specifically noted. As of this post, there are 4646 previous posts. I probably have a hundred times more than that number in my archive. This is a Bare-Faced Curassow from Costa Rica. Here is a short explanation about this bird from Wikipedia: Bare-faced curassow.

The bare-faced curassow (Crax fasciolata) is a species of bird in the family Cracidae, the chachalacas, guans, curassows, etc. It is found in Brazil, Paraguay, and eastern Bolivia, and extreme northeast Argentina, in the cerrado, pantanal, and the southeastern region of the Amazon basin. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry forest and subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest.

 

Here's Looking at You

 Turtles live in an interesting world. Perhaps we can learn a few lessons from a creature that lives a slow, contemplative life and does not feel the urgency of living at anything faster. Life in the slow lane has it advantages but I don't think one of the advantages is having lichen and algae growing on your shell. 

Goldfinger Pincushion

 This is a Goldfinger Pincushion of the genus Leucospermum. Here is a short explanation of the genus:

Leucospermum is a genus of evergreen upright, sometimes creeping shrubs that is assigned to the Proteaceae, with currently forty-eight known species. Almost all species are easily recognised as Leucospermum because of the long protruding styles with a thickened pollen-presenter, which jointly give the flower head the appearance of a pincushion, its common name. Pincushions can be found in South Africa, Swaziland, Zimbabwe and Mozambique.

The shrubs mostly have a single stem at their base, but some species sprout from an underground rootstock, from which the plant can regrow after fire has killed the above ground biomass. In a larger group of species, specimens are killed by fire, and their survival depends on the seeds. In all species, seeds are collected by ants, which take them to their underground nests to feed on their ant breads, a seed dispersal strategy known as myrmecochory. This ensures that the seeds do not burn, so new plants can grow from them.

This interesting flower was found in the Los Angeles Arboretum and Botanic Garden, in Arcadia, California. 

The Eye of the Peacock

 

I have probably written about peacocks several times. We had semi-wild peacocks in our neighborhood in Phoenix during my teenage years. They used to fly into our yard and sit on our roof just above my bedroom window. I would wake up to their very loud cries. I don't think I appreciated their beautiful color. They are also not awfully friendly. Fortunately, with a long lens, I can take photos from a distance. I mostly see peacocks in zoos but sometimes, like this one, they are roaming free. 

The Challenge of Growing Orchids

 

I have tried to grow orchids over the years but all my attempts have failed. Of course, the Orchidaceae are a diverse and widespread family of flowering plants but when I think of orchids, I don't think of all the members of the family with small inconspicuous blossoms. I think of these lovely large, impressive ones. The basic reasons for my failure lie in the fact that for most of my life so far, I have lived in a desert with very low levels of humidity and extreme temperature changes. Overcoming these factors requires constructing a container (greenhouse) that can control the high temperatures and lack of humidity in the summer and the cold below freezing and dry climate of the winter. I have known about people who could grow orchids in Mesa, Arizona but I have never really had the inclination to spend all that time and money. That does not keep me from enjoying the beauty of the flowers when I visit those places where they are grown in abundance. 

Peace Lillies

 

Although these are sometimes called Peace Lillies, these are flowers from the genus Spathiphyllum. There are approximately 47 species of these plants from the family Araceae. They originally came from the tropics in Central and South America although there are some in southeastern Asia also. See Wikipedia: Spathiphyllum. 

I found this cluster of blossoms in the Los Angeles County Arboretum and Botanic Garden. 

Soft Seat

 If you overlook the fact that it is cold and we had record snowfall, this might look very comfortable. 

Rare Yellow Orchids

 

Yellow orchids are relatively rare. I had never seen yellow ones before. I found these in the Los Angeles County Arboretum and Botanic Garden in Altadena, California. If I had several lives to live, I would spend one of them looking for rare plants. I would not want to sell them, I would want to photograph and classify them. There are so many species, variations, and cultivars of orchids that it is a real challenge identifying them. 

An Orchid Flower

 

If you click back through my previous blog posts, you will probably notice that I love flowers. Orchids are the stars of the flower world. The family name is Orchidaceae and it presently has about 28,000 accepted species distributed in 763 genera. Here are some details about orchids from Wikipedia: Orchidaceae.

The family encompasses about 6–11% of all seed plants. The largest genera are Bulbophyllum (2,000 species), Epidendrum (1,500 species), Dendrobium (1,400 species), and Pleurothallis (1,000 species). It also includes Vanilla (the genus of the vanilla plant), the type genus Orchis, and many commonly cultivated plants such as Phalaenopsis and Cattleya. Moreover, since the introduction of tropical species into cultivation in the 19th century, horticulturists have produced more than 100,000 hybrids and cultivars.

We like to visit botanical gardens and arboretums and this beautiful flower was growing the Los Angeles County Arboretum and Botanic Garden in Arcadia, California. By way, orchid flowers are very difficult to photograph because digital sensors do not accurately capture their color depending on lighting conditions. 

Old Town, San Diego, California

I can't remember when I first visited San Diego, California. If you have lived in the Salt River Valley of Arizona, chances are you spent some time in San Diego visiting the ocean and actually seeing some water once and a while. The bonus was all of the other attractions. We have a lot of places that are favorites. One of my best memories involves kayaking on Mission Bay but Old Town is also a favorite. 

Bougainvillea

 

Bougainvillea is associated with the hot, tropical, or semi-tropical areas of the world. The flowers are tiny and inconspicuous. The inflorescence consists of large colorful sepal-like bracts that surround three simple waxy flowers. The plants belong to the four o'clock family, Nyctaginaceae. They are native to eastern South America but I grew up with them in the Salt River Valley surrounding Phoenix, Arizona. They come in a variety of colors and can stand some cold temperatures but do better is hot, wet climates. 

Patterns in the Desert, Death Valley, California

 

We mourn for what we have lost over the past year to a pandemic that has laid waste to our world when we fail to understand what it means to be without apparent life. As the sun rises, I can see trees and grass and life in its fullness. In contrast to a real desert, we live in abundance. If you feel that you are living in a desert, rejoice over the gifts of the desert and the beauty of life. 

Snow with Deer Tracks

 

There is a herd of deer that live in our immediate neighborhood. We watch them throughout the year as the does give birth to fawns and as the fawns grow into adulthood. In the winter, they come down from the hills to eat what is left of the plants around our house and those of our neighbors. They usually just wander around but there are always very specific trails they follow, year after year. When the snow comes we can see the trails more clearly. The snow in this image is deeper than it usually is and you can see the trail faintly near the bushes in the background and going up the hill. 

Silver Creek, Wasatch Mountains, Utah

Unless you have a 4-wheel drive high clearance vehicle or like to walk, most of the area of the Wasatch Mountains in Utah is definitely limited access. The areas that do have access by accessible roads are almost always crowded on any weekend with good weather. If the canyon you choose to visit in winter has one or more ski resorts you can also expect heavy traffic. But fortunately, there is the rest of the mountain area where you might not see anyone in an entire day of hiking. This is Silver Creek. If you are used to mountain dirt roads in Utah, you can drive to Silver Lake but you have to hike to follow the creek up the mountain. Of course, I have a 4-wheel drive high clearance vehicle. 

Summer high in the Wasatch Mountains

 It is always nice to remember Summer in the middle of the Winter. It seems like it is also nice to remember Winter in the middle of the Summer. I can't say which is better. I like both. It is snowing outside as I write this and the temperature is dropping but I know that every season passes. We are in an almost year-long season of changes in our lives from a huge pandemic. But just like I know there will be beautiful green plants and flowers in the Summer, I know that someday the pandemic will end and we will be back to our new normal. 

Last light on Mount Timpanogos, Utah

 

This is the view from the window in my front room. When I see light like this, I run out into the cold to take a photo. I love the mountains and find them to be compensation for moving from my love of the desert and my friends the cactus plants.