Another busy day at CMO

Kelly joined the Sul Ross biology class's field trip to CMO to do a banding demonstration for them, and to accompany them up the mountain to look for Lucifer Hummingbird nests. It was a horribly cold windy day, wouldn't you know. So much for summer!

Under the circumstances all went well. I was very impressed with the students. A really fine group of people. They certainly came a step closer to becoming naturalists today.

While they went up the mountain I hung around on the road below with walkie-talkie just in case. They didn't find any Lucifer nests but they did find the Peregrine Falcon nest. I will post pics of it from afar when I get some. It was near where I had thought it was, but not exactly there.

I photographed wildflowers, and this one cactus really grabbed my attention. I've never seen so many blooms on one "cylinder" before. Actually, it might have cylinder in its name. It's an Echinocereus of some variety. Maybe cylindricus. More likely viridiflorus, or russanthus. Don't know.

Nature has gone all out this spring with flowers following such a wet winter. I say "spring," though it feels more like winter, or on several days, summer. Anything but spring.

Here's a picture Kelly took up the mountain with his iphone of Lyre-leaf Twistflower. 

As the group was preparing to leave, I yelled, "Two-tailed, don't move anyone," and ran for my camera. Since birds were the focus of their visit they were expecting to see a two-tailed bird, they later told me. Nope, butterfly. I got my camera in time and got a much better photo of it than I had gotten two days ago.