Click any photo to enlarge

Friday, May 8, 2015

Wild Rose Pass not so rosy

My husband had heard there were awesome roses blooming between Ft Davis and Balmorhea at Wild Rose Pass. He was determined to go see. I got enthused to photograph the splendor. When we got there the only roses we saw were paper ones that someone had tied to a bush. I wish I had thought to take a photo of that, but my husband is always rushing me and I don't think fast enough. (That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.) I guess we got there too late. Don't know.

So to salvage the trip I suggested we got to the Davis Mountain State Park and photograph a Cassin's Finch that I thought had been reported there, but I didn't find it in the few minutes allotted to me.

The highlight of the trip was a paper towel dispenser at a restaurant in Ft Davis that you don't have to touch. You just hold you hand under a sensor and a towel pops out. Hadn't seen one of those before. I did get to photograph some white flowers near Ft Davis that might be roses?? I don't know what they are. I don't think they're Mexican Poppies.


And the ducklings are just too cute! They're little dabbling machines. I've confirmed that there are only 5 ducklings left. I think the reason is that this winter I took away the nest box that was out over the water because it had lost most of the grass lining and my husband said he didn't want any more ducks. So now the mother doesn't have a safe place to take them at night. I have no idea where she incubated them.



My granddaughter has had a really rough time of her tonsillectomy. Hopefully, tomorrow will be a better day.

UPDATE: Be sure to read the excellent comment to this post. Also Brian said those white flowers are some kind of Evening Primrose. Makes sense. Thanks Marlin and Brian.


4 comments:

Marlin Andrus said...

I looked for roses in the pass many times on our trips to BBNP and never saw any, and then in 2013 I came across an article in "The Ceniza" publication that explained why I hadn't and wouldn't ever see them. I was disappointed but now I know the answer. The link below has the article in it.

www.cenizojournal.com/cenizo-2013-01.pdf

It's an interesting read.

Carolyn Ohl-Johnson said...

That was a very good article. Answered all my questions. Thanks. You're always a well of knowledge.

Anonymous said...

That is an amazing story on that Rosa woodsii, and perhaps it was one of so few of that plant, it was effectively removed from anyone's eyes except very few?

Carolyn Ohl-Johnson said...

I've been wondering. Apparently, it's not a rare species so I don't know. I'm going to try to learn more about it.