The short month

I had hoped to get 20 butterfly species for the year by Mar 1st but missed it by two. If February had been a day longer I would have made it. I'm sure there are many species I don't get to count because I don't see them or get a decent look. Today the best butterfly was this Great Purple Hairstreak. I think it's only the second one I've seen at the oasis. Its larva feed on mistletoe and we've had a lot of that this winter.

It landed high in a pinyon tree so I had to take what I could get.

Trying to keep flower IDs from overwhelming me. I'm still hanging in there. Here's a lovely globemallow blooming. I just have the orange and lavender ones at the oasis.

Copper Globemallow - Sphaeralcea angustifolia

White-crowned Sparrows overwinter at the oasis, but this is the first time I've seen one that had been impaled by a Loggerhead Shrike. I can't imagine how the shrike got the bird skewered onto that flimsy twig.

All 18 of my Tree Tobacco plants are thriving. It's going to be awesome this August when they're blooming and swarming with hummers! An old lady can dream, can't she?