White-winged Dove; Lark Bunting.

Mourning Dove on yucca stalk; Velvety Nerisyrenia; cactus wren on yucca saber; surprised to find Nipple Beehive Cactus still blooming early in the morning.

Desert Marigold; house finch on ocotillo branch; Curve-billed Thrasher on ocotillo branch; Nipple Beehive Cactus.

I went back out into the desert this afternoon just as the temperature hit 100F in order to photograph barrel cacti that hadn't yet opened in the early morning.

Five White-winged Doves on a Soaptree Yucca stalk.

Desert Marigold; an arroyo (aka "wash"); Willow on sand break; Curve-billed Thrasher.

Roadrunner on the move; roadrunner one second later; Jewel Beetle (Gyascutus caelastus, metallic wood-boring beetle).

Sacred Datura (aka jimsonweed); barrel cactus with buds and flowers; Blackfoot Daisies; barrel cacti siblings.

Side-blotched lizard (probably Eastern); roadrunner in an ocotillo.

An arroyo after yesterday's heavy rain; Desert Marigold bouquet; fishhook barrel cactus with buds and flowers; Willow lying where the rain ran.

Calf and cow elk, Sacramento Mountains, New Mexico.

Allthorn (Koeberlinia spinosa) blooming at 7,000 feet in the Sacramento Mountains, southern New Mexico.

Fishhook Barrel Cacti and a Nipple Beehive Cactus.

Roundtail Horned Lizard; Trailing Four O'Clock.

Prickly pear cactus in the Chihuahuan Desert, southern New Mexico.

Dayflower (Commelina erecta).

From here you can see hundreds of ocotillos growing in the foothills of Tortugas Mountain, southern New Mexico.

Had Narcissus lived in the desert.

Yesterday afternoon's heavy downpour brought much-needed precipitation to the desert and acted as a calling card to rain bugs, Red Velvet Mites (Trombidiidae).

If you're curious about which critters eat prickly pear fruit in New Mexico, here's a summary.

Western Diamondback we encountered on our hike this morning.

Happy ocotillos after last night's rain. Tortugas Mountain (left) and the Organ Mountains in the northern Chihuahuan Desert, southern New Mexico.

Willow's tenth shade break of the morning.

This is the life cycle of the Desert Unicorn-plant: flower, pepper-like seed pod; seed pod skeleton which disperses seeds by attaching itself to passing animals.

It's either Ragleaf Bahia or Bluntscale Bahia. Would its little friend know?

Hover fly at rest.

Curve-billed Thrasher on Faxon Yucca.

Some kind soul put up a little free library in our neighborhood.

Willow pushing grass; barrel cactus west of the mountains; Allthorn flowering; in an arroyo looking north to Tortugas Mountain.

Prickly Pear fruit ripening; Texas Horned Lizard.