The ambient sound of birdsong seems to be increasing by the day, sometimes by the hour. Curve-billed thrashers, who might not be the most visually striking of birds, have a beautiful song and begin singing earlier in the year than many.
It’s still chilly enough in the mornings that roadrunners spend the first hour or so of daylight sunning themselves by fluffing their feathers out. Their beautiful iridescent green tails often look blue later in the day. And did you notice the shadow of the roadrunner’s head on the prickly pear?1
Oh my goodness! A male lupine blue butterfly on three-leaf sumac! Those tiny yellow and red balls are actually flowers getting ready to open. The butterfly isn’t all that big either — it’s not quite an inch wide with its wings spread.
A house finch, below, rests on the fallen stalk of a large ornamental yucca.2
Last but not least (many of you had to know this was coming), a Sandia hairstreak butterfly, likely the first of many this year.3 Sandia hairstreaks aren’t quite as small as lupine blues — their wingspans can be as wide as 1 1/4 inches — but since they always sit with their wings folded, all you can see is that they too are tiny.
The Sandia hairstreak above is sitting on a blade of beargrass, its host plant. If you look closely, you might be able to see that both the butterfly and the beargrass have multiple areas of iridescence.
I found each of these critters within just a few miles of my house. And yes, I do know just how lucky I am.
The state bird of New Mexico is the roadrunner.
Yucca flowers — which were likely lining that stalk last May — are the state flower of New Mexico.
Sandia hairstreaks are the state butterfly of New Mexico.
I swear I didn’t set out to create a post of New Mexico’s state symbols — I only realized I’d done so after most of it was written.
Beautiful & magical are these gems. The blue lupine is definitely a treasure. Thank you!
Luv seeing these animals and plants! Beautiful pics!