The riparian woodland Ms. Mesquitey and I were hiking in is at around 6,000 ft. in elevation. I think that may be the upper limits of the elf owls elevation range. Elf owls (Micrathene whitneyi) winter in southern Mexico then migrate in the spring to southern Arizona, southwest New Mexico and west Texas to an amazing bunch of biotic communities where they breed and summer over. Lucky us!
The photo is taken from Wikipedia. I thank the unknown photographer who took it in Madera Canyon of the Santa Rita Mountains and shared it. It is a beautiful photo of the elf owl perched by a hole in a sycamore tree. Thank you very much, unknown photographer.
The common name of chocolate flower refers to the surprising chocolate fragrance of the flower. Another common name I came across is lyreleaf greeneyes....
Hmm, I’m not doing a very good job of keeping up with botanical names. Either that or I’m making them up as I go....
Folks love to purchase blooming penstemons in the spring. I mean, who can resist the floriferous panicles of all the…