Leighton Photography & Imaging

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  • The Utah serviceberry is a tightly-branched shrub found in scattered locations across the American Southwest and is a very important food source for birds, deer, elk and bighorn sheep. Traditionally Native Americans used the often very straight and long stems to make arrow shafts.
    Utah Serviceberry
  • A close-up of a desert bighorn sheep in Zion National Park in Southern Utah. I was hiking through the hills when in the early evening I came upon a large group of about thirty individuals, including other rams, ewes, and lambs. It took me an hour to get this close for this shot.
    Desert Bighorn Family in Southern Utah
  • A close-up of a desert bighorn sheep in Zion National Park in Southern Utah. I was hiking through the hills when in the early evening I came upon a large group of about thirty individuals, including other rams, ewes, and lambs. It took me an hour to get this close for this shot.
    Desert Bighorn Family in Southern Utah
  • Double Arch is found in Arches National Park in Eastern Utah and is part of the amazing red alien sandstone landscape that is called the Moab Desert. This area has the largest number of natural stone arches than anywhere else in the world, but what makes this rock formation so unique is that they were both eroded from the very same piece of stone. Most arches are formed from water erosion flowing either within or from the sides of the rock over the millennia, but these two arches were formed from water eroding from the top of the stone, downwards. For this reason they are called pothole arches. Because this photograph was made at the beginning of a sudden storm, you can see the rainwater running down the rock from the top of the arch, and this is the very process that carved these arches to begin with, and that will also eventually one day cause this magnificent national treasure to collapse.
    Double Arch, Moab Desert, Utah
  • These bison are a part of a free-ranging, currently publicly-owned herd of wild bison (commonly and incorrectly called buffalo) on Antelope Island, Utah that number upwards of 700 or more individuals. The habitat is perfect, as there are no wolves, bears or other apex predators, and the only limit to population is the amount of land that can support them.
    Utah's American Bison - The Purest i..ica?
  • This particularly spiky fishhook cactus (also known as a barrel cactus) is common in the Four Corners region where Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah meet. What is interesting about this cactus is that it is a xerophyte - which means it is extremely tough in extreme environments, and can withstand long periods of time with little to no water in the blistering summer heat of the high desert in summer, and the deep freeze of winter. If you look closely, you can see where a scorpion has dug a burrow under this one, high on the plateau north of Moab, Utah.
    Smallflower Fishhook Cactus
  • The plateau side-blotched lizard (Uta stansburiana uniformis) is one of five distinct subspecies of the side-blotched lizard found across the western United States, found only in Eastern Utah, Western Colorado, Northeastern Nevada and the extreme northwestern tip of New Mexico. Unlike its boldly-patterned cousins found to the south, west and southwest, the plateau side-blotched lizard tends to have a more spotted pattern, characterized by many tiny blue spots, unique to this subspecies. This one was photographed in Eastern Utah's Moab Desert after a sudden summer storm.
    Plateau Side-Blotched Lizard
  • The plateau side-blotched lizard (Uta stansburiana uniformis) is one of five distinct subspecies of the side-blotched lizard found across the western United States, found only in Eastern Utah, Western Colorado, Northeastern Nevada and the extreme northwestern tip of New Mexico. Unlike its boldly-patterned cousins found to the south, west and southwest, the plateau side-blotched lizard tends to have a more spotted pattern, characterized by many tiny blue spots, unique to this subspecies. This one was photographed in Eastern Utah's Moab Desert after a sudden summer storm.
    Plateau Side-Blotched Lizard
  • The plateau side-blotched lizard (Uta stansburiana uniformis) is one of five distinct subspecies of the side-blotched lizard found across the western United States, found only in Eastern Utah, Western Colorado, Northeastern Nevada and the extreme northwestern tip of New Mexico. Unlike its boldly-patterned cousins found to the south, west and southwest, the plateau side-blotched lizard tends to have a more spotted pattern, characterized by many tiny blue spots, unique to this subspecies. This one was photographed in Eastern Utah's Moab Desert after a sudden summer storm.
    Plateau Side-Blotched Lizard
  • The plateau side-blotched lizard (Uta stansburiana uniformis) is one of five distinct subspecies of the side-blotched lizard found across the western United States, found only in Eastern Utah, Western Colorado, Northeastern Nevada and the extreme northwestern tip of New Mexico. Unlike its boldly-patterned cousins found to the south, west and southwest, the plateau side-blotched lizard tends to have a more spotted pattern, characterized by many tiny blue spots, unique to this subspecies. This one was photographed on Utah's Antelope Island, an island near Salt Lake City which lies near the southeastern shore of Great Salt Lake.
    Plateau Side-Blotched Lizard
  • A rare view of the opened wings of a live western-pygmy-blue in Utah's Moab Desert. Touted as the world's smallest butterfly (at least this is true in North America) this one was one of hundreds I found at late dusk in Arches National Park in Eastern Utah. The wingspan at best is half an inch.
    Western Pygmy-Blue
  • The plateau side-blotched lizard (Uta stansburiana uniformis) is one of five distinct subspecies of the side-blotched lizard found across the western United States, found only in Eastern Utah, Western Colorado, Northeastern Nevada and the extreme northwestern tip of New Mexico. Unlike its boldly-patterned cousins found to the south, west and southwest, the plateau side-blotched lizard tends to have a more spotted pattern, characterized by many tiny blue spots, unique to this subspecies. This one was photographed in Eastern Utah's Moab Desert after a sudden summer storm.
    Plateau Side-Blotched Lizard
  • The plateau side-blotched lizard (Uta stansburiana uniformis) is one of five distinct subspecies of the side-blotched lizard found across the western United States, found only in Eastern Utah, Western Colorado, Northeastern Nevada and the extreme northwestern tip of New Mexico. Unlike its boldly-patterned cousins found to the south, west and southwest, the plateau side-blotched lizard tends to have a more spotted pattern, characterized by many tiny blue spots, unique to this subspecies. This one was photographed in Eastern Utah's Moab Desert after a sudden summer storm.
    Plateau Side-Blotched Lizard
  • The plateau side-blotched lizard (Uta stansburiana uniformis) is one of five distinct subspecies of the side-blotched lizard found across the western United States, found only in Eastern Utah, Western Colorado, Northeastern Nevada and the extreme northwestern tip of New Mexico. Unlike its boldly-patterned cousins found to the south, west and southwest, the plateau side-blotched lizard tends to have a more spotted pattern, characterized by many tiny blue spots, unique to this subspecies. This one was photographed in Eastern Utah's Moab Desert after a sudden summer storm.
    Plateau Side-Blotched Lizard
  • The plateau side-blotched lizard (Uta stansburiana uniformis) is one of five distinct subspecies of the side-blotched lizard found across the western United States, found only in Eastern Utah, Western Colorado, Northeastern Nevada and the extreme northwestern tip of New Mexico. Unlike its boldly-patterned cousins found to the south, west and southwest, the plateau side-blotched lizard tends to have a more spotted pattern, characterized by many tiny blue spots, unique to this subspecies. This one was photographed in Eastern Utah's Moab Desert after a sudden summer storm.
    Plateau Side-Blotched Lizard
  • The plateau side-blotched lizard (Uta stansburiana uniformis) is one of five distinct subspecies of the side-blotched lizard found across the western United States, found only in Eastern Utah, Western Colorado, Northeastern Nevada and the extreme northwestern tip of New Mexico. Unlike its boldly-patterned cousins found to the south, west and southwest, the plateau side-blotched lizard tends to have a more spotted pattern, characterized by many tiny blue spots, unique to this subspecies. This one was photographed on Utah's Antelope Island, an island near Salt Lake City which lies near the southeastern shore of Great Salt Lake.
    Plateau Side-Blotched Lizard
  • A Mormon metalmark rests midday on a warm late-summer day just east of Provo, Utah in a canyon clearing full of wildflowers and magpies.
    Mormon Metalmark
  • High on the plateau north of Moab, Utah, this extremely feisty and aggressive little Beck's desert scorpion was found under a shaded rock on a hot summer day at the far northeastern end of its range. I had to consult a professional arachnologist for the correct ID of this species as far too many of these small desert species look very similar.
    Beck's Desert Scorpion (Paruroctonus..cki)
  • The desert Indian paintbrush is a common springtime bloomer throughout much of the American Southwest. This bright scarlet specimen was found growing in the dry sand on a canyon in Utah's Zion National Park.
    Desert Indian Paintbrush
  • These gorgeous spring bloomers are perfectly adapted to finding the best sources of water in the desert. By growing wedged into these cracks, they can tap into the parts of the canyon walls that retain the most water since the last rain, as seen here in Utah's Zion National Park.
    Eastwood Indian Paintbrush
  • The  Eastwood Indian paintbrush has found a special niche in its harsh desert environment in which to thrive. They are found almost exclusively in cracks and crevices in the canyon walls of Utah, Colorado and New Mexico.
    Eastwood Indian Paintbrush
  • Also known as the desert Indian paintbrush, linearleaf Indian paintbrush,  narrow-leaved Indian paintbrush, and Wyoming desert paintbrush, this is one of the tallest of North America's Castilleja species, reaching upward to four feet and sometimes growing in such density that they can appear more like a shrub than the typical, low-growing singular forb wildflower one would expect to see among Indian paintbrushes. These unusually orange (they are usually red) beauties were found blooming in profusion in Utah's Arches National Park.
    Wyoming Indian Paintbrush (Castillej..lia)
  • A close-up of a desert bighorn ewe in Zion National Park in Southern Utah. I was hiking through the hills when in the early evening I came upon a large group of about thirty individuals, including other rams, ewes, and lambs. It took me an hour to get this close for this shot.
    Desert Bighorn Ram
  • A close-up of a desert bighorn ewe with nursing lamb in Zion National Park in Southern Utah. I was hiking through the hills when in the early evening I came upon a large group of about thirty individuals, including other rams, ewes, and lambs. It took me an hour to get this close for this shot.
    Desert Bighorn Ewe with Nursing Lamb
  • A close-up of a desert bighorn lamb in Zion National Park in Southern Utah. I was hiking through the hills when in the early evening I came upon a large group of about thirty individuals, including other rams, ewes, and lambs. It took me an hour to get this close for this shot.
    Desert Bighorn Lamb
  • A close-up of a desert bighorn sheep in Zion National Park in Southern Utah. I was hiking through the hills when in the early evening I came upon a large group of about thirty individuals, including other rams, ewes, and lambs. It took me an hour to get this close for this shot.
    Mother Desert Bighorn Ewe with Lamb
  • A close-up of a desert bighorn sheep in Zion National Park in Southern Utah. I was hiking through the hills when in the early evening I came upon a large group of about thirty individuals, including other rams, ewes, and lambs. It took me an hour to get this close for this shot.
    Mother Desert Bighorn Ewe with Pair ..ambs
  • A close-up of a desert bighorn ram in Zion National Park in Southern Utah. I was hiking through the hills when in the early evening I came upon a large group of about thirty individuals, including other rams, ewes, and lambs. It took me an hour to get this close for this shot.
    Desert Bighorn Ram
  • A close-up of a desert bighorn ram in Zion National Park in Southern Utah. I was hiking through the hills when in the early evening I came upon a large group of about thirty individuals, including other rams, ewes, and lambs. It took me an hour to get this close for this shot.
    Desert Bighorn Ram
  • A close-up of a desert bighorn ram in Zion National Park in Southern Utah. I was hiking through the hills when in the early evening I came upon a large group of about thirty individuals, including other rams, ewes, and lambs. It took me an hour to get this close for this shot.
    Desert Bighorn Ram
  • Massive panoramic view of Southern Utah's Bryce Canyon with its hundreds upon hundreds of hoodoos and other wild sandstone rock formations. In fact - while every continent on Earth has these hoodoos, nowhere in the world has as many as there are right here, in Bryce Canyon National Park! This massive print is at full natural size a whopping 9.75 feet x 3.6 feet (3m x 1.1m) and was created from twelve images. So large in fact that you can see the individual branches on every tree!
    Bryce Canyon Panorama
  • The famous Delicate Arch stands 65 feet (20 meters) above its sandstone base in the surrounding canyons and ravines in Arches National Park in eastern Utah's Moab Desert.
    Delicate Arch
  • The famous Delicate Arch stands 65 feet (20 meters) above its sandstone base in the surrounding canyons and ravines in Arches National Park in eastern Utah's Moab Desert.
    Delicate Arch
  • The famous Delicate Arch stands 65 feet (20 meters) above its sandstone base in the surrounding canyons and ravines in Arches National Park in eastern Utah's Moab Desert.
    Delicate Arch
  • Touted as the world's smallest butterfly (at least this is true in North America) this one was one of hundreds I found at late dusk in the Moab Desert all seemingly asleep among a few bushes on the side of the road in Arches National Park in Eastern Utah. The wingspan at best is half an inch.
    Western Pygmy-Blue
  • The desert cottontail (Audubon's cottontail) is a common rabbit native to the American Southwest, very similar to other cottontails around the world, but adapted to live in arid, desert-like environments. It gets all of its water from the grasses, cacti and other forbs. It is also a very important food source for the many carnivores of the desert including golden and bald eagles, great horned owls, ferruginous hawks, badgers, coyotes, foxes, bobcats and humans. This one was photographed early on a summer evening in the Moab Desert in Eastern Utah.
    Desert Cottontail (Audubon's Cottontail)
  • An old, twisted pinyon tree grows atop the windy rocks at the top of a huge rock formation in a nameless canyon in southwestern Utah. It's amazing how the roots of these tenacious pines hold the rock with an iron grip as they endure summer's blistering heat, winter's bitterly unforgiving cold, and near constant wind decade after decade.
    The Old Pinyon Tree
  • Also known as the desert Indian paintbrush, linearleaf Indian paintbrush,  narrow-leaved Indian paintbrush, and Wyoming desert paintbrush, this is one of the tallest of North America's Castilleja species, reaching upward to four feet and sometimes growing in such density that they can appear more like a shrub than the typical, low-growing singular forb wildflower one would expect to see among Indian paintbrushes. These unusually orange (they are usually red) beauties were found blooming in profusion in Utah's Arches National Park.
    Wyoming Indian Paintbrush (Castillej..lia)
  • Also known as the desert Indian paintbrush, linearleaf Indian paintbrush,  narrow-leaved Indian paintbrush, and Wyoming desert paintbrush, this is one of the tallest of North America's Castilleja species, reaching upward to four feet and sometimes growing in such density that they can appear more like a shrub than the typical, low-growing singular forb wildflower one would expect to see among Indian paintbrushes. These unusually orange (they are usually red) beauties were found blooming in profusion in Utah's Arches National Park.
    Wyoming Indian Paintbrush (Castillej..lia)
  • Also known as the desert Indian paintbrush, linearleaf Indian paintbrush,  narrow-leaved Indian paintbrush, and Wyoming desert paintbrush, this is one of the tallest of North America's Castilleja species, reaching upward to four feet and sometimes growing in such density that they can appear more like a shrub than the typical, low-growing singular forb wildflower one would expect to see among Indian paintbrushes. These unusually orange (they are usually red) beauties were found blooming in profusion in Utah's Arches National Park.
    Wyoming Indian Paintbrush (Castillej..lia)
  • Also known as the desert Indian paintbrush, linearleaf Indian paintbrush,  narrow-leaved Indian paintbrush, and Wyoming desert paintbrush, this is one of the tallest of North America's Castilleja species, reaching upward to four feet and sometimes growing in such density that they can appear more like a shrub than the typical, low-growing singular forb wildflower one would expect to see among Indian paintbrushes. These unusually orange (they are usually red) beauties were found blooming in profusion in Utah's Arches National Park.
    Wyoming Indian Paintbrush (Castillej..lia)
  • Also known as the desert Indian paintbrush, linearleaf Indian paintbrush,  narrow-leaved Indian paintbrush, and Wyoming desert paintbrush, this is one of the tallest of North America's Castilleja species, reaching upward to four feet and sometimes growing in such density that they can appear more like a shrub than the typical, low-growing singular forb wildflower one would expect to see among Indian paintbrushes. These unusually orange (they are usually red) beauties were found blooming in profusion in Utah's Arches National Park.
    Wyoming Indian Paintbrush (Castillej..lia)
  • Also known as the desert Indian paintbrush, linearleaf Indian paintbrush,  narrow-leaved Indian paintbrush, and Wyoming desert paintbrush, this is one of the tallest of North America's Castilleja species, reaching upward to four feet and sometimes growing in such density that they can appear more like a shrub than the typical, low-growing singular forb wildflower one would expect to see among Indian paintbrushes. These unusually orange (they are usually red) beauties were found blooming in profusion in Utah's Arches National Park.
    Wyoming Indian Paintbrush (Castillej..lia)
  • A close-up of a desert bighorn lamb in Zion National Park in Southern Utah. I was hiking through the hills when in the early evening I came upon a large group of about thirty individuals, including other rams, ewes, and lambs. It took me an hour to get this close for this shot.
    Desert Bighorn Lamb
  • A close-up of a desert bighorn sheep in Zion National Park in Southern Utah. I was hiking through the hills when in the early evening I came upon a large group of about thirty individuals, including other rams, ewes, and lambs. It took me an hour to get this close for this shot.
    Mother Desert Bighorn Ewe with Lamb
  • A close-up of a desert bighorn sheep in Zion National Park in Southern Utah. I was hiking through the hills when in the early evening I came upon a large group of about thirty individuals, including other rams, ewes, and lambs. It took me an hour to get this close for this shot.
    Mother Desert Bighorn Ewe with Lamb
  • A close-up of a desert bighorn sheep in Zion National Park in Southern Utah. I was hiking through the hills when in the early evening I came upon a large group of about thirty individuals, including other rams, ewes, and lambs. It took me an hour to get this close for this shot.
    Mother Desert Bighorn Ewe with Lamb
  • A close-up of a desert bighorn sheep in Zion National Park in Southern Utah. I was hiking through the hills when in the early evening I came upon a large group of about thirty individuals, including other rams, ewes, and lambs. It took me an hour to get this close for this shot.
    Mother Desert Bighorn Ewe with Pair ..ambs
  • A close-up of a desert bighorn ewe in Zion National Park in Southern Utah. I was hiking through the hills when in the early evening I came upon a large group of about thirty individuals, including other rams, ewes, and lambs. It took me an hour to get this close for this shot.
    Desert Bighorn Ewe
  • A close-up of a desert bighorn ewe in Zion National Park in Southern Utah. I was hiking through the hills when in the early evening I came upon a large group of about thirty individuals, including other rams, ewes, and lambs. It took me an hour to get this close for this shot.
    Desert Bighorn Ewe
  • A close-up of a desert bighorn ewe in Zion National Park in Southern Utah. I was hiking through the hills when in the early evening I came upon a large group of about thirty individuals, including other rams, ewes, and lambs. It took me an hour to get this close for this shot.
    Desert Bighorn Ewe
  • A close-up of a desert bighorn ewe in Zion National Park in Southern Utah. I was hiking through the hills when in the early evening I came upon a large group of about thirty individuals, including other rams, ewes, and lambs. It took me an hour to get this close for this shot.
    Desert Bighorn Ewe
  • A close-up of a desert bighorn ewe in Zion National Park in Southern Utah. I was hiking through the hills when in the early evening I came upon a large group of about thirty individuals, including other rams, ewes, and lambs. It took me an hour to get this close for this shot.
    Desert Bighorn Ewe
  • A close-up of a desert bighorn ewe in Zion National Park in Southern Utah. I was hiking through the hills when in the early evening I came upon a large group of about thirty individuals, including other rams, ewes, and lambs. It took me an hour to get this close for this shot.
    Desert Bighorn Ewe
  • A close-up of a desert bighorn ram in Zion National Park in Southern Utah. I was hiking through the hills when in the early evening I came upon a large group of about thirty individuals, including other rams, ewes, and lambs. It took me an hour to get this close for this shot.
    Desert Bighorn Ram
  • A close-up of a desert bighorn ram in Zion National Park in Southern Utah. I was hiking through the hills when in the early evening I came upon a large group of about thirty individuals, including other rams, ewes, and lambs. It took me an hour to get this close for this shot.
    Desert Bighorn Ram
  • A close-up of a desert bighorn ram in Zion National Park in Southern Utah. I was hiking through the hills when in the early evening I came upon a large group of about thirty individuals, including other rams, ewes, and lambs. It took me an hour to get this close for this shot.
    Desert Bighorn Ram
  • A close-up of a desert bighorn ram in Zion National Park in Southern Utah. I was hiking through the hills when in the early evening I came upon a large group of about thirty individuals, including other rams, ewes, and lambs. It took me an hour to get this close for this shot.
    Desert Bighorn Ram
  • A close-up of a desert bighorn ram in Zion National Park in Southern Utah. I was hiking through the hills when in the early evening I came upon a large group of about thirty individuals, including other rams, ewes, and lambs. It took me an hour to get this close for this shot.
    Desert Bighorn Ram
  • A close-up of a desert bighorn ram in Zion National Park in Southern Utah. I was hiking through the hills when in the early evening I came upon a large group of about thirty individuals, including other rams, ewes, and lambs. It took me an hour to get this close for this shot.
    Desert Bighorn Ram
  • A close-up of a desert bighorn ram in Zion National Park in Southern Utah. I was hiking through the hills when in the early evening I came upon a large group of about thirty individuals, including other rams, ewes, and lambs. It took me an hour to get this close for this shot.
    Desert Bighorn Ram
  • A close-up of a desert bighorn ram in Zion National Park in Southern Utah. I was hiking through the hills when in the early evening I came upon a large group of about thirty individuals, including other rams, ewes, and lambs. It took me an hour to get this close for this shot.
    Desert Bighorn Ram
  • A close-up of a desert bighorn ram in Zion National Park in Southern Utah. I was hiking through the hills when in the early evening I came upon a large group of about thirty individuals, including other rams, ewes, and lambs. It took me an hour to get this close for this shot.
    Desert Bighorn Ram
  • A close-up of a desert bighorn ram in Zion National Park in Southern Utah. I was hiking through the hills when in the early evening I came upon a large group of about thirty individuals, including other rams, ewes, and lambs. It took me an hour to get this close for this shot.
    Desert Bighorn Ram
  • A close-up of a desert bighorn ram in Zion National Park in Southern Utah. I was hiking through the hills when in the early evening I came upon a large group of about thirty individuals, including other rams, ewes, and lambs. It took me an hour to get this close for this shot.
    Desert Bighorn Ram
  • The sweet-scented heliotrope looked like a mini-morning glory to me at first glance, but a closer look showed this wonderfully scented member of the borage family is also the largest of America's native heliotropes. Like many desert wildflowers, the sweet-scented heliotrope opens in the evening and can be found in all of the southwestern states as well as Wyoming, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas and Arkansas. This one was found in the early evening just after opening up in Utah's Moab Desert.
    Sweet-Scented Heliotrope
  • Some of the amazingly beautiful rock formations photographed here at dusk in Arches National Park in Eastern Utah.
    Moab Rock Formations
  • The famous North and South Window arches at 4am on an incredible moonlit night deep in the Moab Desert in Arches National Park in Eastern Utah.
    North and South Window Arches at Night
  • The wonderous rock formations of Utah's Arches National Park look even more spectacular on a wildly moonlit night in the Moab Desert.
    Moab Desert in Moonlight
  • Balanced Rock silhouetted against the moonlit sky on an extraordinary night in the Moab Desert at about 4am in Eastern Utah.
    Balanced Rock in Silhouette at Night
  • Long exposure of balanced rock in Arches National Park in Utah's Moab Desert lit entirely by moonlight.
    Balanced Rock at Night
  • A waning gibbous moon on a warm summer night in the Moab Desert in Eastern Utah at nearly 4am. It was so bright out that I could easily navigate between the cacti and jagged rocks without my flashlight!
    Desert Moon
  • The famous Delicate Arch stands 65 feet (20 meters) above its sandstone base in the surrounding canyons and ravines in Arches National Park in eastern Utah's Moab Desert.
    Delicate Arch
  • The famous Delicate Arch stands 65 feet (20 meters) above its sandstone base in the surrounding canyons and ravines in Arches National Park in eastern Utah's Moab Desert.
    Delicate Arch
  • The famous Delicate Arch stands 65 feet (20 meters) above its sandstone base in the surrounding canyons and ravines in Arches National Park in eastern Utah's Moab Desert.
    Delicate Arch
  • A particularly noisy sage thrasher poses on large rock on sagebrush scrub on Antelope Island in Utah's Great Salt Lake.
    Sage Thrasher
  • A particularly noisy sage thrasher poses on large rock on sagebrush scrub on Antelope Island in Utah's Great Salt Lake.
    Sage Thrasher
  • Touted as the world's smallest butterfly (at least this is true in North America) this one was one of hundreds I found at late dusk in the Moab Desert all seemingly asleep among a few bushes on the side of the road in Arches National Park in Eastern Utah. The wingspan at best is half an inch.
    Western Pygmy-Blue
  • An incredibly tiny western pygmy-blue sits motionless in a shrub on a hot summer evening in the Moab Desert in Eastern Utah.
    Western Pygmy-Blue
  • The desert cottontail (Audubon's cottontail) is a common rabbit native to the American Southwest, very similar to other cottontails around the world, but adapted to live in arid, desert-like environments. It gets all of its water from the grasses, cacti and other forbs. It is also a very important food source for the many carnivores of the desert including golden and bald eagles, great horned owls, ferruginous hawks, badgers, coyotes, foxes, bobcats and humans. This one was photographed early on a summer evening in the Moab Desert in Eastern Utah.
    Desert Cottontail (Audubon's Cottontail)
  • The desert cottontail (Audubon's cottontail) is a common rabbit native to the American Southwest, very similar to other cottontails around the world, but adapted to live in arid, desert-like environments. It gets all of its water from the grasses, cacti and other forbs. It is also a very important food source for the many carnivores of the desert including golden and bald eagles, great horned owls, ferruginous hawks, badgers, coyotes, foxes, bobcats and humans. This one was photographed early on a summer evening in the Moab Desert in Eastern Utah.
    Desert Cottontail (Audubon's Cottontail)
  • This very attractive milkvetch was growing in the near the top of a hill in the desert canyonlands of Southern Utah on a chilly spring afternoon.
    Thompson's Woolly Locoweed
  • This very local native member of the pea family was photographed on the side of the road in the desert in a very rural part of central-southern Utah.
    Thompson's Woolly Locoweed
  • Mount Spry and East Temple are two of the landmark rock formations of Zion National Park in southwestern Utah. On this warm late spring afternoon, the snow is gone and the sun is shining on a spectacularly clear day.
    Mount Spry and East Temple
  • A close-up of a desert bighorn sheep in Zion National Park in Southern Utah. I was hiking through the hills when in the early evening I came upon a large group of about thirty individuals, including other rams, ewes, and lambs. It took me an hour to get this close for this shot.
    Desert Bighorn Ram
  • At home in the heat of the American Southwest, this red-spotted toad slumbers throughout the driest parts of the year, and emerges with the rains that come in spring and summer. This one was photographed in the Moab Desert in Eastern Utah.
    Red-Spotted Toad
  • A desert specialist, the Eastwood paintbrush thrives in the cracks in canyon walls of Zion National Park, and blooms a vibrant scarlet in the springtime.
    Eastwood Indian Paintbrush
  • Eastwood Indian paintbrushes thrive in arid, rocky canyons. This one was growing out of a crevice high up a rocky wall in Zion National Park.
    Eastwood Indian Paintbrush
  • One of the 2000+ arches found in the Moab Desert in Arches National Park, lit by an extraordinary moon on a hot summer night.
    Moab Desert at Night
  • These Antelope Island bison have a distinct genetic heritage from all other bison in North America. They are potentially the most pure, in regards to the ancient populations that lived here up until Europeans first encountered them.
    American Bison Close-up
  • A bull American bison at dusk grazes on Antelope Island with Great Salt Lake getting darker by the minute in the background.
    American Bison on Antelope Island
  • Fossil records show that these bison have evolved and expanded across the north hemisphere in North America , Europe and Asia since the last ice age. In North America, several species of bison are thought to have thrived after the arrival of the first humans and the extinction of most of the ancient megafauna and other predators, such as the saber-toothed cat and dire wolf. The lack of competition for grazing across the vast prairies meant virtually no limit to population growth, considering the continent's vast size and recently extinct herds of other large herbivores.
    American Bison on Antelope Island
  • The American bison (Bison bison) is the only surviving species of bison in North America today.
    American Bison
  • Close-up of a red-spotted toad, one of the few amphibians found in the deserts and plains of the American Southwest. Because water is scarce in these areas, they can be often heard after a heavy rain as a piercing high-pitched trill that means the males are calling for females, as breeding opportunities are few and far between. Eggs are laid singly and fertilized, and will hatch within hours. Six to eight weeks later, the tadpoles (if they survive and the water lasts long enough) will reach adulthood.
    Red-Spotted Toad
  • A red-spotted toad is reflected in a rare pool of water - a leftover from a massive storm that passed through the Moab Desert the night before. The brilliant blue sky reflected beautifully from this angle.
    Red-Spotted Toad
  • Native to the Rocky Mountains, this high-elevation beauty is called queen's crown, and can be found in damp subalpine to alpine wet meadows in Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona and Utah. This succulent was blooming in profusion at about 12,000 feet above sea level just east of Aspen, Colorado on the Continental Divide on a chilly midsummer day.
    Queen's Crown
  • Common in southeastern Arizona, Baja California and Sonora in Mexico, parts of Southern California, as well as select locations in Utah and Nevada, the buckhorn cholla gets its name from its similarity in appearance to deer antlers. Flowers are quite variable in color - ranging from lemon yellow, fiery orange to a deep scarlet, and are followed later in the season by smooth, plump, mostly spineless, green, purplish, or reddish edible fruits. Like many other cactus species in the Southwest, the mature fruits of the buckhorn cholla drop off long before it blooms during the next season, therefore you will never see one with both fruits and flowers at the same time. This one with deep red and yellow flowers was found and photographed in the Alamo Canyon, deep in the Ajo Mountains of Southern Pima County, Arizona near the Mexican border.
    Buckhorn Cholla (Cylindropuntia acan..rpa)
  • Native to the Rocky Mountains, this high-elevation beauty is called queen's crown, and can be found in damp subalpine to alpine wet meadows in Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona and Utah. This succulent was blooming in profusion at about 12,000 feet above sea level just east of Aspen, Colorado on the Continental Divide on a chilly midsummer day.
    Queen's Crown
  • Native to the Rocky Mountains, this high-elevation beauty is called queen's crown, and can be found in damp subalpine to alpine wet meadows in Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona and Utah. This succulent was blooming in profusion at about 12,000 feet above sea level just east of Aspen, Colorado on the Continental Divide on a chilly midsummer day.
    Queen's Crown
  • Native to the Rocky Mountains, this high-elevation beauty is called queen's crown, and can be found in damp subalpine to alpine wet meadows in Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona and Utah. This succulent was blooming in profusion at about 12,000 feet above sea level just east of Aspen, Colorado on the Continental Divide on a chilly midsummer day.
    Queen's Crown
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