Leighton Photography & Imaging

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  • This rather aggressive kingsnake was seen hunting through the fallen palm fronds of the Coachella Valley Oasis in Southern California. After spotting it, it took a few tries to catch it, and upon release it reared nicely for me in this strike pose.
    California Kingsnake
  • As close as I dare in front of an angry  four-foot kingsnake. I dropped to my belly about two feet in front of it and got this shot as it was just about to strike. This was my first snake of the day on this outing to Southern California.
    California Kingsnake
  • Young cottonmouth (or water moccasin) in the the middle of the road near the Corkscrew Swamp in SW Florida early in the morning. I should have used a zoom lens!
    Ready to Strike!
  • A Northwestern Pacific rattlesnake (Crotalus oreganus oreganus) in strike pose after being caught then released among the ponderosa pines in the Eastern Cascade Mountains in Central Washington. Had I known at the time how highly venomous these particular rattlers were compared to other North American rattlesnakes I might have thought twice. Interestingly, the rattle sounded more like a cicada than your typical warning.
    Northern Pacific Rattlesnake
  • Perhaps the most strikingly beautiful of all of the large dragonflies of Western Canada and the United States, the eight-spotted skimmer contrasts greatly with its environment, whether it is in lowland marshes and ponds or along desert creeks and rivers. This one was seen perching over a duckweed-covered pond near Soos Creek, part of the Green River watershed system in Kent, Washington on a very hot summer day.
    Eight-spotted Skimmer
  • My favorite of the native piperia orchids, the flat-spurred orchid is found only in the western states of Washington, Oregon and California, and also in the Canadian province of British Columbia. It is also one of the easiest to identify. The white flowers are quite large, and the sepals have a green stripe through the center of them. More strikingly, the extra-long tube-like or horn-like spur is almost always horizontal to the stem. In this case, it wasn't exactly horizontal, but close enough to fit the description. The closely related elegant piperia (Piperia elegans) also has a greatly elongated spur, with similar flowers, but the spur hangs downward against the stem. This was one of several found in a deeply wooded area in rural Thurston County between Yelm, Washington and Mount Rainier.
    Piperia transversa-12.jpg
  • My favorite of the native piperia orchids, the flat-spurred orchid is found only in the western states of Washington, Oregon and California, and also in the Canadian province of British Columbia. It is also one of the easiest to identify. The white flowers are quite large, and the sepals have a green stripe through the center of them. More strikingly, the extra-long tube-like or horn-like spur is almost always horizontal to the stem. In this case, it wasn't exactly horizontal, but close enough to fit the description. The closely related elegant piperia (Piperia elegans) also has a greatly elongated spur, with similar flowers, but the spur hangs downward against the stem. This was one of several found in a deeply wooded area in rural Thurston County between Yelm, Washington and Mount Rainier.
    Piperia transversa-6.jpg
  • Easily one of the most beautiful of all of the hardwoods on the Pacific Coast, the Pacific madrone is a member of the heath family and closely related to rhododendrons, and is the most northerly broadleaf evergreen trees on the continent. Early Spanish settlers in California recognized it as similar to the Mediterreanean madrone (or madroño) and later English settlers referred to it as the strawberry tree, as the sweet (and slightly toxic) berries are used to make a "strawberry-tasting" liquor called crême d'arbouse. The most striking feature of this tree is the wonderful bark that looks painted, with hues of red, orange, brown and black. Nothing else in the Pacific Northwest looks anything like it.
    Pacific Madrone Bark
  • Easily one of the most beautiful of all of the hardwoods on the Pacific Coast, the Pacific madrone is a member of the heath family and closely related to rhododendrons, and is the most northerly broadleaf evergreen trees on the continent. Early Spanish settlers in California recognized it as similar to the Mediterreanean madrone (or madroño) and later English settlers referred to it as the strawberry tree, as the sweet (and slightly toxic) berries are used to make a "strawberry-tasting" liquor called crême d'arbouse. The most striking feature of this tree is the wonderful bark that looks painted, with hues of red, orange, brown and black. Nothing else in the Pacific Northwest looks anything like it.
    Pacific Madrone Flowers
  • Easily one of the most beautiful of all of the hardwoods on the Pacific Coast, the Pacific madrone is a member of the heath family and closely related to rhododendrons, and is the most northerly broadleaf evergreen trees on the continent. Early Spanish settlers in California recognized it as similar to the Mediterreanean madrone (or madroño) and later English settlers referred to it as the strawberry tree, as the sweet (and slightly toxic) berries are used to make a "strawberry-tasting" liquor called crême d'arbouse. The most striking feature of this tree is the wonderful bark that looks painted, with hues of red, orange, brown and black. Nothing else in the Pacific Northwest looks anything like it.
    Pacific Madrone Flowers
  • One of the most striking and beautiful of all the "barrel" cacti of the American Southwestern deserts, the claret cup cactus (also known regionally by many names such as the kingcup, queencup, hedgehog cactus, pitaya roja, etc.) has large, showy and brilliantly red flowers that attract and are pollinated by hummingbirds. Unlike most cacti, the flowers of the claret cup stay open at night. Some native American tribes who shared the same habitat would collect these cacti, burn off the sharp spines, and mash them into a pulp with some locally procured sweetener (honey?) and bake them into mini sweet cakes. This one was found and photographed on a beautiful spring day in the Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge in Central New Mexico.
    Claret Cup Cactus
  • One of the most striking and beautiful of all the "barrel" cacti of the American Southwestern deserts, the claret cup cactus (also known regionally by many names such as the kingcup, queencup, hedgehog cactus, pitaya roja, etc.) has large, showy and brilliantly red flowers that attract and are pollinated by hummingbirds. Unlike most cacti, the flowers of the claret cup stay open at night. Some native American tribes who shared the same habitat would collect these cacti, burn off the sharp spines, and mash them into a pulp with some locally procured sweetener (honey?) and bake them into mini sweet cakes. This one was found and photographed on a beautiful spring day in the Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge in Central New Mexico.
    Claret Cup Cactus
  • One of the most striking and beautiful of all the "barrel" cacti of the American Southwestern deserts, the claret cup cactus (also known regionally by many names such as the kingcup, queencup, hedgehog cactus, pitaya roja, etc.) has large, showy and brilliantly red flowers that attract and are pollinated by hummingbirds. Unlike most cacti, the flowers of the claret cup stay open at night. Some native American tribes who shared the same habitat would collect these cacti, burn off the sharp spines, and mash them into a pulp with some locally procured sweetener (honey?) and bake them into mini sweet cakes. This one was found and photographed on a beautiful spring day in the Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge in Central New Mexico.
    Claret Cup Cactus
  • One of the most striking and beautiful of all the "barrel" cacti of the American Southwestern deserts, the claret cup cactus (also known regionally by many names such as the kingcup, queencup, hedgehog cactus, pitaya roja, etc.) has large, showy and brilliantly red flowers that attract and are pollinated by hummingbirds. Unlike most cacti, the flowers of the claret cup stay open at night. Some native American tribes who shared the same habitat would collect these cacti, burn off the sharp spines, and mash them into a pulp with some locally procured sweetener (honey?) and bake them into mini sweet cakes. This one was found and photographed on a beautiful spring day in the Guadalupe Mountains National Park in Northwestern Texas.
    Claret Cup Cactus
  • One of the most striking and beautiful of all the "barrel" cacti of the American Southwestern deserts, the claret cup cactus (also known regionally by many names such as the kingcup, queencup, hedgehog cactus, pitaya roja, etc.) has large, showy and brilliantly red flowers that attract and are pollinated by hummingbirds. Unlike most cacti, the flowers of the claret cup stay open at night. Some native American tribes who shared the same habitat would collect these cacti, burn off the sharp spines, and mash them into a pulp with some locally procured sweetener (honey?) and bake them into mini sweet cakes. This one was found and photographed on a beautiful spring day in the Guadalupe Mountains National Park in Northwestern Texas.
    Claret Cup Cactus
  • One of the most striking and beautiful of all the "barrel" cacti of the American Southwestern deserts, the claret cup cactus (also known regionally by many names such as the kingcup, queencup, hedgehog cactus, pitaya roja, etc.) has large, showy and brilliantly red flowers that attract and are pollinated by hummingbirds. Unlike most cacti, the flowers of the claret cup stay open at night. Some native American tribes who shared the same habitat would collect these cacti, burn off the sharp spines, and mash them into a pulp with some locally procured sweetener (honey?) and bake them into mini sweet cakes. This one was found and photographed on a beautiful spring day in the Guadalupe Mountains National Park in Northwestern Texas.
    Claret Cup Cactus
  • One of the most striking and beautiful of all the "barrel" cacti of the American Southwestern deserts, the claret cup cactus (also known regionally by many names such as the kingcup, queencup, hedgehog cactus, pitaya roja, etc.) has large, showy and brilliantly red flowers that attract and are pollinated by hummingbirds. Unlike most cacti, the flowers of the claret cup stay open at night. Some native American tribes who shared the same habitat would collect these cacti, burn off the sharp spines, and mash them into a pulp with some locally procured sweetener (honey?) and bake them into mini sweet cakes. This one was found and photographed on a beautiful spring day in the Guadalupe Mountains National Park in Northwestern Texas.
    Claret Cup Cactus
  • Sometimes referred to as beargrass, this native desert species is actually a member of the lily family, even though it has a striking resemblnce at first to members of the yucca family. Found primarily in the Mojave Desert of Southern California, it is also found in limited numbers in Arizona's Sornoran Desert. Unusual for plants that grow in very dry, arid locations, the Bigelow's nolina is one one of the very few evergreen plants that grows in it's habitat. This group of flowering nolinas were photographed in Califonia's Joshua Tree National Park in the early spring morning sunlight.
    Bigelow's Nolina
  • One of the most vivid and striking autumn trees in the Pacific Northwest is the vine maple. The image was made at the top of Snoqualmie Pass in the Cascade Mountains.
    Vine Maple in Autumn Blaze
  • The very rare and endangered Confederate trillium is one of the most beautiful and striking members of the trillium genus to be found in the American Southwest. These were photographed as part of a very healthy and robust colony, that were recently discovered growing among the more common species of spotted wakerobins in Tallahassee, Florida.
    Confederate Trillium (Trillium reliquum)
  • Relatively common across the United States, Southern Canada and Northeastern Mexico, the bold jumping spider is easy to recognize. It is large for a jumping spider, is usually black and white (some of them have orange or red spots), but the most striking characteristic is the metallic green chelicerae (part above the fangs). This one was found actively hunting on a prickly pear cactus near Weslaco, Texas on a very hot summer afternoon.
    Bold Jumping Spider
  • Perhaps the most strikingly beautiful of all of the large dragonflies of Western Canada and the United States, the eight-spotted skimmer contrasts greatly with its environment, whether it is in lowland marshes and ponds or along desert creeks and rivers. This one was seen near the bank of the Tieton river in the sagebrush desert near Naches, Washington on a very hot summer day.
    Eight-spotted Skimmer
  • These strikingly beautiful songbirds are favorite among just about every birdwatcher in North America, and the world. Not only are they fun to watch enormous numbers of them attack fruit-laden trees at peak ripeness, they are also one of the few North American species of birds that specialize in eating only fruit. This one was found in the Warm Springs State Wildlife Management Area near Anaconda, Montana.
    Cedar Waxwing
  • This strikingly beautiful member of the tyrant flycatcher bird family was seen protecting its territory and small family group of four individuals in a tree overlooking a pond in the Warm Springs State Wildlife Management Area near Anaconda, Montana. Eastern kingbirds are known for their aggression towards other birds and other animals and will often dive-bomb intruders, like this one did to me while getting this photograph.
    Eastern Kingbird-2
  • This strikingly beautiful member of the tyrant flycatcher bird family was seen protecting its territory and small family group of four individuals in a tree overlooking a pond in the Warm Springs State Wildlife Management Area near Anaconda, Montana. Eastern kingbirds are known for their aggression towards other birds and other animals and will often dive-bomb intruders, like this one did to me while getting this photograph.
    Eastern Kingbird-1
  • Also known as the tarweed fiddleneck, the bugloss fiddleneck (Amsinckia lycopsoides) is a striking member of the borage family and is primarily found in the Western United States and Canada, but can be found scattered throughout most of the USA except for the Southeast. These were found growing in profusion in sagebrush country, near Whiskey Dick Mountain in rural Kittitas County in central Washington State.
    Bugloss Fiddleneck
  • Also known as the tarweed fiddleneck, the bugloss fiddleneck (Amsinckia lycopsoides) is a striking member of the borage family and is primarily found in the Western United States and Canada, but can be found scattered throughout most of the USA except for the Southeast. These were found growing in profusion in sagebrush country, near Whiskey Dick Mountain in rural Kittitas County in central Washington State.
    Bugloss Fiddleneck
  • Also known as the tarweed fiddleneck, the bugloss fiddleneck (Amsinckia lycopsoides) is a striking member of the borage family and is primarily found in the Western United States and Canada, but can be found scattered throughout most of the USA except for the Southeast. These were found growing in profusion in sagebrush country, near Whiskey Dick Mountain in rural Kittitas County in central Washington State.
    Bugloss Fiddleneck
  • This particularly beautiful pitcher plant next to one of its flowers is very striking and not easily confused with other of our native pitcher plants. The green tubular leaves that trap insect prey are hooded, which keeps water out (unusual from most pitcher plants that collect rainwater) and insects in. This particular shape gives it another commonly used name - the cobra lily. This one was found growing in a peat bog in rural Josephine County, Oregon near the California border.
    California Pitcher Plant
  • The striped coralroot is a very strikingly beautiful terrestrial orchid found in wooded habitats across most of Northern North America including most of the western states (except Arizona and Nevada) and almost all of Canada (except most of the Maritime Provinces (Nova Scotia, PEI, New Brunswick). This species is very easy to identify because of the very clear and visible stripes on the petals and sepals. This wild native orchid is known as a myco-heterotroph, meaning it doesn't need chlorophyll to produce it's own food, but instead gains nutrients from either a mutual symbiotic relationship with certain fungi in the soil or by just from parasitism: stealing the nutrients it needs from it's host fungi. These were part of a large colony found in a clump of conifers in rural Kittitas County in Washington State.
    Striped Coralroot (Corallorhiza stri..a)-4
  • The striped coralroot is a very strikingly beautiful terrestrial orchid found in wooded habitats across most of Northern North America including most of the western states (except Arizona and Nevada) and almost all of Canada (except most of the Maritime Provinces (Nova Scotia, PEI, New Brunswick). This species is very easy to identify because of the very clear and visible stripes on the petals and sepals. This wild native orchid is known as a myco-heterotroph, meaning it doesn't need chlorophyll to produce it's own food, but instead gains nutrients from either a mutual symbiotic relationship with certain fungi in the soil or by just from parasitism: stealing the nutrients it needs from it's host fungi. These were part of a large colony found in a clump of conifers in rural Kittitas County in Washington State.
    Striped Coralroot (Corallorhiza stri..a)-3
  • The striped coralroot is a very strikingly beautiful terrestrial orchid found in wooded habitats across most of Northern North America including most of the western states (except Arizona and Nevada) and almost all of Canada (except most of the Maritime Provinces (Nova Scotia, PEI, New Brunswick). This species is very easy to identify because of the very clear and visible stripes on the petals and sepals. This wild native orchid is known as a myco-heterotroph, meaning it doesn't need chlorophyll to produce it's own food, but instead gains nutrients from either a mutual symbiotic relationship with certain fungi in the soil or by just from parasitism: stealing the nutrients it needs from it's host fungi. These were part of a large colony found in a clump of conifers in rural Kittitas County in Washington State.
    Striped Coralroot (Corallorhiza stri..a)-2
  • The striped coralroot is a very strikingly beautiful terrestrial orchid found in wooded habitats across most of Northern North America including most of the western states (except Arizona and Nevada) and almost all of Canada (except most of the Maritime Provinces (Nova Scotia, PEI, New Brunswick). This species is very easy to identify because of the very clear and visible stripes on the petals and sepals. This wild native orchid is known as a myco-heterotroph, meaning it doesn't need chlorophyll to produce it's own food, but instead gains nutrients from either a mutual symbiotic relationship with certain fungi in the soil or by just from parasitism: stealing the nutrients it needs from it's host fungi. These were part of a large colony found in a clump of conifers in rural Kittitas County in Washington State.
    Striped Coralroot (Corallorhiza stri..a)-1
  • My favorite of the native piperia orchids, the flat-spurred orchid is found only in the western states of Washington, Oregon and California, and also in the Canadian province of British Columbia. It is also one of the easiest to identify. The white flowers are quite large, and the sepals have a green stripe through the center of them. More strikingly, the extra-long tube-like or horn-like spur is almost always horizontal to the stem. In this case, it wasn't exactly horizontal, but close enough to fit the description. The closely related elegant piperia (Piperia elegans) also has a greatly elongated spur, with similar flowers, but the spur hangs downward against the stem. This was one of several found in a deeply wooded area in rural Thurston County between Yelm, Washington and Mount Rainier.
    Piperia transversa-11.jpg
  • My favorite of the native piperia orchids, the flat-spurred orchid is found only in the western states of Washington, Oregon and California, and also in the Canadian province of British Columbia. It is also one of the easiest to identify. The white flowers are quite large, and the sepals have a green stripe through the center of them. More strikingly, the extra-long tube-like or horn-like spur is almost always horizontal to the stem. In this case, it wasn't exactly horizontal, but close enough to fit the description. The closely related elegant piperia (Piperia elegans) also has a greatly elongated spur, with similar flowers, but the spur hangs downward against the stem. This was one of several found in a deeply wooded area in rural Thurston County between Yelm, Washington and Mount Rainier.
    Piperia transversa-10.jpg
  • My favorite of the native piperia orchids, the flat-spurred orchid is found only in the western states of Washington, Oregon and California, and also in the Canadian province of British Columbia. It is also one of the easiest to identify. The white flowers are quite large, and the sepals have a green stripe through the center of them. More strikingly, the extra-long tube-like or horn-like spur is almost always horizontal to the stem. In this case, it wasn't exactly horizontal, but close enough to fit the description. The closely related elegant piperia (Piperia elegans) also has a greatly elongated spur, with similar flowers, but the spur hangs downward against the stem. This was one of several found in a deeply wooded area in rural Thurston County between Yelm, Washington and Mount Rainier.
    Piperia transversa-8.jpg
  • My favorite of the native piperia orchids, the flat-spurred orchid is found only in the western states of Washington, Oregon and California, and also in the Canadian province of British Columbia. It is also one of the easiest to identify. The white flowers are quite large, and the sepals have a green stripe through the center of them. More strikingly, the extra-long tube-like or horn-like spur is almost always horizontal to the stem. In this case, it wasn't exactly horizontal, but close enough to fit the description. The closely related elegant piperia (Piperia elegans) also has a greatly elongated spur, with similar flowers, but the spur hangs downward against the stem. This was one of several found in a deeply wooded area in rural Thurston County between Yelm, Washington and Mount Rainier.
    Piperia transversa-9.jpg
  • My favorite of the native piperia orchids, the flat-spurred orchid is found only in the western states of Washington, Oregon and California, and also in the Canadian province of British Columbia. It is also one of the easiest to identify. The white flowers are quite large, and the sepals have a green stripe through the center of them. More strikingly, the extra-long tube-like or horn-like spur is almost always horizontal to the stem. In this case, it wasn't exactly horizontal, but close enough to fit the description. The closely related elegant piperia (Piperia elegans) also has a greatly elongated spur, with similar flowers, but the spur hangs downward against the stem. This was one of several found in a deeply wooded area in rural Thurston County between Yelm, Washington and Mount Rainier.
    Piperia transversa-7.jpg
  • My favorite of the native piperia orchids, the flat-spurred orchid is found only in the western states of Washington, Oregon and California, and also in the Canadian province of British Columbia. It is also one of the easiest to identify. The white flowers are quite large, and the sepals have a green stripe through the center of them. More strikingly, the extra-long tube-like or horn-like spur is almost always horizontal to the stem. In this case, it wasn't exactly horizontal, but close enough to fit the description. The closely related elegant piperia (Piperia elegans) also has a greatly elongated spur, with similar flowers, but the spur hangs downward against the stem. This was one of several found in a deeply wooded area in rural Thurston County between Yelm, Washington and Mount Rainier.
    Piperia transversa-5.jpg
  • Close-up look of one of my favorite native piperia orchids, the flat-spurred orchid. It is found only in the western states of Washington, Oregon and California, and also in the Canadian province of British Columbia. It is also one of the easiest to identify. The white flowers are quite large, and the sepals have a green stripe through the center of them. More strikingly, the extra-long tube-like or horn-like spur is almost always horizontal to the stem. In this case, it wasn't exactly horizontal, but close enough to fit the description. The closely related elegant piperia (Piperia elegans) also has a greatly elongated spur, with similar flowers, but the spur hangs downward against the stem. This was one of several found in a deeply wooded area in rural Thurston County between Yelm, Washington and Mount Rainier.
    Piperia transversa-3.jpg
  • My favorite of the native piperia orchids, the flat-spurred orchid is found only in the western states of Washington, Oregon and California, and also in the Canadian province of British Columbia. It is also one of the easiest to identify. The white flowers are quite large, and the sepals have a green stripe through the center of them. More strikingly, the extra-long tube-like or horn-like spur is almost always horizontal to the stem. In this case, it wasn't exactly horizontal, but close enough to fit the description. The closely related elegant piperia (Piperia elegans) also has a greatly elongated spur, with similar flowers, but the spur hangs downward against the stem. This was one of several found in a deeply wooded area in rural Thurston County between Yelm, Washington and Mount Rainier.
    Piperia transversa-4.jpg
  • My favorite of the native piperia orchids, the flat-spurred orchid is found only in the western states of Washington, Oregon and California, and also in the Canadian province of British Columbia. It is also one of the easiest to identify. The white flowers are quite large, and the sepals have a green stripe through the center of them. More strikingly, the extra-long tube-like or horn-like spur is almost always horizontal to the stem. In this case, it wasn't exactly horizontal, but close enough to fit the description. The closely related elegant piperia (Piperia elegans) also has a greatly elongated spur, with similar flowers, but the spur hangs downward against the stem. This was one of several found in a deeply wooded area in rural Thurston County between Yelm, Washington and Mount Rainier.
    Piperia transversa-2.jpg
  • My favorite of the native piperia orchids, the flat-spurred orchid is found only in the western states of Washington, Oregon and California, and also in the Canadian province of British Columbia. It is also one of the easiest to identify. The white flowers are quite large, and the sepals have a green stripe through the center of them. More strikingly, the extra-long tube-like or horn-like spur is almost always horizontal to the stem. In this case, it wasn't exactly horizontal, but close enough to fit the description. The closely related elegant piperia (Piperia elegans) also has a greatly elongated spur, with similar flowers, but the spur hangs downward against the stem. This was one of several found in a deeply wooded area in rural Thurston County between Yelm, Washington and Mount Rainier.
    Piperia transversa-1.jpg
  • Easily one of the most beautiful of all of the hardwoods on the Pacific Coast, the Pacific madrone is a member of the heath family and closely related to rhododendrons, and is the most northerly broadleaf evergreen trees on the continent. Early Spanish settlers in California recognized it as similar to the Mediterreanean madrone (or madroño) and later English settlers referred to it as the strawberry tree, as the sweet (and slightly toxic) berries are used to make a "strawberry-tasting" liquor called crême d'arbouse. The most striking feature of this tree is the wonderful bark that looks painted, with hues of red, orange, brown and black. Nothing else in the Pacific Northwest looks anything like it.
    Pacific Madrone Flowers
  • Easily one of the most beautiful of all of the hardwoods on the Pacific Coast, the Pacific madrone is a member of the heath family and closely related to rhododendrons, and is the most northerly broadleaf evergreen trees on the continent. Early Spanish settlers in California recognized it as similar to the Mediterreanean madrone (or madroño) and later English settlers referred to it as the strawberry tree, as the sweet (and slightly toxic) berries are used to make a "strawberry-tasting" liquor called crême d'arbouse. The most striking feature of this tree is the wonderful bark that looks painted, with hues of red, orange, brown and black. Nothing else in the Pacific Northwest looks anything like it.
    Pacific Madrone in Flower
  • One of the most striking lizards of my youth, the southeastern five-lined skink is also one of the fastest. This large adult female - chased down and photographed in Thomasville, Georgia - shows the beautiful stripes common to this species, as well as the brilliant blue tail. This skink looks like it had lost and regrown its tail at some point. Sometimes they will have a bright red nose, and males when in breeding season will lose the blue coloration and much of the stripes, while turning a more brownish color with a broad bright red head!
    Southeastern Five-lined Skink (Plest..tus)
  • One of the most striking and beautiful of all the "barrel" cacti of the American Southwestern deserts, the claret cup cactus (also known regionally by many names such as the kingcup, queencup, hedgehog cactus, pitaya roja, etc.) has large, showy and brilliantly red flowers that attract and are pollinated by hummingbirds. Unlike most cacti, the flowers of the claret cup stay open at night. Some native American tribes who shared the same habitat would collect these cacti, burn off the sharp spines, and mash them into a pulp with some locally procured sweetener (honey?) and bake them into mini sweet cakes. This one was found and photographed on a beautiful spring day in the Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge in Central New Mexico.
    Claret Cup Cactus
  • One of the most striking and beautiful of all the "barrel" cacti of the American Southwestern deserts, the claret cup cactus (also known regionally by many names such as the kingcup, queencup, hedgehog cactus, pitaya roja, etc.) has large, showy and brilliantly red flowers that attract and are pollinated by hummingbirds. Unlike most cacti, the flowers of the claret cup stay open at night. Some native American tribes who shared the same habitat would collect these cacti, burn off the sharp spines, and mash them into a pulp with some locally procured sweetener (honey?) and bake them into mini sweet cakes. This one was found and photographed on a beautiful spring day in the Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge in Central New Mexico.
    Claret Cup Cactus
  • One of the most striking and beautiful of all the "barrel" cacti of the American Southwestern deserts, the claret cup cactus (also known regionally by many names such as the kingcup, queencup, hedgehog cactus, pitaya roja, etc.) has large, showy and brilliantly red flowers that attract and are pollinated by hummingbirds. Unlike most cacti, the flowers of the claret cup stay open at night. Some native American tribes who shared the same habitat would collect these cacti, burn off the sharp spines, and mash them into a pulp with some locally procured sweetener (honey?) and bake them into mini sweet cakes. This one was found and photographed on a beautiful spring day in the Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge in Central New Mexico.
    Claret Cup Cactus
  • One of the most striking and beautiful of all the "barrel" cacti of the American Southwestern deserts, the claret cup cactus (also known regionally by many names such as the kingcup, queencup, hedgehog cactus, pitaya roja, etc.) has large, showy and brilliantly red flowers that attract and are pollinated by hummingbirds. Unlike most cacti, the flowers of the claret cup stay open at night. Some native American tribes who shared the same habitat would collect these cacti, burn off the sharp spines, and mash them into a pulp with some locally procured sweetener (honey?) and bake them into mini sweet cakes. This one was found and photographed on a beautiful spring day in the Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge in Central New Mexico.
    Claret Cup Cactus
  • One of the most striking and beautiful of all the "barrel" cacti of the American Southwestern deserts, the claret cup cactus (also known regionally by many names such as the kingcup, queencup, hedgehog cactus, pitaya roja, etc.) has large, showy and brilliantly red flowers that attract and are pollinated by hummingbirds. Unlike most cacti, the flowers of the claret cup stay open at night. Some native American tribes who shared the same habitat would collect these cacti, burn off the sharp spines, and mash them into a pulp with some locally procured sweetener (honey?) and bake them into mini sweet cakes. This one was found and photographed on a beautiful spring day in the Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge in Central New Mexico.
    Claret Cup Cactus
  • One of the most striking and beautiful of all the "barrel" cacti of the American Southwestern deserts, the claret cup cactus (also known regionally by many names such as the kingcup, queencup, hedgehog cactus, pitaya roja, etc.) has large, showy and brilliantly red flowers that attract and are pollinated by hummingbirds. Unlike most cacti, the flowers of the claret cup stay open at night. Some native American tribes who shared the same habitat would collect these cacti, burn off the sharp spines, and mash them into a pulp with some locally procured sweetener (honey?) and bake them into mini sweet cakes. This one was found and photographed on a beautiful spring day in the Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge in Central New Mexico.
    Claret Cup Cactus
  • One of the most striking and beautiful of all the "barrel" cacti of the American Southwestern deserts, the claret cup cactus (also known regionally by many names such as the kingcup, queencup, hedgehog cactus, pitaya roja, etc.) has large, showy and brilliantly red flowers that attract and are pollinated by hummingbirds. Unlike most cacti, the flowers of the claret cup stay open at night. Some native American tribes who shared the same habitat would collect these cacti, burn off the sharp spines, and mash them into a pulp with some locally procured sweetener (honey?) and bake them into mini sweet cakes. This one was found and photographed on a beautiful spring day in the Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge in Central New Mexico.
    Claret Cup Cactus
  • One of the most striking and beautiful of all the "barrel" cacti of the American Southwestern deserts, the claret cup cactus (also known regionally by many names such as the kingcup, queencup, hedgehog cactus, pitaya roja, etc.) has large, showy and brilliantly red flowers that attract and are pollinated by hummingbirds. Unlike most cacti, the flowers of the claret cup stay open at night. Some native American tribes who shared the same habitat would collect these cacti, burn off the sharp spines, and mash them into a pulp with some locally procured sweetener (honey?) and bake them into mini sweet cakes. This one was found and photographed on a beautiful spring day in the Guadalupe Mountains National Park in Northwestern Texas.
    Claret Cup Cactus
  • One of the most striking and beautiful of all the "barrel" cacti of the American Southwestern deserts, the claret cup cactus (also known regionally by many names such as the kingcup, queencup, hedgehog cactus, pitaya roja, etc.) has large, showy and brilliantly red flowers that attract and are pollinated by hummingbirds. Unlike most cacti, the flowers of the claret cup stay open at night. Some native American tribes who shared the same habitat would collect these cacti, burn off the sharp spines, and mash them into a pulp with some locally procured sweetener (honey?) and bake them into mini sweet cakes. This one was found and photographed on a beautiful spring day in the Guadalupe Mountains National Park in Northwestern Texas.
    Claret Cup Cactus
  • One of the most striking and beautiful of all the "barrel" cacti of the American Southwestern deserts, the claret cup cactus (also known regionally by many names such as the kingcup, queencup, hedgehog cactus, pitaya roja, etc.) has large, showy and brilliantly red flowers that attract and are pollinated by hummingbirds. Unlike most cacti, the flowers of the claret cup stay open at night. Some native American tribes who shared the same habitat would collect these cacti, burn off the sharp spines, and mash them into a pulp with some locally procured sweetener (honey?) and bake them into mini sweet cakes. This one was found and photographed on a beautiful spring day in the Guadalupe Mountains National Park in Northwestern Texas.
    Claret Cup Cactus
  • One of the most striking and beautiful of all the "barrel" cacti of the American Southwestern deserts, the claret cup cactus (also known regionally by many names such as the kingcup, queencup, hedgehog cactus, pitaya roja, etc.) has large, showy and brilliantly red flowers that attract and are pollinated by hummingbirds. Unlike most cacti, the flowers of the claret cup stay open at night. Some native American tribes who shared the same habitat would collect these cacti, burn off the sharp spines, and mash them into a pulp with some locally procured sweetener (honey?) and bake them into mini sweet cakes. This one was found and photographed on a beautiful spring day in the Guadalupe Mountains National Park in Northwestern Texas.
    Claret Cup Cactus
  • One of the most striking and beautiful of all the "barrel" cacti of the American Southwestern deserts, the claret cup cactus (also known regionally by many names such as the kingcup, queencup, hedgehog cactus, pitaya roja, etc.) has large, showy and brilliantly red flowers that attract and are pollinated by hummingbirds. Unlike most cacti, the flowers of the claret cup stay open at night. Some native American tribes who shared the same habitat would collect these cacti, burn off the sharp spines, and mash them into a pulp with some locally procured sweetener (honey?) and bake them into mini sweet cakes. This one was found and photographed on a beautiful spring day in the Guadalupe Mountains National Park in Northwestern Texas.
    Claret Cup Cactus
  • One of the most striking and beautiful of all the "barrel" cacti of the American Southwestern deserts, the claret cup cactus (also known regionally by many names such as the kingcup, queencup, hedgehog cactus, pitaya roja, etc.) has large, showy and brilliantly red flowers that attract and are pollinated by hummingbirds. Unlike most cacti, the flowers of the claret cup stay open at night. Some native American tribes who shared the same habitat would collect these cacti, burn off the sharp spines, and mash them into a pulp with some locally procured sweetener (honey?) and bake them into mini sweet cakes. This one was found and photographed on a beautiful spring day in the Guadalupe Mountains National Park in Northwestern Texas.
    Claret Cup Cactus
  • One of the most striking and beautiful of all the "barrel" cacti of the American Southwestern deserts, the claret cup cactus (also known regionally by many names such as the kingcup, queencup, hedgehog cactus, pitaya roja, etc.) has large, showy and brilliantly red flowers that attract and are pollinated by hummingbirds. Unlike most cacti, the flowers of the claret cup stay open at night. Some native American tribes who shared the same habitat would collect these cacti, burn off the sharp spines, and mash them into a pulp with some locally procured sweetener (honey?) and bake them into mini sweet cakes. This one was found and photographed on a beautiful spring day in the Guadalupe Mountains National Park in Northwestern Texas.
    Claret Cup Cactus
  • This striking yellow fungus seen here in Eastern Washington near the Idaho border  is a type of lichenized fungus found growing on trees. The bright yellow color comes from pinastric and vulpinic acids - two substances only found in lichens that are believed to repel the insects and other wildlife that might eat it. According to Swedish peasant folklore, this lichen will kill foxes, but is completely safe for wolves and dogs.
    Brown-Eyed Sunshine (Vulpicida canad..sis)
  • A wild northwestern ringneck snake posed in an antelope bitterbrush shrub solely for this photograph. This fast, secretive, nocturnal and beautiful small predator is a subspecies of the ringneck snake found all over North America. Unlike most other subspecies, instead of the normal black background, this group has a blue-gray color variation with the typical striking bright orange belly and neck ring. Notice the curled tail, which serves as a "warning flag" - a common threat display warning a bigger predator (me in this case) that it is toxic to eat, which is entirely a bluff.
    Northwestern Ringneck Snake
  • Native to Europe, this strikingly beautiful blue wildflower is now found growing wild all across North America and is a very important food for livestock, and as a coffee substitute or coffee-additive. Anyone familiar with some of the wonderful coffees from the New Orleans area will be very familiar with chicory coffee, which is very similar with a somewhat nutty taste, that is made from the roasted and ground roots. This one was found growing wild in at the edge of a field in Northern Arkansas.
    Chicory
  • Brilliantly red and yellow, the inflorescences of most species of Tillandsia air plants are very striking and beautiful, such as this cardinal airplant in the Fakahatchee Strand of Southwest Florida. Before long, thin, tubular purple flowers will emerge from this member of the pineapple family.
    Cardinal Airplant
  • One of the most striking and common of the medium-sized dragonflies of the Florida Everglades, the Halloween pennant gets its name from its banded bright orange and brown wings. Known for a butterfly-like flying pattern, this summertime dragonfly is found in most of Eastern and Central North America.
    Halloween Pennant
  • One of my favorite wildflowers of wet meadows and bogs, the grass of Parnassus is a very striking and delicate native that has a somewhat confusing name, as it isn't even closely related to grasses. That name for the genus came from Greek botanist Dioscorides who described it as a grass-like plant that grew on the side of Mount Parnassus. The description was wrong, but the name stuck. It is found in every state and province in continental North America from the Rocky Mountains and west, excluding Arizona. This beauty was found at a very high elevation in the Olympic Mountains on Washington's Hurricane ridge growing next to some carnivorous butterworts between permanently wet rocks.
    Fringed Grass of Parnassus
  • A close-up of one of Florida's most striking native - the sandhill crane.
    Sandhill Crane
  • The Red-belted polypore (or conk) mushroom is very striking member of the Aphyllophorales family. Most often found on black cherry trees, it can also be found growing on conifers. This one was photographed on West Tiger Mountain, in Western Washington.
    Red-Belted Polypore
  • The very rare and endangered confererate trillium is one of the most beautiful and striking members of the trillium genus to be found in the American Southwest. These were photographed in as part of a very healthy and robust colony, that were recently discovered growing among the more common species of spotted wakerobins in Tallahassee, Florida.
    Confederate Trillium (Trillium reliquum)
  • A striking red columbine flower in crisp detail found in Washington's Cascade Mountains in Stevens Pass.
    Red Columbine
  • One of the most unusual and striking of Florida's native orchids, the monotropic crested coralroot can be found in heavily wooded areas, such as this one in Citrus County.
    Crested Coralroot (Hexalectris spicata)