We’ve had a full week! Many friends who know the Sky Islands choose the late monsoon season to visit, when hummingbirds are streaming south, nectar-feeding bats cluster around the feeders, and masses of clouds keep the temperatures just about perfect. (Of course the gnats find … Continue readingPortal, Late Summer
If a group of butterflies comprises 2400 species, we can expect some identification challenges! In the Spanish Pyrenees, I found plenty. The upper Hecho Valley is rife with puzzling satyrs. Satyrs are a subfamily of nymphalids, or brush-footed butterflies. These are the pearly-eyes, the wood nymphs, … Continue readingThose Challenging Satyrs
Hiking took Wendi, Leona, Alan and me into various nooks of the upper Hecho Valley, a splendid region of the Pyrenees, and one replete with butterflies and flowers. These public trails wind through sectors of the Parque Natural Valles Occidentales, or Western Valleys Natural Park. … Continue readingPyranees Butterfly Sampler
A quick flash to Portal, Arizona, before we continue with Spain: This morning’s walk up the South Fork road with long-time friends, Chet and Irma, affirmed that new life is thriving there. Just below the South Fork bridge, a Wild Plum is fruiting. (Some people call … Continue readingNew Life
I hadn’t anticipated the sheer visual impact of masses of Silver-washed Fritillaries nectaring on masses of dusky purple Pyrenean Eryngo. A Silver-washed Fritillary, Argynnis paphia, joins a Five-spot Burnet Moth to nectar on Pyrenean Eryngo, Eryngium bourgatii. (All photos by Narca) I came home wanting … Continue readingSilver-washed Fritillary
The Pyrenees in the Hecho Valley (Photos by Narca) As we drive into the Hecho Valley in the Pyrenees, nor far from the border between Spain and France, the grand massif rises around us, and wildflowers cloak the slopes. We’ve arrived at the peak of … Continue readingThe Pyrenees!
Segovia is an ancient walled city topped by the Alcazar, or royal palace. It fully deserves its status as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Leona, Wendi, Alan and I spent a day wandering its maze of narrow streets and marveling at the exquisite craftmanship in … Continue readingSegovia
If you drive the back roads (and even not-so-back roads) in Spain during the nesting season, you’ll still find the iconic village storks, their immense stick nests decorating church steeples and farm houses. These are White Storks, and they have nested in small Spanish villages … Continue readingVillage Storks
The Sierra de Guadarrama towers between Madrid and the ancient Roman town of Segovia (our next destination). Forests of pine and Holm Oak cloak the slopes. Any of several wide places in the road give access to hiking trails, and we find a couple of very rewarding … Continue readingButterflies in the Sierra de Guadarrama
On this trip to Spain, Wendi, Leona, Meeka, Alan and I added a few days in Madrid in order to visit two of its world-class art museums. Usually Alan and I are so taken with wild places that we bypass the human artifacts, but it … Continue readingArt in Madrid