Springtime in the Anza-Borrego Desert

Jimbojack

I was originally going to post this in the macro forum, since a lot of the pictures here are macros. But then I decided to post it here, since it was a weekend trip and it's not all macro.

Anza-Borrego is a Desert State Park in Southern California, it's located to the north-east of San Diego.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anza_Borrego

I went there a week ago to see how the desert was blooming. I was a little bit too late for the wildflowers (The peak happened 2 weeks before I went), but it was still very green, many cacti were blooming.

All shots are handheld with a Nikon d200 and a 17-55 or a Sigma 150 macro, I hope you enjoy them








This guy crossed the street right in front of me, lucky for him I saw him and was able to stop




Not everything was blooming




Time for some color

Ocotillo blooming










Various Cacti






















Other










Ladybug




Ran across this rattlesnake while hiking, he came out to take a drink from a small stream






The park takes its name in part from the Desert Bighorn Sheep (Borrego). They are endangered, I was lucky to see a few while hiking





I hope you enjoy these images.

Now that I have some free time, I'll be posting more from my South Asia and Middle East trips soon

GP Images

Great shots! Thanks for sharing.

Eia

As a desert dweller myself I know how colorful and lively the desert can be. What lens did you use to get the rattlesnake? I had en encounter myself (almost got bit) but he didn't pose for me like this one.

I really like the macros and the big horn!

~Eia~

Jimbojack

Eia wrote:

As a desert dweller myself I know how colorful and lively the desert can be. What lens did you use to get the rattlesnake? I had en encounter myself (almost got bit) but he didn't pose for me like this one.

I really like the macros and the big horn!

~Eia~

I've never seen a snake come to a stream to drink water before, I suppose they have to do it sometime though. I used a sigma 150mm macro for those photos, I was standing on a rock on the other side of the small stream when I took them.

I've also had a couple of close calls with rattlesnakes while hiking in the past, scared the cr** out of me!

I came across 3 snakes within 3 hours that day, needless to say I was very attentive for the rest of the time I was in the desert