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Description
You know, I try to come up with clever or poetic titles for my photographs, but really, the people who name these plants and butterflies have me beat.

Anyway, these are the Northern Blazing Star, found at Craters of the Moon National Monument, Idaho, at the very beginning of my trip. Craters of the Moon is this amazing volcanic area with vast lava beds and all kinds of volcanic cones rising out of the landscape. It's stark and beautiful, as only a desert can be, and what plants and animals are capable of living there are amazing. I hardly noticed these flowers at first, because they were closed up for the most part, and the bush is pretty nondescript. But I asked a ranger about them, and he informed me that they only bloom at night. Makes sense--it's so hot there that a lot of pollinators only come out at night. So I did what I rarely do: I got up early the next morning and went out at dawn to photograph them. Here you see the result, two of the best shots.

Lots of other tales to tell, but no other photographs. I caught my first butterfly of the trip on camera, a tiny Melissa Blue, which landed on my shoe, and which I will not post (though you'll probably see it when I get that butterfly orchestra thing going), and almost caught what I've tentatively identified as a Sara Orangetip, a really neat butterfly with white wings tipped in orange. It was fluttering all around me, as if it was fascinated, and I was terrified to move for fear I'd lose it. It kept wanting to land, then flying up again, but it was starting to slow down and I hoped it was getting tired. Finally it came within half an inch of the black rocks and I was sure I'd be able to get it, and then it zipped off, never to be seen again. Aaarrrgh! I may never see that species again!

Anyway, enjoy the flowers (which stay put and do as they're told!)

EDIT: Third version of the piece--I've been struggling with the border, but I think I've wrestled it to the ground now. Didn't want to put a rectangle around it and break up the black, tried to put a corner of a rectangle in with the flowers going over it, but now I think I'm pleased with it. Having the words make part of the "border" helps, I think.

Description
You know, I try to come up with clever or poetic titles for my photographs, but really, the people who name these plants and butterflies have me beat.

Anyway, these are the Northern Blazing Star, found at Craters of the Moon National Monument, Idaho, at the very beginning of my trip. Craters of the Moon is this amazing volcanic area with vast lava beds and all kinds of volcanic cones rising out of the landscape. It's stark and beautiful, as only a desert can be, and what plants and animals are capable of living there are amazing. I hardly noticed these flowers at first, because they were closed up for the most part, and the bush is pretty nondescript. But I asked a ranger about them, and he informed me that they only bloom at night. Makes sense--it's so hot there that a lot of pollinators only come out at night. So I did what I rarely do: I got up early the next morning and went out at dawn to photograph them. Here you see the result, two of the best shots.

Lots of other tales to tell, but no other photographs. I caught my first butterfly of the trip on camera, a tiny Melissa Blue, which landed on my shoe, and which I will not post (though you'll probably see it when I get that butterfly orchestra thing going), and almost caught what I've tentatively identified as a Sara Orangetip, a really neat butterfly with white wings tipped in orange. It was fluttering all around me, as if it was fascinated, and I was terrified to move for fear I'd lose it. It kept wanting to land, then flying up again, but it was starting to slow down and I hoped it was getting tired. Finally it came within half an inch of the black rocks and I was sure I'd be able to get it, and then it zipped off, never to be seen again. Aaarrrgh! I may never see that species again!

Anyway, enjoy the flowers (which stay put and do as they're told!)

EDIT: Third version of the piece--I've been struggling with the border, but I think I've wrestled it to the ground now. Didn't want to put a rectangle around it and break up the black, tried to put a corner of a rectangle in with the flowers going over it, but now I think I'm pleased with it. Having the words make part of the "border" helps, I think.