I went out for a hike this morning about 10 am. We had a nice thunderstorm come through early this morning. I think it was about 4 am. We lost power for several hours and received about an inch of rain. It was a nice start to the normally dry June. The ground was a bit soggy, but the sky was still overcast and I thought it was great, diffuse lighting for photography.

People sometimes ask me how I can post about nature week after week, but it’s not that hard. Every time I go out on a hike, I see and photograph something interesting. Sometimes I have specific subjects in mind, but usually, it’s just whatever I happen to find.

This morning’s hike was no disappointment. Here’s a photo of a beautiful, uniformly yellow, prickly pear (Opuntia) flower. You can still see the water droplets on it! I used my extension tubes to get in close.

Prickly Pear Flower

Here’s another prickly pear flower. This one is going to have orange or red in it and it has only begun to open. I like the color variation; it almost looks fleshy. The green conical part below it will become the prickly pear fruit later.

Prickly Pear Flower

This is a nice shot of a thistle flower, along with some not as far along in the background.

Thistle

This photo shows a small insect resting on a prickly pear fruit. I’m not sure what the insect is, but it reminds me of a very small dragonfly. The insect is only about 1/4 inch long. I think because its wings are folded back along its body, that it’s a damselfly.

Can anyone help identify it?

Insect on a Prickly Pear fruit