Sunday, May 6, 2012

Wildflowers And Osprey/Arabia Mountain


Ready for another walk up Arabia Mountain?  Remember the stone cairns mark the way!
It was already getting hot but we had some rain two nights ago, so we were happy to see the pools full of water once again.  Will there be water draining off the mountain into the lake?  Wait and see...

The yellow flowers looked beautiful against the gray rock.

Yes!  We were happy to see the water cascading down the side of the mountain into the lake. Lovely sound, lovely sight.  I never tire of gazing into these crystal clear pools of water.

We don't know what this flower is... it has small, white flower bunches together at the very top.  This is new to us and we need to identify it! 
This is another one we have never seen, it had yellow and orange flowers on the same plant!  We took a more close-up view later.

The National Audubon Society calls this bird "a magnificent fish hawk" and I agree,  it is an osprey, and this is the first one that Richard and I have ever seen or heard.  Richard heard it before he saw it and knew it was making a noise like a hawk but unlike one we had ever heard before.  When it flew over the lake later, it was completely silent.   When the osprey sees a fish, it swoops down and grabs the fish with its powerful talons.  Then, it turns the fish facing headfirst, so as to make it more aerodynamic and flies with it in its talons and lands on a branch and eats it.
 
This was the view in front of us while we had our coffee.  The osprey is perched in one of those trees.


And this is the view behind us as we had our coffee!  Beauty all around.

Most of the flowers on this yucca were over six feet tall. The blooms are so massive and the creamy, white color is gorgeous.  The tall blue  flowers are called tradescantia.  And we were happily surprised to see them, we thought they had bloomed out.  (And they were very plentiful, all over the mountain.)  Richard thinks this might be a second blooming for them.   When you are in your fifties, it is nice to think of these flowers being so lovely, in their second bloom!

This is the plant that had a yellow bloom and an orange bloom on the same plant.  The orange hasn't bloomed out here yet, but it was on the same stalk as the yellow! 
There, we have climbed back up to the very top of Arabia Mountain, and we have to pause here, even though we are melting from the heat.  Just look at the view! Ready for some ice-cold water?  You bet!

22 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. Hey Kay!
      Somehow my reply came out as a comment. Just wanted to say thanks and that I actually took some of these photos myself!

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  2. That is my kind of walk! Thanks for sharing.

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    1. Glad you enjoyed it. Thanks for commenting!

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  3. The clarity of the water is just amazing, and it is good to see it cascading down the mountain. It is such a stunningly beautiful area, and it seems to change quite rapidly between visits, so you always have something new to show us.

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    1. Dear Tracey,
      Thanks for noticing! We are amazed at every new thing that we see when we visit. :-)

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  4. It looks wonderful, always worth the climb. I like that there are new things for you to discover every trip. That lake looks beautiful, so peaceful and restful.

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    1. Oh, it was so nice and quiet. I wish I could bottle that peace and give it away.

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  5. Oh I love that fish hawk and I got lost in that crystal clear pool of water. The coreopsis is really lovely and I like the yellow/grey combo against the rocks ~ that is one of my favorite color combinations. Looks so lovely ~ if I block out the thought of ATL heat, it seems perfect!!!

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    1. We were excited to find out it was an osprey when we looked it up in our bird book. Hear, hear on the ATL heat! Roll on October! :-)

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  6. Gorgeous, relaxing place. That lake looks so peaceful.

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    1. Hey Dorothy!
      It is so beautiful and peaceful. We love it!

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  7. A place i would never want to leave! You capture it beautifully.

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    1. Dear Mimi,
      Thank you! And I took the pool photo and the last one at the top of the mountain! Yes, me!

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  8. Oh Kay, I do hope you and Richard will never tire of climbing Arabia, and you'll never have enough of showing us pictures of and writing about it!

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    1. Hey Meike!
      Back from England? YAY! Hope you had fun!
      So glad to see your comment here!
      I'm glad you enjoyed another walk with us.
      Love,
      Kay

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  9. Looks like a very peaceful and relaxing spot.

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    Replies
    1. It is a nice place, I just hope that people will keep it peaceful!

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  11. Very beautiful photos of a very beautiful place. I bet you discover new things every time you climb up there. I would have been so excited to see the osprey. I've never seen one and it would be such a treat.

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    1. Dear Martha,
      We were thrilled to see this magnificent bird and discover what it was from our bird book. It was an osprey, no doubt in my mind, the underside was so white and that beak and talons! Wow! Quite a bird!

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  12. Thank you for following Sweet Zen Life. I am following you also.
    Isabella

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