Spring in the Sonoran desert...one year ago: blooms and birds

A year ago exactly, I was out and about in Catalina State Park, just to the north of Tucson--hiking  amidst a once-in-a-generation (perhaps) display of lupine and poppies that had popped up after perfectly timed winter rain.

I took the above views in the late afternoon, after work...

...and then a couple of mornings later, after a frosty sunrise, a couple of miles away,

as the poppies were finally warm enough to unfurl:

By mid-morning the sunlight was getting harsh,

 but the complementary pairing of blue-violet and yellow-orange

continued to be irresistile, mile after mile:

...and a bit of cholla cactus as a contrast:

The next day, I took some family visiting from out-of-town

to the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum.
The hummingbird aviary there was a particular highlight that day,

with this Costa's hummingbird feeding her 10-day-old hatchlings:

(No vast fields of wildflowers this year--it's been a drier-than-normal winter here in Tucson.)

...and I can't help but think back to a spring image from our 'former life' in Seattle--

the cherry trees on the main quad of the University of Washington:

...a far cry from the desert.