Blooming Cacti

Strawberry Pitaya Cactus Bloom

One of the reasons I traveled so far to visit Big Bend National Park, Texas, in late April, was to view and photograph the blooming cacti. I don’t know what it is about being so excited to see these lovely flowers as opposed to any other spring wildflower. Perhaps it’s because I am always so amazed to see something so prickly and painful produce something so colorful and delicate.

Englemanns (?) Prickly Pear Cactus Bloom

Eagle Claw Cactus Blooms

Pollen-Laden Bee and Prickly Pear Cactus Bloom

Claret Cup Bloom

Strawberry Pitaya Cactus

Tree Cholla Bloom

Bee and Cholla Bloom

Two Bees in a Prickly Pear Bloom

Prickly Pear Bloom

Bird’s Nest in a Blooming Cholla

I used several different methods for achieving these blooming cacti shots – all without the use of a dedicated macro lens:

Canon 70-200 or Canon 100-400 telephoto lens zoomed in at their longest focal length
Canon 40mm “pancake” lens with a close-up filter attached
Pentax WG-3 point & shoot using its macro mode
Canon 24-70mm at the 70mm focal length with the image ultimately cropped