SPRING ALMANAC
California Desert: Booming and Blooming
This winter's rains should bring a spectacular spring wildflower displays throughout California's deserts. Timing
depends both on moisture conditions and the altitude of desert localities. In Death Valley National Park find the
marvelous huge yellow blossoms of the endemic Panamint daisy blooming in the Wild Rose Area. Another rare
and spectacular Death Valley flower is the Eureka Dunes evening primrose, which blooms in late April or
early May. While you're at the 700-foot-high Eureka Dunes, listen for an eerie "booming" or humming sound
resembling a bass viol--some say a distant airplane--created by vibrating sand cascading from the slopes. Death
Valley National Park: (619) 786-2331.
Joshua Tree National Park, which includes both high and low desert, has two distinct wildflower seasons. The second one, in the high Mojave, runs through May and features cottonwood, Arizona lupine, chuparosa, desert mallow, desert mimulus, Mojave mound cactus, purple bush, purple mat, little gold poppy, London rocket, prince's plume, and yellow cups. (619)367-7511. Keep your eyes peeled for desert bighorn sheep, coyotes, and roadrunners, too. Also, spring is the time you're most likely to find the nearly two-foot-long, vegetarian chuckwallas out and about looking for food. As a defense against predators, these lizards wedge themselves between rocks and inflate their lungs, becoming almost impossible to extract. And as the desert greens, insects multiply providing abundant food for the 15 to 20 types of warblers migrating through the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. The insect population explosion also marks the return of the least Bell's vireo from Mexico. Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, (760) 767-5311.
Boomtime for Sage Grouse
The male sage grouse performs spectacular spring courting displays. It fills the air sacks in its chest, fans its tail, and struts around hoping to impress a female. Suddenly releasing its "breath," the showoff lets loose with a boom. Sage grouse population numbers have declined in recent years, but the birds can be found on the Modoc Plateau near Clear Lake Hills in Clear Lake National Wildlife Refuge. The strutting, booming males are best observed and heard in the early morning hours. Also in this general area, Tule Lake is a prime viewing area for pronghorn sheep, sandhill cranes, and wildflowers. And at Klamath Lake and Clear Lake Refuge white pelicans nest in the spring and summer. Call (530) 667-2246 for more information.
APRIL
On that first warm, sunshine-filled spring day do you leave your nest and find a sunny spot to lie in? Well, rattlesnakes, gopher snakes, and garter snakes
do. Among northern California's best snake watching sites are: Sugarloaf Ridge State Park east of Santa Rosa; Mt.
Diablo State Park east of San Francisco; Folsom Lake State Recreation Area and Auburn State Recreation Area, both
in the Sierra foothills. Further south, Pinnacles National Monument is home to 13 snake species, including the
western rattlesnake, and many lizards.
Great blue herons, great egrets, and doubled-crested cormorants and their offspring, nest at Morro Bay State Park. The rookery is protected, but good viewing is available outside the fence. Peregrine falcons nest on Morro Rock, a plug-dome volcanic outcropping at the entrance to Morro Bay. The falcons nest on the ocean side of the rock, but be patient; the birds can be seen in flight or resting in trees.
About 15 minutes south, wildflowers are abundant at Montana de Oro State Park. The flowers can be seen along the park's 50 miles of trails. For more information about both parks call (805) 549-3312.
The Imperial National Wildlife Refuge is alive with activity this time of year. Warblers and songbirds pass through the refuge; Mexican free-tailed bats arrive for the summer; desert tortoises, snakes, and other reptiles emerge after their winter hibernation; and the wildflowers go berserk. Year-round residents include Gambel's quail, roadrunners, and bighorn sheep. The 25,125-acre refuge is located north of Yuma, Arizona, with over 7,000 acres in California, (520) 783-3371.
Rhododendrons start blooming in the undergrowth of old-growth redwood trees. Their brilliant blossoms range in color from white to bright pink and light purple to deep red.
Northern orioles return to the Bay Area by mid-April from their wintering grounds in Central and South America.
Wild iris blooms along grassy slopes in open places.
Loons don their blooming plumage in late April and can be observed close to shore all around Tomales Bay.
Black- and-cream checkerspotted Chalcedon checkerspot butterflies can be found anywhere in the Bay Area where there is a steady supply of sticky monkey flowers. Males have red spots on the edges of their wings and are typically smaller than females.
MAY
Male western grebes swim, fly, and run along the water's surface flashing their feathers, in their outrageous courtship dance. If successful, the happy couple settles into nesting and raising their young. Grebes prefer waterways and wetlands and in early summer the hatchlings are still young enough to ride on their parents' backs. Even when the parents dive for food, the young hang on. Grebes can be seen at Tule Lake and Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuges. Call Klamath Basin National Wildlife Refuge Complex at (916) 667-2231 for information. Other viewing areas are Lake Earl Wildlife Area (just outside Crescent City), Bodie State Historic Park (southeast of Bridgeport), and the San Luis National Wildlife Refuge (part of the San Joaquin Valley National Wildlife Refuge Complex).
Humpbacks and gray whales visit the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary for a few months each year. Humpbacks may be seen May through August and grays may be seen June through September. Offshore winds are strong during the spring months and create an upwelling of nutrient-rich water which in turn provides abundant food for the whales. Call Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary at (805) 966-7107 for information and transportation arrangements.
Morel mushrooms appear in recently burned areas such as old campfire areas or near mulch piles.
Young songbirds are fledging and can be seen hopping around on the ground, attempting short flights. Help by keeping cats and dogs away. If the young birds end up in the street or there are too many predators around, wildlife centers in the Bay Area can handraise young birds: WildCare in Marin, Lindsay Museum in the East Bay, and the Peninsula Humane Society in the South Bay, are a few.
Lupine Mariposa lily, Indian paintbrush, buttercup, shooting star, and spring vetch are in full bloom this month on many hillsides in northern California.
The seeds of the lemon-yellow colored California buttercup were sometimes eaten by California Indians.
At Ring Mountain Preserve, on the Tiburon Peninsula, wildflowers that grow only in serpentine soil are blooming.
In the East Bay, wildflowers (including the endemic Mt. Diablo golden globe lily cover the slopes of Mt. Diablo and can be seen from many trails. This is the active season for Anthopora stanfordiana bumblebee impersonators found all along the coastal cliffs of northern and central California. They burrow into the bluffs, seeking shelter from the elements and predators.
JUNE
Mono Lake is definitely for the birds; at least the California gull, Wilson's phalaropes, red-necked
phalaropes, eared grebe, and snowy plover think so.
As the green algae feed the brine shrimp and brine fly (an estimated four trillion half-inch-long shrimp by the height of summer), the gulls, phalaropes, grebes, and plovers descend on Mono Lake to nest. In early spring, the secretive snowy plover nests in inaccessible regions of the lake's shore.
By mid-May, about 50,000 California gulls (approximately 85 percent of the breeding population) have arrived, mated, found a nesting site, and laid their eggs. By mid- to late June, the gulls' eggs have hatched, and about 90,000 Wilson's phalaropes have stopped by on their 3,000-mile journey to South America. A little later in the summer, approximately 750,000 eared grebes arrive. The grebes build floating nests and eat, sleep, and mate on the water. For the best viewing sites, contact Mono Basin Scenic Area Visitors' Center, (760) 647-3044.
It is breeding season for local tree squirrels. Young California gray squirrels are common in the more remote forests of the Bay Area (Marin County, Contra Costa County), while fox squirrels are prominent in more populated areas (Tilden Regional Park, Golden Gate Park).
Adult male elephant seals return to Ano Nuevo State Reserve to molt. They will stay through August. California sea lions heading north to British Columbia pass through the south end of the James Fitzgerald Marine Reserve in early June. Brant geese feed on the surf grass at the Reserve through August. Year-round residents include great blue herons, harbor seals, red-tailed hawks, and red-shouldered hawks. James Fitzgerald Marine Reserve, Moss Beach, (650) 728-3584.
As vernal pools slowly evaporate wildflowers appear, often in concentric circles radiating out from just above the water's edge. To see the early spring wildflowers, visit Vina Plains, a Nature Conservancy preserve in the upper Sacramento Valley north of Chico. Call (916) 891-8462 for tour and preserve entry information.
Jepson Prairie Preserve, between San Francisco Bay and Sacramento, hosts one of the world's largest vernal pools, a half-mile-wide lake that is home to many rare and endangered species. For tour information call (916) 752-6949.
Bladderwort sounds dangerous. And, to the tiny aquatic creatures trapped in the yellow, snapdragon-like blossoms, it is deadly. The blossoms are found in Boggs Lake, a vernal pool in Lake County, which is surrounded by a forest of Douglas fir, ponderosa pine, California black oak, and madrone, instead of open grassland. In spring the bladderwort flourishes thanks to the millions of tiny, nutritious aquatic animals. In addition to such vernal pool regulars as downingia, orcutt grass, and Indian loveline, Boggs Lake is also home to watershield, which lives underwater and pushes its reddish-purple flowers through the surface on only two successive days each year. On day one, watershield opens its blossoms to receive pollen from other plants, then closes them before pulling back beneath the water. On day two, the blossoms penetrate the surface again, where they open and disperse their own pollen before disappearing back below the surface until the next year. The Nature Conservancy owns Boggs Lake and should be contacted for visitation information (415) 777-0487.
Cow parsnip, with its massive white blossoms, dots hillsides along the Coast. It resembles Queen Anne's lace (wild carrot).
Delicate columbines, late spring bloomers, can be found throughout the Bay Area on moist wooded or brushy slopes as can the California bee plant, whose numerous small, maroon flowers are a favorite of bees.
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