I took a little afternoon drive from Quincy down to the Greenville Y, looking for certain things, but finding others. I hoped to find Leopard Lilies by the Kayak-launching area at the Y, and Stream Orchids on the cliffs just north of the Y. No such luck. The forest floor and the cliffs were much drier than they were at this time last spring. Some Leopard Lilies will undoubtedly emerge eventually, but I don;t think any Stream Orchids will appear on these cliffs unless we get an unusual, late Spring period of rains. I did find some interesting things, though, beginning with a very nice blooming Spotted Coralroot, an Orchid, in the roadside forest only about a mile north of the turnoff to Feather River College. I also found some great Scarlet Fritillary, but I'm saving those for Part 2 or today's report. The roadside north of the Y was covered with Rose Clover,
Trifolium hirsuta, an introduced species that's good for cattle food, but tends to out compete native vegetation when it gets away from the farms. It's beautiful while it's blooming, but ends up being a grey-brown mass for the last half of summer, and few other flowers are able to rise up from these clover patches except other hardy non-natives like Chicory and Bachelor's Buttons. Down by the river where I had hoped to find Leopard Lilies, I did enjoy chasing a Western Swallowtail Butterfly and got a couple of fair shots of it, and I found a great patch of blooming Blue-eyed Grass, a kind of wild Iris called
Sisyrinchium spp.
My last two are a Convergent Ladybird Beetle and an blooming English Plantain, a non-native. I have another six or seven finds from this outing that I'll post in the morning. Conditions are looking scary dry for this time of year. Be careful with fire!
Just wanted to say that your photos are amazingly beautiful. The ones of the blue-eyed grass are stunning. I've learned a lot in coming here every day to check what's new, especially those days when I'm working and can't get outside.
ReplyDeleteI have to say that this is one of the driest springs I have ever experienced in Plumas County and the bloom is very sparse compared to other years. You and your wife must have eagle eyes to come up the blooms you did photograph.
Great blog!
roseindigo
Hi Roseindigo: Thanks for that comment. I'm blessed by having weak distance vision and disliking glasses. Thus, I'm willing to crawl around amongst mud, briars, roadside trash, etc., to find things. I find most people tend to look at scenery from a distance. One cannot find these flowers and bugs while driving. Even in a "bad" year for wildflowers, there's plenty to see. My dream is to get more and more people crawling around on all fours and taking notes.
ReplyDeleteWell, that is downright funny---because ever since the age of 9 I've had the same problem with my vision, and even though these days I wear contact lenses and can see distances just fine, I got into the habit of inspecting things very closely and found how beautiful they were. And even though I love impressionistic art I have found that I could never live with it because the outlines aren't clear. I don't want to look a picture that isn't clear because my whole world hasn't been clear for a good part of my life. I've always thought that had much to do with my lack of visual acuity, but no one ever believed me, including optometrists. I actually believe that it was my bad vision that turned me into a botanical artist, because I LOVE all that wonderful detail. Of course, right now I'm working on getting cataracts, so until that is repaired some time next year I am having trouble with both distance and near vision--but I'm out there still still crawling around looking at "belly flowers" and admiring their intricate designs that most people never notice.
ReplyDeleteYou know, you are the only one who has ever said anything similar about lack of distance vision. It's a small world, isn't it? And so there are blessings in disguise. ;-) HAPPY CRAWLING!!!
One of my heroes in the biology field is entomologist and all-around philosopher E. O. Wilson. He wanted to be an ornithologist until an eye injury destroyed that dream. Then one day while crawling around on all fours he discovered ants. He's now a Harvard professor emeritus and has been the world expert on ants for many, many years. So, my comments above were not entirely original. We have company!
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