Natural History Wanderings

Santa Monica Mountain National Recreation Area just published a new wildflower report for 5/26/11.  Here are the new postings:

 “Los Robles Open Space:  Los Padres Trail   Date: 05/26/2011
The Los Padres Trail is off Moorpark Rd.  Go under the freeway and turn left on Los Padres Drive.   The trailhead is almost immediately on the right.  The hike starts with a stroll through an oak glen.  It is very pretty.  Then you will start a gradual up hill climb.  The climb becomes steeper going up the mountain which makes this a good exercise hike. There is a lovely view of Conejo Valley on one side and a peek of Hidden Valley and the expanse of the mountains on the other.  The varying shades of green in the mountains due to our recent rainfall is picture perfect.  Of course it is all downhill on the way back.  The whole hike takes about 1 1/2 hours.  Flowers of note were Indian pinks, lots of elegant clarkia, heart shaped penstemon, cliff asters, sticky monkey flower and a few patches of mayweed.  We also saw:  California everlasting, elderberry, greenbark ceanothus, canyon sunflower and bush sunflower, California poppy, morning glory, chamise, tree tobacco, black sage, purple nightshade, bull thistle, caterpillar phacelia, yarrow, bedstraw, verbena and horehound.  The amount of Italian thistle was a little overwhelming.  Look for the patch that is flattened where Fred fell.  We saw two beautiful California Sisters butterflies in the oak glen.– Fred and Nellie”

“Escondido Canyon Park:   Escondido Falls Trail   Date: 05/22/2011
Escondido Canyon is located off Winding Way Drive which is off PCH.   The parking lot is near PCH, but there is a long walk through the neighborhood to reach the trailhead.  At the end of the trail is a waterfall.  It was only running moderately today, however, the ferns, moss and algae growing on the rocks was quite lovely.   At the beginning of the trail was the ever-prevalent black mustard and Italian thistle  and also a forest of hemlock.  We also saw:  tocalote, blue eyed grass, bush mallow, hummingbird sage, canyon sunflower, black sage, sticky monkey flower, Indian paintbrush, deerweed, wild rose, blackberry, purple sage, verbena, sweet yellow clover, lupine, elderberry, bush sunflower, cliff aster, vetch, scarlet pimpernel, heart shaped penstemon, hedge nettle, bedstraw and a small patch of coastal lotus.– Fred and Nellie”

“Rancho Sierra Vista /Point Mugu State Park:  Cabin Trail   Date: 05/21/2011
Take Wendy Drive past Lynn road until you reach the trailhead at Potrero Road.  There are several trails in this area.  The cabin trail is off the trail which leads to the waterfall.  We found an abundance of flowers and wildlife.  The air was filled with the buzzing of busy bees.  We saw many inside of flowers gathering nectar.  We also saw four types of lizards; alligator, side spot, western fence and  two huge whiptails.  One was on the road and another was hiding in a snowberry bush.  We also saw a large gopher snake slithering across the trail.  It was a very rewarding hike.  We were greeted at the beginning of the trail with wild rose bushes.  There was quite a lot of Italian thistle, which has been a usual sight this year and black mustard also.  Other flowers include:  wild radish, sticky monkey flower, California everlasting, California poppy, purple nightshade, farewell to spring, morning glory, red stemmed and bird beak filaree, horehound, vetch, tocalote, green bark ceanothus, deerweed, black sage, verbena, bush mallow, chamise, golden stars, microseris, fiesta flower, Indian pinks, mountain dandelion, white and yellow yarrow, hummingbird sage, canyon sunflower, elderberry, scarlet pimpernel, buckwheat, bush sunflower, wishbone, caterpillar phacelia, fennel, cliff aster, bedstraw, heart leaf penstemon, lupine, blackberry, hedge nettle, Indian paintbrush, snowberry  (it was a large bush, but only one flower) chalk dudleya and one cudweed hiding in the deerweed.– Fred and Nellie”

Go to their website to see all of their reports: http://www.researchlearningcenter.org/bloom/