Natural History Wanderings

DesertUSA has the following wildflower bloom and bird report for Highway 60 from Miami-to-Globe in Northern Arizona

Highway 60 from Miami-to-Globe still has robust patches of goldpoppies (particularly as you drive through the community of claypool, near the copper mine entrance and the Freeport ‘Rod Plant’); as well as four-foot-tall, white Prickly Poppies and other colorful roadside wildflowers. Want to see and photograph more unusual varietals? Continue north of Globe on hwy 60 to Timber Camp, about a half-hour drive north of town & at higher elevation. Migrant warblers are back and i heard both Grace’s and Black-throated Gray singing at the boundaries of their courtship territories in the ponderosa pines and upland junipers. Other colorful birds Wednesday included Western Tanager, Plumbeous Vireo, Broad-tailed Hummingbird and Bridled Titmouse – plus a raucous flock of Gray-breasted Jays that flew in to scold my dogs as they romped around the woods.

Park at Timber Camp and walk the forest service dirt roads up into the juniper-grasslands to see Doubting Mariposa lilies; these are more deeply colored than i’ve seen in recent years. Groundsel adds yellow color, and there were even a few dark-blue Larkspurs (Delphinium parishii), orange globemallow, and woodland lupines. Beautiful spot for a daytrip, hike & picnic. You can camp in the adjacent campground, but no pass is required for daytrippers who park immediately in and to the right, near the toilets. Park there & walk northwest past the livestock corral, down into the forest, and then up into the grassy-woodland above the campground.

Read all of the Desert USA wildflower bloom updates at: http://www.desertusa.com/wildflo/wildupdates.html