Natural History Wanderings

Antelope Valley has the following wildflower update for 4/27/14:

There are still poppies from Avenue I on Lancaster Road to the Poppy Reserve. Also, there are still poppy plants at the Poppy Reserve that have buds, flowers and are also going to seed. The valley had heavy winds last Tuesday night, Wednesday and this weekend and a lot of poppy flower petals are on the ground. In some instances the plants do not have any flowers left and have just the seedpods. The seedpods are still green but are starting to form their brown ridges.

The goldfields took a beating also. Many of them have lost their petals and just the cone is remaining.

The beavertail cacti in front and to the west of the Visitor Center are starting to bloom.

Valley Vista Point Trail – A lot of fiddleneck in this area and they are starting to lose their flowers and going to seed. There are poppies, blue Dick, tumble and black mustard, filaree that still has flowers and seedpods, silver puffs still have flowers and puffs, there are some forget-me-nots with blooms but they are going to seed and there are a few of the Mojave sun cups in bloom. There are a lot of tumbleweeds in this area and they are up to 12 inches.

You can see patches of poppies and goldfields on the eastside of the reserve from the vista point.

Poppy Trail North Loop – Filaree, poppies, fiddleneck, tumbleweed (up to 12 inches), goldfields, pygmy-lupine, cream cups, fringe pod, and the Baltic rush has finished flowering and forming seeds. Close to the wooden bridge there are quite a few young Jimson weed.

OBSERVATIONS:

• Painted lady butterflies, cabbage butterflies, Darkling beetles, Harvester ants

• Lizards

• Horned larks, Meadow larks, sparrows and ravens

• Sphinx Moth (also called Hawk Moth and Hummingbird Moth because of its hovering, swift flight patterns). They can pollinate flowers while sucking their nectar (they like the fiddleneck at the Poppy Reserve) with

a proboscis (feeding tube) that can exceed their body length. They lay pale green eggs; the larvae hatch and become a hornworm caterpillar. When the caterpillars are fully grown they will burrow into the soil and

become hard, shiny brown pupa. The moth then emerges from the cocoon when the temperature warms after winter. Both the male and female die after they have completed their roles in the reproduction process.

Wildflower Sightings:

• The Shea’s Castle area has small patches of poppies and goldfields, Jimsonweed, wild rhubarb, forget-me-nots, Fremont pincushions, chia, Desert dandelions, California primrose, tidy tips, rattlesnake weed, prickly poppy, and purple night shade.

• Munz Ranch Road has: purple night shade, Jimson weed, California primrose, Fremont pincushions, coreopsis, fiddleneck, a few poppies (some annual and some perennial), chia, California buckwheat, Indian paintbrush, and purple lupine.

• In the area on Munz Ranch Road where a finger of the Power House Fire burned in 2013 – east facing slope by road marker 3.71 there are: Fremont pincushions, Fremont phacelia, tidy tips, Mojave sun cups, and filaree.

• At the junction of Munz Ranch Road and Elizabeth Lake Road and across the street from Elizabeth Lake there are: poppies, Fremont pincushions, Lacy phacelia, filaree, tansy and tumble mustard, goldfields, slender keel fruit, chia, silver puffs, coreopsis, purple lupine, forget-me-nots, and the Elderberry trees are in bloom.

• Came back via Johnson Road and there were just a few patches of poppies and goldfields. As you are coming down the hill looking at the valley floor you start to see a nice showing of poppies south of Avenue K and they extend to Avenue I. There are poppies along Avenue K to just west of 90th St. West

via Latest Poppy Reserve Research Field Notes and Observations.