Antelope Valley reported on 12/30/14 on the Latest Poppy Preserve Researcher Field Notes
Poppy Reserve
Rainfall amount to date: 4.69 inchesFilaree has its true leaves but no flower buds. The grasses are up to 2 to 3 inches; asters and rubberrabbit brush still have blooms. Beavertail cacti have plumped pads. There are patches of green onthe hillsides. Tumbleweeds have turned brown, are starting to break off and tumble and formingmounds of several plants clustered together. There are still buckwheat in bloom and going to seed.Fiddleneck is up to 1 and 1-1/2 inches. Found a few pygmy-leafed lupine. There are poppy plantsthat are still in the 2 to 4 spiked leaved cot stages, no true leaves yet.
Burrowing Owls
The recent rains have cleaned off a lot of the previous droppings at the entrances, which will hopefullymake it easier to know which habitats have new residents. The insect maintenance crews havecleared away a lot of the pellets but I did find a lot of Darkling beetle body parts at some entrances. Ionly spotted one owl on my last trip, but hopefully we will be getting new residents soon as the matingseason will start in February.
Ripley Desert Woodland
With the rains that fell on December 12th there are a lot of grasses coming up and a lot of unidentifiedcots. The trees look greener and the dieback a darker brown. There is a lot of dieback under thetrees. The male Juniper trees are forming the cones.
Natural History Wanderings 
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