Natural History Wanderings

 Anza-Borrego Desert Natural History Association has a wildflower update for  Monday 9 March :

Still lots of wildflowers in the Borrego Valley, particularly the northern park of the valley.

There is a nice stand of  Dune Evening Primrose and Desert Sand Verbena in the small sand dunes on the west side of S22 about one mile south of the junction with Henderson County Road (The “pegleg” area – about one mile north of the place where the airport fence ends).  Be careful parking off on the side of S22 and you can walk off into the dunes, they go a good distance from the road.  This is also an excellent place to take pictures, there are attractive flowers on the dunes, wind-blown ridges of sand, natural lines and other markings, and animal tracks in the sand.  A second area in full bloom consists of fields of bright orange-yellow desert sunflower, sand verbena, dune primrose, lupine, and other species on the north side of Henderson County road, roughly midway between Borrego Valley Road and the intersection with S22.

There are other sections of roadways in the Borrego Valley with good blooms but the easiest way to find them would be to just pick up the plant map when you arrive in town.

The Caterpillars:  A quick look around yesterday seemed to show a decine in the number of caterpillars but a look today reveals that is not the case.  It was more a case of them not yet being present in the areas checked yesterday.  The advance of the caterpillars means that our big fields of flowers will not be around much longer.  The flowers that existed on Giorgio Road a week ago are now entirely gone due to the caterpillars.  The flowers along Henderson Canyon Road are now getting hit hard.   See: The Race is On!

See photos and older reports at Anza-Borrego Desert Natural History Association