Natural History Wanderings

Flickr: Discussing 2015 hikes. in Solano Land Trust has an update on Jepson Prairie wildflowers and animals

found some tadpole shrimp and clam shrimp, along with the normal cast of characters. We found no salamanders. There were some gold nuggets right down by the presentation area near the playa. Buck Pasture was abloom with wonderful displays of goldfields, breathtaking downinga, large expanses of wooly marbles, yarrow, quaking grass, coyote thistle, brodiaea, hyacinth, and a few mimulus and navarretia. The scene looks more those like late April or early May, so I am concerned that things will dry up very quickly. Lots of solitary bees working the goldfields.

If you get a chance, check out North most corner of the docent triangle where the road crosses the railroad tracks (just west of the road). This always has a lot of late moisture, and the downinga were visible from the road.

Bird life included avocets, stilts, Canada geese, egrets, herons, killdeer, white pelican flyover, savannah sparrows, meadowlarks, red wing blackbirds, and some small sandpipers that I could not identify. There is an active nest of ravens in the tower in the east pool of Olcott.

See older posts at  Flickr: Discussing 2015 hikes. in Solano Land Trust.