Natural History Wanderings

DesertUSA has an Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve report for Jan. 24, 2016

Rain on October 2015 brought about germination of poppies, filaree, fiddleneck and grasses. Since then there have been nights of freezing temperatures and on December 22, 2015 the winds reached 76 mph at the reserve. One has to marvel at the resiliency of the plants that survive in our desert.

There are filaree plants and some are starting to bloom. Fiddleneck leaves are up to 4 inches. Grasses are up to 2 to 4 inches. There are lupine plants with leaves up to 3 inches. Poppies that germinated after the October rain are looking healthy, forming their rosettes and measure 1 to 3 inches across. There was rain at the beginning of January and I did find just a few poppy cots. Even though it has been over 10 days for poppy cot germination, with the wind and freezing temperatures it may be too soon for them to have emerged. The few I found were less than ¼-inch tall. Observations: Spotted a northern harrier, flocks of sparrows, mountain blue birds, road runner and cottontails.

Source: Desert Wildflower Reports for Southern California by DesertUSA