Error
This post was from 2015 although I had dated it 2016. It is not relevant to what is happening now!!!!
I took the information from the wrong section of the Flickr Group. Error is completely mine.
Solano Land Trust Flickr Group had the following report on Jepson Prairie today
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.
Natural History Wanderings 
Thanks for your report. I posted it together with a report from the Solano Land Trust on Jepson Prairie.
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By: Sandy Steinman on March 25, 2016
at 9:14 PM
Hi Sandy,On the strength of this report (because we LOVE Downingias and Jepson Prairie has seven different species, according to their book), we drove out to JP on March 24. Never did figure out where “Buck’s Pasture” is, but did not encounter most of the plants listed in the first paragraph. Yarrow and the short Hyacinth in large patches, along the Nature Trail, across the road from the picnic area (west side of Cook Ln.) Lots of Goldfields, in three varieties: regular, rayless, and the larger-flowered vernal pool. Gold Buttons and clumps of Golden Violet — it was a yellow flower kind of day, especially when you add the thousands of Butter & Eggs. A white Meadowfoam in the lowest spots, still coming on strong. The Filaree is almost bloomed-out & has set way too many seeds. Occasional mini Lupines, also mostly done, just a few battered blooms at the tops of some plants. This is what the plants at the “North most corner” actually are, not Downingias. Looks like a good seed set for the Lupines. Some Brodiaeas on the mina mounds, and some showy, although tiny, Clovers out toward the train tracks.
A Swallowtail Butterfly was patrolling the north shoreline of “Olcott Lake”, and three Monarchs were protecting a Fiddleneck patch from each other, near the picnic tables. Shortly before we arrived, a woman told us she’d seen a Golden Eagle dive on a Jackrabbit, but came up without it. We had four White Pelicans soaring overhead; Meadowlarks calling from every direction; Avocets “bobbing” in the deeper waters, with their tails straight up in the air, head & neck completely submerged; Stilts flying in small groups from pool to pool; both a male and female Harrier cruising the road edges; and a few Canada Geese and Killdeer moving about the edges. And of course, Coots. There are always Coots. Having made a wrong turn to begin with, we went east on Hastings Road, and saw about a hundred White-fronted Geese, several Red-tailed Hawks, and a spectacular male Pheasant.
But nary a Downingia. Maybe next time—Post this if you like. And thanks much for all you do! Kathi, from Sebastopol
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By: Kathi on March 25, 2016
at 5:16 PM