No Poppies, No Crowds and No Selfies

Chaparral Currant Ribes malvaceum

You all have probably heard about the superbloom in California. Thanks to the winter rains, flowers are in bloom especially California Poppies, Eschscholzia californica. They are a spectacular sight but too many people are trampling them in the hopes of getting great photos of themselves among these beautiful orange flowers. For our little birding adventure, we chose a relatively untraveled forest service road to find some birds and flowers. Since we are at a high elevation, not many flowers are blooming but we did find a few. This currant was the only one we found and what a beauty! The leaves are very fragrant. Just like wine, you can give the scent your own description. I would say it has a touch of citrus in the leaves. What do you think?

California Tortoiseshell, Nymphalis californica

Painted Ladies are no longer the only butterfly on the mountain. We have started seeing these striking butterflies. When their wings are closed, they look like a dead leaf. Quite talented with disguise.

Here is a view from the remote road we chose to explore. We had never walked this road before today. The views were incredible!

This road seems endless. We were the only ones for 6 miles as we descended the mountain.

Common Phacelia Phacelia distans

Common Fiddleneck Amsinckia intermeda

We had to look hard to find these few flowers. 

California Thrasher Toxostoma redivivum

Since we were in chaparral, we heard quite a few of these singing mimics.

California Scrub- Jay Aphelocoma californica

The scrub-jay loves chaparral especially when they can find scrub oaks, Quercus berberidifolia, to feast on.

This was pretty impressive. If you look closely, you can see the spot up on the hill where this huge boulder once was located. Underneath the boulder, a mini crater was formed. Imagine what that sounded like when it came crashing down this winter!

Hutton's Vireo Vireo huttoni 

After hiking about 3-4 miles, we came to this riparian area with a stream. We never see this vireo on the mountain so it was a huge find for us! For me, the path least traveled is the best. Good luck in finding your own "secret" path.

Click on photos to enlarge.

Photos and content by Robin Roberts.

Glimpse of Spring

Spring has almost arrived in the mountains but not quite...This Anna's hummingbird found a blooming manzanita bush.

I haven't seen any blooming plants except for a few manzanitas and believe me, they are quite popular. This one plant had lots of Painted Ladies, bees and one protective hummingbird.

So what do you do if you really need to find some spring flowers and feel some heat? If you live in Idyllwild, you drive down the mountain to the desert. Spring is in FULL bloom in the desert! As you can see in this photo, the mountains are full of snow in contrast to the colorful flowers of the desert.

Chickory

Fishhook Cactus

Parish Poppy

Arizona Lupine and Beavertail Cactus

Brittlebush

Black-throated Sparrow

White-lined Sphinx Moth

These are just a few of the beautiful flowers, birds and insects that I found. Thanks to Bruce, our botanist friend who patiently helped me identify the wildflowers!

A week ago, I thought Spring had finally arrived and more blooms would start appearing but this is what we woke up to this morning. From the look of this hummer, I think she is quite ready for Spring as well!



Click on photos to enlarge.
Photos and content by Robin Roberts.

From Drought to Deluge at Birding Hotspots

Let's take a look at some of the local birding hotspots that have changed dramatically in the last month.

Let's start at Lake Hemet. The view here is absolutely gorgeous, right? Up until a month ago, this water was a meadow.

Looks like a nice place to watch the birds from this bench. The shoreline used to be about 10 feet down.

Fortunately, only a few buildings, picnic tables and signs are submerged.

If you have been birding at Lake Hemet, you know this is the spot you normally stand to look for the nesting Bald Eagles. The lake has now covered the entire meadow that goes beyond the fence. The Canada Geese that were hanging out here found a new meadow to hang out across the street in Garner Valley Ranch land.

Most of the flooding into Lake Hemet is from nearby Hurkey Creek. For as long as we have lived here, Hurkey Creek was misnamed since it was a tiny trickle rather than a creek. Today, we decided to check out Apple Canyon Road and Hurkey Creek campground. We didn't get very far on the road since it is now flooded by an overflowing Hurkey Creek (River). If you have been here before, you know that this is an amazing sight!

Inside the campground are newly installed signs for good reason. Imagine this huge river being converted from a tiny creek that you could hop over!

Here is another view of Hurkey Creek (River). This campground was miraculously saved by the firefighters during the Cranston Fire. A scarred landscape surrounds it.

Further up the mountain into Idyllwild, we found this Brown Creeper resting on a tree at the Nature Center which is another local birding hotspot.

I've seen plenty of dry river beds over the last 6 years so it is a welcome sight to see creeks and waterfalls flowing again. This is one of the creeks now flowing at the Nature Center.

This video is taken at the County Park, another favorite place for birders. I have imagined a waterfall flowing through here but I've never seen one until yesterday.

So what do the birds think of all this water?

Not sure, but from the looks of things, life is going on!

Click on photos to enlarge.
Photos and content by Robin Roberts.

Surviving the Storms

When I woke up this morning, another 6-8 inches of snow had arrived on the previous snow pack and the yard was full of critters trying to find morsels buried in the snow.

It is nearly impossible for me to enjoy a morning cup of coffee when I look out the window and see a frozen hummingbird feeder covered in snow along with near empty birdfeeders. Coffee comes second on mornings like this. First, thaw out the hummer nectar for the lone Anna's hummingbird that probably wishes he had followed the others down to Palm Desert for the Winter and then fill up the feeders. I can eat last since I didn't have to survive in below freezing temperatures.

It has been quite an interesting 2 weeks! We've been told to evacuate twice due to wildfires in the last 6 years but we've never been told to shelter in place due to unprecedented flooding. If you watched the news on Valentine's Day, you probably saw impressive video of a rushing river and a washed out road. If you missed it, you can do a Google search and find it. You won't get it from this blog since I was trapped in our home up on the mountain until they opened up one of the 3 roads leading to this mountain town.

Am I complaining? Absolutely not! I admit shoveling a long steep driveway is not my favorite thing to do but if it helps us get out of a drought, bring on the snow. I am fascinated by this ice sculpture that is hanging on one of our trees. You can see the initial formation of the icicle by the two tiny twigs but the rest of the formation is free form. How did this happen?

Besides shoveling, I've been trying to help out our outdoor neighbors with some food. This furry rascal grabbed one of the suet cakes that the birds were sharing and ran into our neighbor's yard onto a high branch where he could gorge on the cake without competition from the jays and woodpeckers.

It's not always so easy for the squirrels. Between the floods and the snow blasts, this red-shouldered hawk came to visit. 

His intentions were clear. 

He wasn't interested in the little birds flying boldly near him. He had his eyes on a furry chipmunk. I noticed that the squirrel spied this formidable creature for he sat motionlessly on a tree branch above the hawk's head. The chipmunk, however, was oblivious to its presence. We watched the hawk swoop to capture the little chipmunk but it wasn't successful this time.

 Another animal of the forest was successful in getting its next meal. My husband and son found a fresh deer carcass on a nearby trail along with some mountain lion tracks. Obviously, they didn't stick around long so they didn't see the victor of that battle. I wasn't along on that hike so no photo of that but you can imagine it.

So my day began and ended with one of these cute furry squirrels watching me.

Click on photos to enlarge.
Photos and content by Robin Roberts.

Mountains Covered in White

Snow has finally arrived! Since last posting last week, we have had a week of snowflakes falling in our mountains.

Some places like our beloved fire lookout tower on Tahquitz Peak,8,896 feet, got more snow than others.

Northern Flicker

Mountain Chickadee

Mountain Quail

Western Grey Squirrel

Our backyard is definitely one of the "hotspots" in town with the natives.

For me, hiking on a trail or road with little or no tracks is the best! On this day, I was able to follow in the tracks of a snowshoer and a snowboarder until I reached the top when I created my own path in the snow.

Once I reached the top of this road, I quickly realized how cold it must have been up here while I was staying warm by our wood-burning stove.

Ice covered branches replaced snow on the manzanitas, oaks and pine trees. On some of the trees, the ice is sculpted sideways. Imagine the wind and freezing precipitation. Brrr...

The only birds I saw in this frozen landscape were the tough Mountain Chickadees and the Western Bluebirds.

Although it is much more difficult getting around and keeping warm on these snowy days, we aren't complaining one bit! Our forest and creeks are filling up with much needed replenishing water.

Edit: I do have one teeny, weeny complaint after waking up this morning...frozen pipes and no water...reminds me of one of my very first posts when a burst pipe created a waterfall and I tried boiling snow for water. Definitely wasn't one of my better ideas.

Click on photos to enlarge.
Photos and content by Robin Roberts.