Got up around 6:30 this morning. It’s chilly, bright and crisp outside. It was about 39°F when mt friend Roxanne arrived to take us to Kenny Ranch in search of wildflowers. The drive was nice; traffic is nearly nonexistent because of COVID-19.  Mostly just big trucks on the road.  We saw several people wearing face masks even while they were driving. That didn’t make a lot of sense to me – unless maybe they were LYFT drivers or something and were anticipating being around other people in their cars.

We were surprised that we didn’t see any wild flowers all on the way to Grass Valley or much of anything at Kenny Ranch.  They seem to be about 2 weeks behind what we’re seeing in Sacramento County. 

Most of the Black Oak trees didn’t have their leaves yet, so we couldn’t look for any new galls on them… The French Broom, however, was blooming everywhere, and we saw a lot of Butter ‘n’ Eggs and Buckbrush.  We found some Fringepod that look like a different species than what we saw at Mather, and we also came across a few Goldfields.

There seemed to be a lot of grasshoppers with yellow wings all over the trail.  I managed to catch one of them, so we got a few close-up photos of that one.  I tried to get photos of them in flight so I could document their bright wings, but they were so small and moved so fast that the camera couldn’t focus on them.  We also saw a couple of Checkered Skippers, and caught sight of a Painted Lady and Tiger Swallowtail butterfly on the wing. 

We were hoping to maybe see some newts along the slough, but the current was really running too fast for that. 

CLICK HERE for the album of photos.

It was kind of a disappointing outing because we didn’t see the flowers we were hoping to see, but the fresh air and exercise was good.  When we were done at the ranch, Roxanne drove us further down the Rough and Ready Highway just to see what was there, and we were able to make a loop over surface streets back to Highway 49.  Lots of ranch properties out there. Everything is green right now and I can see why people like living up there.  Atone point we stopped along the road that looked out over the hills to the snow-capped mountains beyond.  So pretty!

We also stopped at someone’s house where a Red-Shouldered Hawk was sitting on the telephone lines. He gave us a dirty look over his shoulder before flying off.

            We were out for about 6 hours, and got back home without incident.

Species List:

1. American Plantain, Plantago rugelii
2. Beaked Twig Gall Wasp, Disholcaspis plumbella
3. Bittercress, Hairy Bittercress, Cardamine hirsuta
4. Broad-leaved Sweet Pea, Lathyrus latifolius
5. Buckbrush, Ceanothus cuneatus
6. Bulbous Meadow-Grass, Poa bulbosa
7. California Black Oak, Quercus kelloggii
8. California Incense-Cedar, Calocedrus decurrens
9. California Poppy, Eschscholzia californica
10. California Scrub Jay, Aphelocoma californica
11. California Towhee, Melozone crissalis
12. Common Crow, Corvus brachyrhynchos
13. Common Checkered-Skipper, Burnsius communis
14. Common Greenbottle Fly, Lucilia sericata
15. Common Stork’s-Bill, Red Stemmed Filaree, Erodium cicutarium
16. Cumberland Rock-Shield Lichen, Xanthoparmelia cumberlandia
17. Dark-Eyed Junco, Junco hyemalis
18. French Broom Gall Mite, Aceria genistae
19. French Broom, Genista monspessulana
20. Giant Chain Fern, Woodwardia fimbriata
21. Goldback Fern, Pentagramma triangularis
22. Gray Pine, Pinus sabiniana
23. Hillside Woodland Star, Lithophragma heterophyllum
24. Hoverfly, Long-tailed Aphideater, Eupeodes fumipennis
25. Johnnytuck, Butter ‘n’ Eggs, Triphysaria eriantha
26. Mountain Fringepod, Thysanocarpus laciniatus
27. Mountain Misery, Chamaebatia foliolosa
28. Oregon Grape, Berberis aquifolium
29. Plum, Prunus cerasifera
30. Poison Oak, Pacific Poison Oak, Western Poison Oak, Toxicodendron diversilobum
31. Ponderosa Pine, Pinus ponderosa
32. Red-Shouldered Hawk, Buteo lineatus
33. Rock Tripe, Emery Rock Tripe, Umbilicaria phaea
34. Rose Clover, Trifolium hirtum
35. Salad Burnet, Sanguisorba minor  [not sure of this ID]
36. Shining Peppergrass, Lepidium nitidum
37. Smokey-eyed Boulder Lichen, Porpidia albocaerulescens
38. Spotted Towhee, Pipilo maculatus
39. Stork’s Bill, Big Heron Bill, Broadleaf Filaree, Erodium botrys
40. Streambank Springbeauty, Miner’s Lettuce, Claytonia parviflora
41. Tomcat Clover, Trifolium willdenovii
42. Western American Alder Tongue Gall Taphrina occidentalis
43. Western Meadow-Rue, Thalictrum occidentale
44. White Alder, Alnus rhombifolia
45. White Clover, Trifolium repens
46. White Leaf Manzanita, Arctostaphylos viscida ssp. viscida
47. Willow, Salix sp.
48. Yellow Cobblestone Lichen, Acarospora socialis
49. Yellow-Winged Grasshopper, California Sulphur Winged Grasshopper, Arphia behrensi
50. ?? Unidentified  Asteraceae