I got up around 7:00 this morning, fed Esteban his breakfast, and then took him with me on a drive up Highway 16 West to look for wildflowers. I only drove between Woodland and the turnouts at the old Camp Haswell, but found lots of spots where there tons of wildflowers in groupings here and there. 

On the way, I stopped off at Road 53 in Guinda to see if there was anything to see on the roadside there.  Nothing. And at the gate to the trail I couldn’t open the windows or get out of the car because there was a bee hive right there, and the bees kept banging on the car. Yikes!

Along the side of the highway, I saw a flock of Wild Turkeys. The males were showing off and strutting for the females. But they ventured too far out onto the road and were almost hit by a car that sped past me. Luckily, none of the birds were hurt, and they all decided to stick with the field for their stomping ground instead of the road.

I found large stands of lupine, Purple Owl’s Clover, Yerba Santa, Sweetclover, Redbud trees, and Indian Paintbrush. There were also Virgin Bower vines in bloom on top of some of the shorter trees, and pretty little clover tucked in on the ground between other flowers.

CLICK HERE for the full album of photos.

I also saw quite a few Acmon Blue butterflies, lots of California Pipevine Swallowtails,  some Sulphurs and some Buckeyes. But they wouldn’t sit still and pretty for me. Dang it. I managed to get some side views of the Buckeyes, but nothing else.

I stopped to let Esteban go potty and have a snack at the pull out at Camp Haswell (an old Boy Scout Camp is ideally situated  right next to Cache Creek). I parked in the shade where we could see the creek (which didn’t seem to be moving much) and eat our snacks.

As I was leaving, I tried closing the front passenger side window, and it only went up about a quarter of the way, then stopped. So, I lowered it, and tried closing it again, and the whole window fell down into the door. I don’t know if it shattered in there or if the lift-mechanism had given way, but I couldn’t get the window up at all after that. So, we spent the rest of the trip with that window wide open. *Sigh*

I then headed back home, down the same route I’d taken on the way up. Besides getting a bit windblown from the open window, we did okay – even on the freeway (I5).

Species List:

1. Acmon Blue Butterfly, Icaricia acmon
2. Bee, European Honeybee, Western Honeybee, Apis mellifera
3. Blessed Milk Thistle, Silybum marianum
4. Blow Wives, Achyrachaena mollis
5. Blue Dicks, Depterostemon capitatus
6. Blue Elderberry, Sambucus nigra cerulea
7. Bur Clover, Medicago polymorpha
8. California Pipevine Swallowtail Butterfly, Battus philenor hirsuta
9. Clematis, Western Virgin’s Bower, Clematis ligusticifolia
10. Clouded Sulphur Butterfly, Colias philodice
11. Clover, Tomcat Clover, Trifolium willdenovii
12. Coyote Brush, Baccharis pilularis
13. Fiddleneck, Common Fiddleneck, Amsinckia menziesii
14. Grasses, Wild Oat, Avena fatua
15. Gray Buckeye Butterfly, Junonia grisea
16. Ithuriel’s Spear, Triteleia laxa
17. Jointed Charlock, Raphanus raphanistrum
18. Lupine, Arroyo Lupine, Lupinus succulentus
19. Lupine, Chick Lupine, Lupinus microcarpus [white or yellow]
20. Lupine, Miniature Lupine, Lupinus bicolor
21. Manroot, California Manroot, Bigroot, Marah fabaceus
22. Manroot, Coastal Manroot, Marah oregana
23. Manzanita, Arctostaphylos sp.
24. Metallic Wood-Boring Beetle, Subgenus: Melanthaxia
25. Monkeyflower, Orange Bush Monkeyflower, Diplacus aurantiacus
26. Mule’s Ears, Smooth Mule-Ears, Wyethia glabra
27. Non-Biting Midges, Family: Chironomidae
28. Oak, Interior Live Oak, Quercus wislizeni
29. Oak, Valley Oak, Quercus lobata
30. Owl’s Clover, Purple Owl’s-Clover, Castilleja exserta var. exserta
31. Oxalis, Bermuda Buttercup, Oxalis pes-caprae
32. Pacific Pea, Lathyrus vestitus
33. Pacific Poison Oak, Toxicodendron diversilobum
34. Paintbrush, Woolly Indian Paintbrush, Castilleja foliolosa
35. Pineappleweed, Chamomilla suaveolens
36. Poison Oak, Pacific Poison Oak, Western Poison Oak, Toxicodendron diversilobum
37. Popcorn Flower, Rusty Popcornflower, Plagiobothrys nothofulvus
38. Poppy, California Poppy, Eschscholzia californica
39. Q-Tips, Micropus californicus
40. Rio Grande Wild Turkey, Meleagris gallopavo intermedia
41. Sanicle, Purple Sanicle, Sanicula bipinnatifida
42. Sunflower, Common Woolly Sunflower, Eriophyllum lanatum
43. Tamarisk, Saltcedar, Tamarix ramosissima
44. Vetch, Hairy Vetch, Vicia villosa
45. Western Redbud, Cercis occidentalis
46. Yellow Sweetclover, Melilotus officinalis
47. Yerba Santa, California Yerba Santa, Eriodictyon californicum
48. ?? unknown spider on sunflower