I got up around 6:00 again this morning, and got myself and my dog Esteban ready to spend the day with my friend and fellow Naturalist, Roxanne, looking for wildflowers. We took Highway 16 West to Highway 20 and then onto Bear Valley Road. We had been warned that Bear Valley Road, which is a dirt road, was in terrible shape and very rutted, but we got lucky and the road was actually newly scraped with some new gravel laid down at the head of it… so, relatively smooth going.

There were so many flowers to look at along Highway 16 that we had to stop in several spots to look around. There were flowering ash trees and Buckbrush, Yellow globe lilies (Diogenes’ Lanterns), Yerba Santa, Orange Bush Monkeyflowers, Mule’s Ears, Blue Dicks and Ithuriel’s Spears, Purple Owl’s Clover, several different kinds of lupine, and Pipestem Clematis, among others.

We also found a few galls including some petiole galls and a new-to-me Club Gall on the oak trees.

As an aside: In the Spring Gall Week 2023 challenge, I’m number 28 in a field of 262. Pretty good, if I do say so myself. And I did it without “cheating”, like some of the other participants did.

CLICK HERE for the full album of photos from Highway 16 and 20 today.
CLICK HERE for the full album of photos from Bear Valley Road itself.

We continued on to Bear Valley Road and were greeted with even more flowers including fields of Goldfields and Blue Dicks, roadside stands of a mix of Owl’s Clover, Creamcups, Sanicle, Tidytips and more. There were also hillsides covered in poppies and/or Phacelia. Breathtaking stuff!

Saw a few birds, including a pair of Mallards in the creek, some Red-Winged Blackbirds, Scrub Jays and a Bald Eagle flying through the valley along the creek line. I didn’t get any photos of it, but I did get video snippets of a quail and some Cliff Swallows.

We had a wonderful, if very long, day and saw so much! I took over 900 photos! [Don’t worry; I’m not putting all of them in the album. ] We didn’t get back home until around 6:00 PM.

This was hike #20 in my#52HikeChallenge for the year.

Species List:

1. Ash Tree, California Ash, Fraxinus dipetala
2. Bald Eagle, Haliaeetus leucocephalus
3. Bee Fly, Cone-Snout Bee Fly, Conophorus fenestratus
4. Bee Fly, Family: Bombyliidae
5. Bee, European Honeybee, Western Honeybee, Apis mellifera
6. Bird’s-Eye Gilia, Gilia tricolor
7. Bird’s-Foot Trefoil, Lotus corniculatus
8. Blow Wives, Achyrachaena mollis
9. Blue Dicks, Dipterostemon capitatus ssp. capitatus
10. Blue Dock Beetle Gastrophysa cyanea
11. Buckbrush, Ceanothus cuneatus
12. Butter-and-Eggs, Johnnytuck, Triphysaria eriantha
13. Buttercup, Western Buttercup, Ranunculus occidentalis
14. California Buckeye Chestnut Tree, Aesculus californica
15. California Ground Squirrel, Otospermophilus beecheyi
16. California Mustard, Caulanthus lasiophyllus [white]
17. California Pipevine, Dutchman’s Pipe, Aristolochia californica
18. California Quail, Callipepla californica
19. California Scrub Jay, Aphelocoma californica
20. Catchfly, Small-Flowered Catchfly, Silene gallica
21. Cattail, Narrow-Leaf Cattail, Typha angustifolia
22. Cattle, Black Angus, Bos taurus var. Black Angus [domesticated]
23. Cattle, Black Hereford, Bos taurus var. Black Hereford [domesticated, black with white face]
24. Chia, Salvia columbariae
25. Chinese Houses, Purple Chinese Houses, Collinsia heterophylla
26. Clover, Cowbag Clover, Trifolium depauperatum
27. Clover, Purple Owl’s Clover, Castilleja exserta var. exserta
28. Clover, Tomcat Clover, Trifolium willdenovii
29. Club Gall Wasp, Bisexual, Spring Generation, Andricus coortus [terminal bud gall on live oak]  
30. Cobwebby Thistle, Cirsium occidentale
31. Coyote Brush, Baccharis pilularis
32. Coyote Brush Bud Gall midge, Rhopalomyia californica
33. Creamcups, Platystemon californicus
34. Dodder, California Dodder, Cuscuta californica
35. Dog, Canis lupus familiaris
36. Dudleya, Canyon Liveforever, Dudleya cymosa
37. Fern, Bird’s Foot Cliffbrake, Pellaea mucronata
38. Fiddleneck, Common Fiddleneck, Amsinckia menziesii
39. Foothill Deervetch, Acmispon brachycarpus
40. Fringepod, Sand Fringepod, Thysanocarpus curvipes
41. Globe Lily, Diogenes’ Lantern, Calochortus amabilis [yellow]
42. Goldfields, California Goldfields, Lasthenia californica
43. Grasses, Bulbous Bluegrass, Poa bulbosa
44. Grasses, Compact Brome, Bromus madritensis
45. Grasses, Pink Grass, Windmill Pink, Hairypink, Petrorhagia dubia
46. Grasses, Wild Oat, Avena fatua
47. Hairy Hawkbit, Leontodon saxatilis [yellow]
48. Ithuriel’s Spear, Triteleia laxa
49. Kermes, Allokermes sp.
50. Larkspur, Royal Larkspur, Delphinium variegatum [deep purple-blue]
51. Leaf Gall Wasp/ Unidentified per Russo, Tribe: Cynipidea [on Valley Oak]
52. Live Oak Folded Leaf Aphid, Stegophylla essigi [in live oaks, folds the leaf over itself; sometimes the leaf turns red/reddish]
53. Live Oak Petiole Gall Wasp, Melikaiella flora [can also show up in the midvein]
54. Lomatium, Foothill Desert-Parsley, Lomatium utriculatum
55. Longhorn Seablush, Plectritis macrocera [white]
56. Lupine, Arroyo Lupine, Lupinus succulentus [dark, almost purple]
57. Lupine, Silver Bush Lupine, Lupinus albifrons var. albifrons
58. Lupine, Chick Lupine, Lupinus microcarpus [yellow, white]
59. Lupine, Miniature Lupine, Lupinus bicolor
60. Mallard Duck, Anas platyrhynchos
61. Manroot, Chilicothe, Marah macrocarpa
62. Manzanita, Common Manzanita, Arctostaphylos manzanita
63. Meshweaver Spider, Family: Dictynidae
64. Miner’s Lettuce, Streambank Springbeauty, Claytonia parviflora
65. Mirid Bug, Irbisia sp.
66. Monkeyflower, Orange Bush Monkeyflower, Diplacus aurantiacus
67. Monkeyflower, Seep Monkeyflower, Erythranthe guttata
68. Mountain Dandelion, Agoseris sp.
69. Mule’s Ears, Smooth Mule-Ears, Wyethia glabra
70. Naked Buckwheat, Eriogonum nudum
71. Narrowleaf Goldenbush, Ericameria linearifolia [yellow daisy-like flowers]
72. Oak, Coast Live Oak, Quercus agrifolia
73. Oak, Interior Live Oak, Quercus wislizeni
74. Oak, Valley Oak, Quercus lobata
75. Onion, Jeweled Onion, Allium serra
76. Paintbrush, Woolly Indian Paintbrush, Castilleja foliolosa
77. Pear Tree, Pyrus sp.
78. Phacelia, Lacy Phacelia, Phacelia tanacetifolia [purple]
79. Phacelia, Mountain Phacelia, Phacelia imbricata [white]
80. Pink Star-Tulip, Calochortus uniflorus
81. Pipestem Clematis, Old Man’s Beard, Clematis lasiantha
82. Plantain, Dot-Seed Plantain, Plantago erecta
83. Popcorn Flower, Rusty Popcornflower, Plagiobothrys nothofulvus
84. Popcorn Flower, Scouler’s Popcornflower, Plagiobothrys scouleri
85. Popcorn Flowers,  Plagiobothrys sp.
86. Poppy, California Poppy, Eschscholzia californica
87. Poppy, Tufted Poppy, Eschscholzia caespitosa
88. Purple Sanicle, Sanicula bipinnatifida 
89. Q-Tips, Micropus californicus
90. Red Maids, Calandrinia menziesii
91. Red-Tailed Hawk, Western Red-Tailed Hawk, Buteo jamaicensis calurus
92. Red-Winged Blackbird, Agelaius phoeniceus
93. Ruptured Twig Gall Wasp, Callirhytis perdens [on live oaks, black oaks]
94. Small Melilot, Melilotus indicus [yellow]
95. Sunflower, Common Woolly Sunflower, Eriophyllum lanatum
96. Swallow, Cliff Swallow, Petrochelidon pyrrhonota
97. Tamarisk, Saltcedar, Tamarix ramosissima
98. Tidytips, Smooth Tidytips, Layia chrysanthemoides
99. Toyon, Heteromeles arbutifolia
100. True Babystars, Leptosiphon bicolor
101. Valley Tassels, Castilleja attenuata
102. Vetch, Hairy Vetch, Vicia villosa
103. Western Fence Lizard, Blue Belly, Sceloporus occidentalis
104. Western Meadowlark, Sturnella neglecta
105. Western Redbud, Cercis occidentalis
106. Western Wallflower, Erysimum capitatum
107. Willows, Salix sp.
108. Woolly Fishhooks, Ancistrocarphus filagineus
109. Yarrow, Common Yarrow, Achillea millefolium
110. Yerba Santa, California Yerba Santa, Eriodictyon californicum