Carrizo Plain, February-May 2024
I usually visit the Carrizo Plain multiple times during the spring season. This year, I decided to make even more visits, since two successive years of rain meant that wildlife should be out and about and thriving...or at least recovering from the last 4 years of drought. And because we're headed overall for dryer weather, I feel compelled to take advantage of the good years while they still exist.
For the most part I visited about every two-three weeks during this period and it is interesting to see how dramatically things change, even in a short span of time. While we had great rains this year, Carrizo had only about 10" of rain this year versus over 13" last year. Thus, no "superbloom" this year. There were still stunning patches of flowers, but just that...patches versus carpets of flowers. And a lot of the vegetation included grasses, most of it non-native. The dense brush everywhere made it difficult to see wildlife much of the time as many of the species that live there are quite small.
Visiting a place frequently really shows how things change. If one were to stay there day after day, you would notice change but probably not so dramatically as you would observe by visiting at intervals of time. I highly recommend visiting the same area frequently, but not necessarily every day if you want to really document change.
In February, there were very few flowers blooming and we had an unseasonably cool winter, so life on Carrizo seemed to get a slow start. By March things were beginning to emerge and by the end of March, I thought the wildflower display was probably the best it was going to get. Although local wildflower reports predicted the peak bloom for mid April, looking back at my photos (I am a passionate nature photographer) show the peak to be the last week in March, or possibly the first week of April. I was there during the last week of March and during the second week of April and by that second visit, though plenty of flowers still were in bloom, even the patches of color had faded in many places and only a few areas had great displays.
What really stood out to me is how quickly animals must adapt to these conditions. Birds that migrate in to breed, must begin breeding immediately to take advantage of the maximum number of insects to feed their young. Insects emerge and almost immediately begin to mate, their lifespans, for the most part, being very short.
In terms of wildlife, it was a mixed bag this year. Kangaroo rats were everywhere. These primarily nocturnal animals were even out during the day. For the first time I was able to photograph a couple of them in daylight so that was very cool. However, I also saw more kangaroo rat carcasses than I've ever seen. I'm not sure what was going on with them biologically...not only for them to be out during the day but also to be predated in greater numbers than usual--or at least that is what it seemed. But perhaps there were just so many of them due to having two great years of plant growth (their primary diet is seeds) that the result was overpopulation. These hardy animals actually do quite well in very dry conditions so perhaps they don't do as well during rainy periods. I'll leave that to the scientists to study but I think I did read somewhere that populations tend to decline during very rainy periods.
Reptiles were also having a great year. I saw rattlesnakes out almost every day I was there as well as many gopher snakes and lizards. The critically endangered blunt-nosed leopard lizards seemed to be having a great year. While I saw many last year, I'm sure I saw even more this year. And, I also found some in locations I hadn't really looked in before, so it's good to see that their range is not as small as I originally suspected. I didn't get any great photos this year, probably because there were more predators about to try and snatch those lizards, so they weren't hanging around outside as much as I've seen in prior years.
And that leads me into another species that had a spectacular year at Carrizo...the loggerhead shrike. It seemed everywhere I went I saw families of loggerhead shrikes (who eat lizards, among other things). They're really cool birds and haven't been doing that great in prior years, but this year more than made up for it.
Unfortunately, I do think it might be having an effect on American kestrels. I used to see so many kestrels at Carrizo and during the drought years I don't think I saw any. Last year, a rainy year, I started to see a few and this year I also saw a few. However, their numbers everywhere seem to be declining. I'm not sure if it's because they're cavity nesters and starlings have taken over the cavities or because in places like Carrizo, they are competing for food with the ubiquitous loggerhead shrikes. Regardless, it's sad to see their numbers declining since they are such beautiful birds.
As for larger species, I did see some kit foxes this year as well as tule elk. However I only saw pronghorn once, and they are definitely not thriving in Carrizo. I didn't see any coyotes, but they seem to thrive no matter what so I'm not too worried about them! However I always enjoy seeing them in Carrizo as they're just not as common as they are here in Los Angeles!
While I didn't get any photos this year that are in my top ten for Carrizo, I really spent more time exploring areas I hadn't really spent much time in before and it made for some great observations.
Here are links to a few of my most memorable observations from my visits this year:
Loggerhead shrike with cricket, ready to feed youngster: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/207060434
Kangaroo rat: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/217206002
Blunt nosed leopard lizard (male in the brush): https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/219795743
Western whiptail...also abundant this year: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/217431275
Barn owl nest I happened upon (apparently many nests this year): https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/216981525
One of the several rattlensnakes I saw: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/220106985
Ravens were having a great year too: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/217161086
One of a flock of lark buntings that wintered in Carrizo: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/213010027
A LeConte's thrasher with fledgling (poor photos): https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/219891460
And, one of my favorite flowers that I haven't seen in prior years at Carrizo though it definitely has bloomed there, a clubhair mariposa lily: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/220182695
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