First time I've been to Grant this spring, and boy is it yellow! I did a loop around Halls Valley and Los Huecos, where the hills are covered in blooming Hawksbeard, zillions of them, which was awesome in a visual way, but very unfortunately I don't think they're native. It was by far the most dominant flower, but there were also a lot of yarrow, along with wine cup Clarkia, a few patches of poppies, and other usual suspects at this time of year.

While I didn't see anything particularly interesting in the burn areas, one commonality with other places I've been recently is there being lots of Chinese houses in the forested understories where it burned.

And a special treat was encountering several very healthy patches of Thermopsis, all in one particular area. They have an interesting scent to them, and such a glow in the sun. Oh! And two large turtles swimming in one of the ponds.

Where are all of the insects? I walked past a zillion Hawksbeards and yarrows (among many others) for several hours in the middle of a warm, clear day, and saw very few insects, just a butterfly here, a bumblebee there, so many fewer than I'd expect.

Posted on May 6, 2021 04:37 AM by newtpatrol