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Summer Allen's Hummingbird Selasphorus sasin Ash-throated Flycatcher Myiarchus cinerascens Barn Swallow Hirundo rustica Black-headed Grosbeak Pheucticus melanocephalus Black-throated Gray Warbler Setophaga nigrescens Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher Polioptila caerulea Bullok's Oriole Icterus bullockii Chipping Sparrow Spizella passerina Cliff Swallow Petrochelidon pyrrhonota Common Poorwill Phalaenoptilus nuttallii Lazuli Bunting Passerina amoena Orange-crowned Warbler Leiothlypis celata Pacific-slope Flycatcher Empidonax difficilis Swainson's Thrush Catharus minimus Tree Swallow Tachycineta bicolor Violet-green Swallow Tachycineta thalassina Warbling Vireo Vireo gilvus Western Kingbird Tyrannus verticalis Western Tanager Piranga ludoviciana Western Wood-Pewee Contopus sordidulus Wilson's Warbler Cardellina pusilla Yellow Warbler Setophaga petechia

Northern Pacific Rattlesnake by Michael Marchiano October 1, 1998 Michael Marchiano Ever since the story of Adam and Eve, western culture has had an aversion to snakes. The fact that a few species are venomous just adds more fear. In Northern California, there is only ONE venomous species of snake, the Northern Pacific Rattlesnakes (Crotalus oreganus oreganus ). All other snakes in the Bay Area are harmless. Our local rattlesnake is very distinctive from other local snakes because of the rattle attached to its tail and the diamond-shaped head that is far wider than its neck. Its coloration can vary, matching its environment. When young, its blotchy pattern is generally much more distinct, fading as the snake ages. Color can vary from drab olive green, to dusty brown, reddish brown, grey, or golden with the darker irregular blotching along the length. When encountered, this snake is not aggressive and either freezes so as not to draw attention to itself or flees, trying to escape any confrontation. Like any wild animal, it will attempt to defend itself when molested or attacked. This is when people see it in its most often portrayed position of coiled, tail rattling its warning, and head held high to observe its attacker. Like all snakes, rattlesnakes do not attack people. The venom they possess is for the purpose of killing small prey animals and they do not want to waste it on a two- legged predator. There are many, many myths and exaggerations concerning snakes in general, but there are even more concerning rattlesnakes. The Northern Pacific Rattlesnake rarely grows more than 36 inches in length - one over 48 inches is a real granddaddy, yet I commonly have people tell me stories of the 6- to 7-foot rattlesnakes they have encountered in the Bay Area (fear and imagination go together). The actual striking distance for a snake from a coiled position is approximately a third the distance of its body length, but let’s give the snake the benefit of half the distance, just to be safe. That means a three-foot snake can only strike out approximately 1-1.5 feet. You would have to be right in that snake's face to get him to strike. They do not strike without reason. Leave the snake alone and he will leave you alone. In late summer to early fall, we enter the birthing season for snakes. Rattlesnakes are one of the few live-bearing snakes (opposed to egg-lying). Mother rattlesnakes can give birth to 7-15 young who actually stay with her for the first couple of weeks. The young are distinctly patterned replicas of the adult except they initially have a single button on their tail. They will not get a second rattle until they shed their skin for the first time, generally within a few weeks. Rattlesnakes get a new rattle every time they shed and may shed three to four times in the same year. Therefore, the number of rattles does not tell the age of the snake. Secondly, as the snakes age, rattles will commonly break off. Young rattlesnakes possess venom when they are born - it is the same venom as the adults, just less of it. The bite of a small rattlesnake is NOT more venomous than an adult, but adult rattlesnakes have been known to give a dry bite (no venom), 30 to 40 percent of the time. The young snakes are still learning to control envenomation and therefore do inject venom with each bite. Nevertheless, any bite from a rattlesnake needs immediate medical attention. Although death from a bite is very rare (in the United States, 10-12 deaths from venomous snakebites occur annually per 10,000 bites), hospitalization with severe pain and suffering is the norm. Rattlesnakes, along with all other snakes, fill an important ecological niche and should not be killed. They eat numerous rodents and in turn are attacked and eaten by larger predators, including hawks, eagles, owls, bobcats, and coyotes. As a rule of thumb, do not try to touch, capture, pick up, or tease any wildlife. Even a cute little cottontail rabbit will bite and claw to defend itself if confronted. Northern Pacific Rattlesnake | Clayton Worsdel by Scott Hein BACK TO LIST

Wildflower Mount Diablo Hill Suncup Hairy Suncup, Self-pollinating Suncup Scientific Name: Camissonia hirtell Family: Onagraceae (Evening Primrose Family) Blooms: May - Jun Color: Yellow-Orange Annual herb Native Jump to Blooming Now Blue / Purple Red / Pink White Yellow / Orange Invasive Plants Steve Smith

Barn Owl Owls and Nightjars Barn Owl Tyto alba All Year Owls and Nightjars Daniel Fitzgerald The white heart-shaped face and dark eyes are distinctive. It has no ear tufts and has an unstreaked light colored underparts.

Wildflower Mount Diablo Douglas Sandwort, Douglas' Stitchwort Scientific Name: Sabulina douglasii Family: Caryophyllaceae (Pink Family) Blooms: Apr - May Color: White Annual herb Native Jump to Blooming Now Blue / Purple Red / Pink White Yellow / Orange Invasive Plants Hank Fabian, Ken-ichi Ueda, iNaturalist

Wildflower Mount Diablo Flaccid Cryptantha Scientific Name: Cryptantha flaccida Family: Boraginaceae (Borage Family) Blooms: March Color: White Annual herb Native Jump to Blooming Now Blue / Purple Red / Pink White Yellow / Orange Invasive Plants Daniel Fitzgerald Flower detail Daniel Fitzgerald Leaf detail Daniel Fitzgerald

Wildflower Mount Diablo Rancheria Clover, Indian clover Scientific Name: Trifolium albopurpureum var. albopurpureum Family: Fabaceae (Legume Family) Blooms: March - June Color: Red-Pink Annual herb Native Jump to Blooming Now Blue / Purple Red / Pink White Yellow / Orange Invasive Plants Daniel Fitzgerald Daniel Fitzgerald

Gorgon Copper Lycaena gorgon Lycaenidae Blues, Coppers, Hairstreaks Flies May to July Host Plant Buckwheat Nectar Plant Sulphur buckwheat, Gum plant Daniel Fitzgerald Male Daniel Fitzgerald Female Daniel Fitzgerald Underwing

Acorn Woodpecker Kingfishers and Woodpeckers Acorn Woodpecker Melanerpes formicivorus All Year Kingfishers and Woodpeckers Daniel Fitzgerald Daniel Fitzgerald A specialist of oak woodland habitats. Bright eyes, white face, dark head, reddish crown, and black-and white pattern in wings and tail give the Acorn Woodpecker a comical, if not distinctly pied, appearance. May form communal or social groups. Usually nests in cavity or snag of live tree. Eats insects, sap, flower parts, fruit, seeds, lizards, and bird eggs.

Great Horned Owl Owls and Nightjars Great Horned Owl Bubo virginianus All Year Owls and Nightjars Daniel Fitzgerald Daniel Fitzgerald Frequents a wide variety of forest and habitats, usually with scattered openings. Large size, conspicuous ear tufts. This is the owl that most novice and non-birders are familiar with; its 5 to 8 note call is easily learned. Note chestnut facial disk, yellowish eyes, and barred underparts. Typically nests in a tree. Usually uses old tree nest of hawk, heron, or crow. Feeds mostly on rabbits, hares, mice, and even coots or other waterfowl; in fact, diet is considered to be the most diverse of all North American raptors.

Mary Bowerman Trail by J. Frank Valle-Riestra Reproduced from Mountain News Spring/Summer 2014 May 1, 2014 Mike Woodring In 2024 we celebrated the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Mount Diablo Interpretive Association. One of the first major projects undertaken by the infant association was a survey of the park’s trails network. Small groups of dedicated hiker-environmentalists spread out over the far reaches of the park as it was in the mid-’70s, assessing the existing trails and recommending new trails. One recommendation was construction of what is now known as the Mary Bowerman Trail. The summit of the main peak was a primary destination of the visiting public, but no trails were there for visitors to experience close contact with the mountain’s exceptional natural environment. The first step was to lay out a possible route. Surveys of the topography revealed that a logical circuit of the summit region could be visualized with no anticipated damage to plant life and geological formations. The circuit was to be fairly level, along a contour line, with an overall distance of about a mile. Full of enthusiasm, our little band of interpreters marked the route with wooden stakes with red ribbons. We came back a few days later to find almost all of the stakes gone! So back we went and repeated our layout. A couple of days later, the same thing! And then it dawned on us. This was not the work of vandals, it was the work of animals (raccoons? skunks?) resenting this intrusion into their homeland. This was one of many delays; some, as expected, came as a result of environmental reviews by the Department of Parks and Recreation in Sacramento. Finally, with preliminary approval, Park Ranger Dick VanEtta single-handedly constructed a primitive path along the proposed circuit, in just a few days. But all in vain. For it was August of 1977, and soon after VanEtta’s efforts, lightning struck on Twin Peaks, and the resulting fire roared upward toward the summit. The summit buildings were saved, but the fire destroyed the plants on the north-facing slopes below, as well as vestiges of the new trail. The Bay Area was stunned by the damage to the park, and money poured in to help regeneration, along with suggestions which simply proved that many kind-hearted people did not understand that post-fire regeneration was best left to nature. Proposals such as aerial scattering of grass seeds, planting of redwood groves, even introducing palm trees were mercifully rejected. But the money was put to good use. The decision was made to build the trail as originally envisioned, through the burnt area, and to dedicate the trail to fire interpretation. After almost five years of planning, a spectacular trail, The Fire Interpretive Trail, was completed in 1982 by a wonderful group of young people from the California Conservation Corps, under the direction of Carlos Espinoza, a dynamo in a wheelchair. A grand trail dedication was held at the trailhead, with lots of visiting celebrities, fluttering flags, and politicians. William Penn Mott Jr., then superintendent of California State Parks, spoke, as did Senator John Nejedly and Mary Leo Bowerman, celebrated botanizer of Mount Diablo. Dr. Bowerman was a founding member of MDIA and co-founder of Save Mount Diablo, our sister organization. Dr. Bowerman passed away in 2005 at the age of 97; The Fire Interpretive Trail was renamed in her honor. Following extensive incineration during the recent Morgan Fire, the trail continues to serve as a fire interpretive trail, to allow the public to monitor post-fire recovery of the plant communities over the coming years. Ironically, Dr. Bowerman did not originally favor a trail through the area. She was afraid, with some justification, that the construction effort and large visitor volume would impact the fragile plant life. Fortunately, rare and sensitive plants such as Bitterroot (Lewisia Redidiva) have fared well. The trail has been developed as a nature trail, and numbered posts refer to some highlights listed in a brochure available in a box at the trailhead. The 0.7-mile loop is no great challenge to the dedicated hiker, but with the help of the trail brochure, it offers an unusual range of discoveries. There is actually much more to see than the described features at the numbered posts, and close observation rewards you with some surprises. For instance, upon reaching the wooden platform called “The Bridge”, you might notice in the lower right corner a textbook example of a geological nonconformity. This is a phenomenon of two different rock types (in this case, shale and greenstone) being joined together along a seam. This kind of sudden change implies that the two rock types, formed separately perhaps millions of years apart, were squeezed and rubbed together by displacement forces, such as the upward thrust of the mountain’s piercement structure. On the trail’s southern rocky section, look for evidence of “slickensides”, highly polished surfaces formed by friction between rock masses moving relative to one another. During the spring months, be on the lookout for some unusual wildflowers. Just beyond The Bridge, at the point where the trail turns sharply toward the east, you pass a cherty scree slope on your right. Close inspection of the loose rocks will reveal the presence of small plants struggling to come to the surface, in the shape of small green spiders about the size of a tarantula. These are examples of Bitterroot, and if you are lucky, you will be there to welcome the spectacular white blooms. Other flowers worthy of attention: Brewer’s Rock Cress, seemingly growing out of the rock, in greenstone crevices in the cliff behind The Bridge. Astounding fields of pink Claytonia smothering an expanse of broken chert just before you reach the short side trail to Devil’s Pulpit. The side trail is often graced in June with Mariposa Lilies, and miniature Penstemon fight to survive at the base of the Devil’s Pulpit monolith, a favorite climbing rock. Ah, there are so many wonderful things to see on this trail, which, along with MDIA, has now been with us some fifty years. After parking your car at the lower summit parking lot, walk up a few steps to the trailhead, at the bottom of the steep one-way road leading to the summit. A clockwise circuit is recommended; you will finish your hike just across the road from the trailhead. Enjoy and celebrate! Mary Bowerman Interpretive Trail Guide Check out more Spring Wildflower Hikes: Globe Lily Trail Springtime in North Peak Black Point Trail Mary Bowerman Trail Map by Kevin Hintsa Mary Bowerman Trail Fire Recovery BACK TO LIST

Woodland Acorn Woodpecker Melanerpes formicivorus Allen's Hummingbird Selasphorus sasin American Crow Corvus brachyrhynchos American Goldfinch Spinus tristis American Robin Turdus migratorius Anna's Hummingbird Calypte anna Ash-throated Flycatcher Myiarchus cinerascens Band-tailed Pigeon Patagioenas fasciata Barn Owl Tyto alba Barn Swallow Hirundo rustica Bell's Sparrow Artemisiospiza belli Bewick's Wren Thryomanes bewickii Black Phoebe Sayornis nigricans Black-headed Grosbeak Pheucticus melanocephalus Black-throated Gray Warbler Setophaga nigrescens Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher Polioptila caerulea Brown Creeper Certhia americana Brown-headed Cowbird Molothrus ater Bullok's Oriole Icterus bullockii Bushtit Psaltriparus minimus California Quail Callipepla californica California Scrub Jay Aphelocoma californica California Thrasher Toxostoma redivivum California Towhee Melozone crissalis Cedar Waxwing Bombycilla cedrorum Chestnut-backed Chickadee Poecile rufescens Common Poorwill Phalaenoptilus nuttallii Common Raven Corvus corax Cooper's Hawk Accipiter copperii Dark-eyed Junco Junco hyemalis Downy Woodpecker Dryobates pubescens Eurasian Collared-Dove Streptopelia decaocto European Starling Sturnus vulgaris Golden Eagle Aquila chrysaetos Great Horned Owl Bubo virginianus Hairy Woodpecker Dryobates villosus Hammond's Flycatcher Empidonax hammondii Hermit Thrush Catharus guttatus Hermit Warbler Setophaga occidentalis House Finch Haemorhous mexicanus House Sparrow Passer domesticus House Wren Troglodytes aedon Hutton's Vireo Vireo huttoni Lark Sparrow Chondestes grammacus Lazuli Bunting Passerina amoena Lesser Goldfinch Spinus psaltria Mourning Dove Zenaida macroura Nashville Warbler Oreothlypis ruficapilla Northern Flicker Colaptes auratus Northern Saw-whet Owl Aegolius acadicus Nuttall's Woodpecker Dryobates nuttallii Oak Titmouse Baeolophus inornatus Olive-sided Flycatcher Contopus cooperi Orange-crowned Warbler Leiothlypis celata Pacific-slope Flycatcher Empidonax difficilis Peregrine Falcon Falco peregrinus Pine Siskin Spinus pinus Purple Finch Haemorhous purpureus Red-breasted Nuthatch Sitta canadensis Red-breasted Sapsucker Sphyrapicus ruber Red-shouldered Hawk Buteo lineatus Red-tailed Hawk Buteo jamaicensis Rock Pigeon Columba livia Ruby-crowned Kinglet Corthylio calendula Rufous Hummingbird Selasphorus rufus Rufous-crowned Sparrow Aimophila ruficeps Say's Phoebe Sayornis saya Sharp-shinned Hawk Accipiter striatus Spotted Towhee Pipilo maculatus Steller's Jay Cyanocitta stelleri Swainson's Thrush Catharus minimus Townsend's Warbler Setophaga townsendi Tree Swallow Tachycineta bicolor Turkey Vulture Carthartes aura Varied Thrush Ixoreus naevius Violet-green Swallow Tachycineta thalassina Warbling Vireo Vireo gilvus Western Bluebird Sialia mexicana Western Kingbird Tyrannus verticalis Western Screech-Owl Megascops kennicottii Western Tanager Piranga ludoviciana Western Wood-Pewee Contopus sordidulus White-breasted Nuthatch Sitta carolinensis White-throated Swift Aeronautes saxatalis Wild Turkey Meleagris gallopavo Wilson's Warbler Cardellina pusilla Wrentit Chamaea fasciata Yellow Warbler Setophaga petechia Yellow-rumped Warbler Setophaga coronata