Wildflower Mount Diablo Popcorn Flower, White Forget-me-nots, Foothill Snowdrops Scientific Name: Plagiobothrys nothofulvus Family: Boraginaceae (Borage Family) Blooms: Mar - Apr Color: White Annual herb Native Jump to Blooming Now Blue / Purple Red / Pink White Yellow / Orange Invasive Plants Mike Woodring

Prong-faced Slender-Mason Bee Protosmia rubifloris Megachilidae Protosmia Describe your image Describe your image Describe your image Describe your image Describe your image Describe your image Description Protosmia rubifloris is a small-medium, black bee (~7.5 mm), with white hair bands at the apex of each tergal segment of the abdomen. Females have long, slender mandibles projecting forward and a spatula-like process projecting out from the clypeus (lower face). These facial features are lacking in males, which appear similar to Heriades , with six abdominal tergal segments visible, but Protosmia lack abdomen that curls under. Nectar/ Pollen Plants A flower generalist; may use a specific pollen/nectar flower species for each nest provisioning. Habits Nest in pieces of wood, including pine cones, using resin to cap each cell. Season April - August

Wildflower Mount Diablo Blue Dicks, white form Scientific Name: Dichelostemma capitatum ssp. capitatum Family: Asparagaceae (Asparagus Family) Blooms: Feb - May Color: White Perennial herb Native Blue form is more common. Jump to Blooming Now Blue / Purple Red / Pink White Yellow / Orange Invasive Plants Mike Woodring

Wildflower Mount Diablo Blue Witch, Nightshade Scientific Name: Solanum umbelliferum Family: Solanaceae (Nightshade Family) Blooms: Mar - Jun Color: Blue-Purple Shrub Native Jump to Blooming Now Blue / Purple Red / Pink White Yellow / Orange Invasive Plants Kevin Hintsa

Wildflower Mount Diablo Yellow Unicorn Plant Scientific Name: Ibicella lutea Family: Martyniaceae Blooms: Jul-Aug Color: Yellow-Orange Annual herb Introduced Jump to Blooming Now Blue / Purple Red / Pink White Yellow / Orange Invasive Plants Daniel Fitzgerald Daniel Fitzgerald

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

Halcones peregrinos de Pine Canyon y el equipo MDIA Peregrine por Anastasia Hobbet June 1, 2024 por Dave Furseth Read this article in English El animal más rápido del mundo es vecino tuyo. Es el halcón peregrino, que alcanza más de 200 millas por hora durante sus precipitadas inmersiones mientras caza. ¿DIRECCIÓN? Mount Diablo State Park y sus alrededores, donde al menos dos parejas ahora se están preparando para anidar en los espectaculares pináculos de Pine Canyon y las remotas Black Hills sobre Black Hawk, donde pasarán la primavera y el verano empollando los huevos y criando a los jóvenes hasta los niños se vuelven independientes. Suena optimista, pero en este punto se necesita un gran "si": si las aves pueden tener suficiente privacidad y aislamiento. Necesitan mucho espacio tranquilo, y con más de 100.000 visitantes por año visitando Pine Canyon, ¿es posible la privacidad? ¿Para cualquier criatura? La responsabilidad de garantizar cierto aislamiento para las aves de Pine Canyon recae en dos parques: Castle Rock, que es un parque regional de East Bay; y el Parque Estatal Mount Diablo. El acceso principal a la parte baja de Pine Canyon es a través del primero, pero los acantilados de arenisca de Pine Canyon se encuentran justo sobre el límite dentro del Parque Estatal, formando una sección de su borde más occidental. Dos zonas anuales de cierre de anidación que se extienden desde el 1 de febrero hasta el 31 de julio ayudan a estos veloces cazadores aéreos a sentir cierta confianza en su seguridad. El personal de los dos parques adyacentes coopera para hacer cumplir el cierre, pero es difícil para un supervisor del parque que trabaja con un personal reducido despachar a alguien rápidamente, lo cual es clave. El uso generalizado del DDT a partir de finales de la década de 1950 casi acabó con los peregrinos en Estados Unidos y en todo el mundo occidental. Interfirió con la deposición de calcio, adelgazando tanto las cáscaras de los huevos de la madre que se agrietaron cuando intentó sentarse sobre ellas. Los embriones murieron, provocando el colapso de la población. El DDT finalmente se prohibió en los EE. UU. en 1972, y algunos años más tarde, Save Mount Diablo inspiró un esfuerzo masivo y exitoso para devolver las aves a Castle Rock. Mantener a las aves a salvo durante los seis meses de reproducción ha resultado complicado. La era Covid llevó a la gente con fiebre de cabaña a los parques (a todos los parques en todas partes) e incluso los lugares más apartados en Mount Diablo y sus alrededores, en senderos legales y senderos pirateados, quedaron llenos de huellas de botas, neumáticos de bicicletas y cascos de caballos. Los voluntarios de MDIA formaron el Equipo Peregrine en 2015 para apoyar la aplicación de la ley en las zonas de cierre por parte de los guardabosques y el personal de los dos parques. Esta (2024) es la décima temporada del equipo. Además de informar a los excursionistas sobre el cierre, los detectan en el área de cierre y, si es posible, interactúan gentilmente con ellos cuando regresan al sendero legal, o mejor aún: antes de que lo abandonen, sobre la ética y los beneficios. de respetar las zonas de veda. Tú también puedes ayudar. Planee caminar por Stage Road en Pine Canyon y los senderos desde Curry Point. Verás señales de cierre. Visite a otros excursionistas a medida que avanza. Si ve personas que podrían dirigirse a las zonas de cierre, dígales cuidadosamente las señales. Si deciden invadir la propiedad, no intervenga. Recordarán tus palabras. El crowdsourcing funciona... eventualmente. Volver a la página del Equipo Peregrine por Scott Hein Peregrino en vuelo Lleva al equipo a la acción Los miembros del equipo Peregrine lideran caminatas grupales durante la temporada de anidación en Pine Canyon BACK TO LIST

Wildflower Mount Diablo Chicory Scientific Name: Cichorium intybus Family: Asteraceae (Sunflower Family) Blooms: Jul-Aug Color: Blue-Purple Perennial herb Introduced Jump to Blooming Now Blue / Purple Red / Pink White Yellow / Orange Invasive Plants Daniel Fitzgerald

Wildflower Mount Diablo Nevada Stickleaf Scientific Name: Mentzelia dispersa Family: Loasaceae (Loasa Family) Blooms: May-Aug Color: Yellow-Orange Annual herb Native Jump to Blooming Now Blue / Purple Red / Pink White Yellow / Orange Invasive Plants Daniel Fitzgerald

Common Raven Jays and Crows Common Raven Corvus corax All Year Jays and Crows Daniel Fitzgerald Frequents a wide variety of habitats, including mountain environments; partial to cliff faces, where it prefers to nest. Often seen flying overhead. Black overall; note comparatively larger size and thick, massive bill. Utters a variety of low, guttural, croaks. In flight, wedge-shaped tail and tendency to soar distinguish it from American Crow . Large twig nest is built on rock ledge of cliff face or in trees; sometimes on man-made structures such as utility poles. Diversified omnivorous diet is supplemented by scavenging.

House Wren Wrens, Kinglets, and Gnatcatchers House Wren Troglodytes aedon All Year Wrens, Kinglets, and Gnatcatchers Daniel Fitzgerald The House Wren is found in tickets and shrubby areas of open landscapes, woodlands, and forests. Note faint eye ring. Indistinct barring on flanks and belly and buffy eyebrow separate it from other wrens. Gives a variety of harsh scolding notes; song is rich, rapid, and bubbly. Nests in three cavities or even in bluebird boxes. Feeds on insects and spiders.

Wildflower Mount Diablo Hillside Broomrape Scientific Name: Aphyllon vallicola Family: Orobanchaceae Blooms: Jul-Sep Color: Red-Pink Annual or perennial herb Native Jump to Blooming Now Blue / Purple Red / Pink White Yellow / Orange Invasive Plants