High Desert summers get hot, dry and eventually smokey. We try to take advantage of the days before the sun has beaten the green down to just the river’s edge. This year that seems to be extending into June.
This week’s excursion was full of blossoms and bird song as we were back on the Crooked River. Water levels are down to summer flows, fishing is getting better and the riparian was full of wild flowers and wild life.
There are always field guides for Bird, Wildflower and High Desert Plant identification in the car. We’ve found it’s better to have a printed copy than rely on an internet connection when you’re trying to figure out what that brownish bird is.
JQ discovered an excellent resource when you’re trying to find where the flowers might be blooming. NorthWest Wildflowers (duh!) . . . no, it’s actually a web site that has color coded dots on a map showing when and where flowers are in bloom. From this ‘bloom map’ you’ll see points in Washington, Oregon, Southern BC and Northern California where wildflowers are.
Click on a location and you’ll be presented with a set of directions, an Oregon hikers guide, and a link for plant identification tools starting with the most likely flowers at that spot. All from this one web page . . . very cool.
We don’t plan to leave the field guides at home, but when you’re looking for a spot to explore this is a great site. It takes the guess work out of planning where and when the blooms are. There are still a lot of “early bloom” locations to check out, so we’ve been updating the calendar.
Thanks for the wildflower website! Do you have the Merlin bird ID on your phone? It “listens” to bird song and gives you and identity… way cool. It’s by Cornell labs.
We have used the Cornell e-bird site … actually log some of our Summer Lake sightings on there. But I used photo id tool not the song bird one and just this week we were trying to id a bird that we could only hear. Didn’t think about that option, but will now.