a web page by Don Roberson |
 There
are many good reasons for a birder to visit the Carrizo Plain in
eastern San Luis Obispo County, but Rita and I have most enjoyed our
visits during the height of spectacular wildflower shows in April 1991
and again in late March 2010 (this page). Since our visit 19 years ago,
this remote and arid wilderness has been designated Carrizo Plain National Monument
[among the environmental highlights of the Clinton administration]. The
plain itself is a dry sea bed — a part of which fills up with seasonal
rains to form Soda Lake, known for hosting Sandhill Cranes in winter —
but drying out during hot summers. On the east side of the Plain are
the Temblor Range (right), and after the 'right' amount and timing of
late winter rain can be painted with abundant wildflowers (right &
below). |
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| Photos: All photos © Don Roberson, all rights reserved. |
I
do focus on the identification of birds, mammals, herps & odes, but
somehow I have no need to put names to flowers. I just like seeing them
in profusion when the color palette is overwhelming in places. 
While
the flower show on the Plain itself was also impressive, we found this
Sunday afternoon to be too busy and the roads too dusty for full
enjoyment. We found instead that the entire length of Elkhorn Road was
readily passable (it can be impassable after rains), and spent some
time in quiet gulleys lined with salt brush (left), the prime habitat
of some of the rarer birds in Carrizo. 
