Paul, Andrew, and I hiked about 9 miles on the Roza Creek (primitive) road. We saw 50 species of plants that are flowering and 22 species of birds including a great-horned owl (photo 2, just a phone-photo). Thanks for the list Paul! There are some pockets of thick flowers, especially on the hills in the distance, and some flowers that I haven't seen on other trips to this area. The highlights for me were the cottonwoods, cattails, and aspens along the creek in contrast with the steppe-shrub walls of the valley, the great variety of birds, and the wilderness experience (the only people we saw were 2 folks on ATVs near the trailhead). We saw a prickly pear cactus along the creek, the first time I have seen one in WA, it is not in bloom._I've attached a caltopo map of our route. We went a little ways up the Roza Creek road in our sedan. If you're in a sedan, I would recommend walking that 1/4 of a mile and parking in what google maps calls 'Horse Trailer Parking', a link to that is in the second attachment.
WILDFLOWERS IN BLOOM (50 species)
white (11)
common yarrow (Achillea millefolium)
whitetop / hoary cress / hoary pepperwort (Lepidium draba)
panicled death-camas (Toxicoscordion / Zigadenus paniculatum)
big-seed desert-parsley / biscuit-root (Lomatium macrocarpum)
long-horn / white plectritis (Plectritis macrocera)
jagged chickweed (Holosteum umbellatum)
western serviceberry (Amelanchier alnifolia)
annual Jacob’s-ladder (Polemonium micranthum)
silver-leaf phacelia (Phacelia hastata)
wax currant (Ribes cereum)
Yakima milkvetch (Astragalus reventiformis)
yellow (21)
tansymustard, species uncertain (Descurainia sp.) — possibly more than one species
Carey’s balsamroot (Balsamorhiza careyana)
Hooker’s balsamroot (Balsamorhiza hookeri)
hybrid balsamroot, Carey’s x Hooker’s (Balsamorhiza careyana x hookeri)
desert yellow daisy (Erigeron linearis)
fiddleneck, species uncertain (Amsinckia sp.)
Cusick’s sunflower (Helianthus cusickii)
Douglas’s buckwheat (Eriogonum douglasii)
thyme-leaf buckwheat (Eriogonum thymoides)
clasping pepperweed (Lepidium perfoliatum)
Columbian puccoon (Lithospermum ruderale)
false agoseris / prairie dandelion (Nothocalais troximoides)
nodding microseris (Microseris nutans)
desert-parsley / biscuitroot, probably nineleaf (Lomatium, probably triternatum)
barestem desert-parsley / biscuit-root (Lomatium nudicaule)
bitterbrush / antelope brush (Purshia tridentata)
wallflower, sand-dune or western / pale (Erysimum capitatum or occidentale)
celery-leaved buttercup (Ranunculus sceleratus)
hornseed buttercup (Ceratocephala testiculata)
holly-leaf / tall Oregon grape (Berberis / Mahonia aquifolium)
golden currant (Ribes aureum)
reddish: pink to red to red-purple (6)
long-leaf phlox (Phlox longifolia)
tufted phlox (Phlox caespitosa)
Gairdner’s penstemon (Penstemon gairdneri)
red-stem stork’s-bill (Erodium cicutarium)
big-head clover (Trifolium macrocephalum)
prairie-star, bulbiferous or small-flowered (Lithophragma glabrum or parviflorum)
bluish: blue to violet to blue-purple (10)
blue mustard (Chorispora tenella)
lupine, maybe Bingen (Lupinus, maybe sulphureus var. bingenensis)
lupine, maybe silky (Lupinus, maybe sericeus)
cushion daisy (Erigeron poliospermus)
woolly-pod milk-vetch (Astragalus purshii)
larkspur, probably upland / common (Delphinium, probably nuttallianum)
sagebrush violet (Viola trinervata)
rockcress, probably sicklepod / Columbia / small-flowered
(Boechera, probably pauciflora)
large-flowered triteleia (Triteleia grandiflora)
ball-head waterleaf (Hydrophyllum capitatum)
green (1)
Thompson’s paintbrush (Castilleja thompsonii)
brown (1)
chocolate-tips / fern-leaf desert-parsley (Lomatium dissectum)
BIRDS (22 species)
Great-horned Owl
Loggerhead Shrike — harassing the perched GHOW
Northern Harrier
Bald Eagle
Red-tailed Hawk
Turkey Vulture
Common Raven
Western Meadowlark
Northern Flicker
Red-winged Blackbird
California Quail — many
Mourning Dove
Band-tailed Pigeon
Rock Wren
Black-billed Magpie
Horned Lark
Vesper Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
Spotted Towhee
Western Kingbird
American Goldfinch
European Starling
BUTTERFLIES (7 species)
Ochre Ringlet (Coenonympha tullia ampelos)
Becker’s White (Pontia beckerii)
Cabbage White (Pieris rapae)
Painted Lady (Vanessa cardui)
Silvery Blue (Glaucopsyche lygdamus)
Anna’s Blue (Plebejus anna)
Boisduval’s Blue (Icaricia icarioides)
OTHER SIGHTINGS
prickly pear cactus (Opuntia fragilis or columbiana), not in flower,
near the far point of our hike
two nests made in previous years by Bullock’s Orioles (a species we didn’t see)
in the top of one of a group of three tall dead hardwood trees (one a locust)
where an intermittent creek comes down from the north into Roza Creek
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