Our Sky Islands region is renowned for its high levels of biodiversity across a broad range of taxa. While monsoon season undoubtedly serves as the linchpin of many native species, spring also witnesses a flourishing of life – this year punctuated not only by spring wildflowers but also some less likely blooms. As of late March, select locales across the region are ablaze with flowers. Combined with soaking autumn and winter rains, our unnervingly warm winter has many species blooming early and heavily. With this bedazzling palette of colors comes a flush of attendant biodiversity – fauna that in one way or another rely upon various spring wildflowers.
I recorded over 60 species of wildflowers at Raven’s Nest Nature Sanctuary in March. Despite the unseasonable heat wave, many are poised to continue well into April. What has struck me most about this year’s spring wildflower pageant is the strange confluence of species. Leading the way are California poppies carpeting the ground. Their relative in the poppy family, golden smoke, is also having a banner year. Along with purple lupines, pink and violet desert bell species, shockingly white and vanilla-scented desert chicory, and yellow and white spreading fleabane – among many others – the stage is set for a veritable explosion of biodiversity in April.
The truly odd aspect of this spring’s wildflower pageant is the temporal juxtaposition of so many disparate flowering species. Naturally, the spring annuals such as the poppies, popcorn flowers and many others have led the way. Also no surprise are the spring perennials, including blue dicks and mariposa lily, along with biennial New Mexico thistles and shrubby fairy dusters – the last filling the air with its sweet aroma.
Collectively these species are the foundations of our spring blooming season. Joining them this March, however, were a number of wildflowers that are either frost-sensitive – remember our last frosts can be in late April – or ones that normally flower at other times of the year. Highly cold-intolerant Watson’s dutchman’s pipe — a ground-hugging vine in the birthwort family – has spawned many pipevine swallowtails, their caterpillars relying solely on this larval food source. Magenta trailing windmills in the four-o’clock family and spreading fanpetals in the mallow family – both perennials – have had breakout years, though both normally bloom later than March. Tropical Janusia vines likewise blossomed despite their normal monsoon timing. Even partridge peas in the bean family, the same plants still idling from the summer rains, once again flowered. Perhaps most bizarre of all, a few Palmer amaranths sprung forth in March and, despite being dwarfed, set seeds! Every season at once, anyone?
Naturally, this cavalcade of native flowers produced a striking response among our local fauna, as abundant food resources came to the fore. Leading the way were insects, many of them pollinators of the copious flowers. Butterflies filled the air. I recorded upwards of 20 species at our preserve, including checkered white, the highly variable bordered patch, painted lady, golden-headed scallopwing, Queen, and dainty sulphur. All of these butterflies, as well as the many moth species that appeared, mean caterpillars, which translate to food. This did not go unnoticed by either our Sky Islands birds or reptiles. Lucy’s warblers returned to the region, tree-gleaning various small insects and other invertebrates. Ash-throated flycatchers and mostly nocturnal common poorwills feasted as well upon their preferred insect prey. Ornate tree lizards, Clark’s spiny lizards, elegant earless lizards, and Sonoran spotted whiptails reveled in the March heat, seeking invertebrates to refuel after their winter hiatus. Meanwhile, legions of mourning doves and mixed flocks of sparrows dined upon both amaranth and wildflower seeds, such as those from western tansy mustard.
These species in turn lured in the predators. I soon lost track of how many piles of feathers I’d found at Raven’s Nest, compliments of Cooper’s hawks, sharp-shinned hawks, Loggerhead shrikes and American kestrels. There were probably some dusk assaults by three long-eared owls that set up shop in our restored riparian habitat. At the same time, rodent and desert cottontail numbers have once again exploded. Evidence of Peromyscus mice and pocket mice spread across the landscape. Such herbivorous and granivorous species collectively serve as staples for a wide range of predators, including bobcats, coyotes, common grey fox, ringtails, raptors, Gila monsters and various snakes, to name a few.
Other examples of this abundance of life in March included collared peccaries greedily unearthing the edible tubers and roots of a number of plant species. They even vacuumed up annual and succulent red maids to supplement their diet. Small packs of coyotes prowled the preserve, looking to mug any unsuspecting small mammal or sizable bird. The list goes on.
March, then, will certainly prove to be the springboard for biodiversity in April. Not only will waning spring annual and perennial wildflowers literally seed a continued pulse of life, but other plants will take the proverbial baton forward, allowing life to flourish. Flowering velvet mesquites and catclaw acacias, along with ocotillo and various cacti in bloom, will equate to an overlapping yet somewhat distinct array of reliant species of wildlife. In particular, migrant birds will file into various Sky Islands habitats, gorging themselves for their travel and reproductive challenges. This profusion helps all of us to keep our faith that life indeed springs eternal.
Vincent Pinto and his wife, Claudia, run Ravens-Way Wild Journeys, their nature adventure and conservation organization devoted to protecting and promoting the unique biodiversity of the Sky Islands region. RWWJ offers a wide variety of private, custom-made courses, birding and biodiversity tours. Visit ravensnatureschool.org