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Pacific-slope Flycatcher Flycatchers Pacific-slope Flycatcher Empidonax difficilis Summer Flycatchers Daniel Fitzgerald Breeds in coniferous and pine oak forests; also frequents woodlands with dense second-growth habitat; usually near water. Entire lower mandible bright orange; also note bold white eye ring with tear-drop shape at rear of eye. Call note, ‘Sue-weet!’ Is frequently given on breeding grounds and easily recognized. Nest in a variety of situations, where it builds a cup-shaped structure from mosses, small roots, grasses, and other vegetation. Diet includes insects and spiders.

Wildflower Mount Diablo Rough Cockleburr Scientific Name: Xanthium strumarium Family: Asteraceae (Sunflower Family) Blooms: August Color: Yellow-Orange Annual herb Native Jump to Blooming Now Blue / Purple Red / Pink White Yellow / Orange Invasive Plants Steven Beatty Steven Beatty Leaf detail

Wildflower Mount Diablo Goosegrass Bedstraw Scientific Name: Galium aparine Family: Rubiaceae (Madder Family) Blooms: Mar - Jun Color: White Annual herb Native Jump to Blooming Now Blue / Purple Red / Pink White Yellow / Orange Invasive Plants Kevin Hintsa

Wildflower Mount Diablo Yellow Mariposa Lily Scientific Name: Calochortus luteus Family: Liliaceae (Lily Family) Blooms: Mar - May Color: Yellow-Orange Perennial herb Native, endemic to California Jump to Blooming Now Blue / Purple Red / Pink White Yellow / Orange Invasive Plants Mike Woodring

Winter American Pipit Anthus rubescens Cedar Waxwing Bombycilla cedrorum Fox Sparrow Passerella iliaca Golden-crowned Sparrow Zonotrichia atricapilla Hermit Thrush Catharus guttatus Pine Siskin Spinus pinus Red-breasted Nuthatch Sitta canadensis Red-breasted Sapsucker Sphyrapicus ruber Ruby-crowned Kinglet Corthylio calendula Savannah Sparrow Passerculus sandwichensis Say's Phoebe Sayornis saya Sharp-shinned Hawk Accipiter striatus Townsend's Warbler Setophaga townsendi Varied Thrush Ixoreus naevius White-crowned Sparrow Zonotrichia leucophrys Yellow-rumped Warbler Setophaga coronata

Black Point Trail by J. Frank Valle-Riestra Reproduced from Mountain News, Summer 2012 2012-06-01 Leslie Contreras Ticks are found almost everywhere on Bay Area trails. With reasonable precautions, they do not pose an appreciable hazard to hikers, just a bit of a nuisance. We mention ticks here because a portion of the loop to be described passes through some fine stands of native bunch grasses, and bunch grasses are a favorite host plant to ticks. So, let us face it, at some periods during the year (which are unpredictable), you will pick up ticks on your clothing. Wear light colors to make the ticks easier to spot or to pick off or rather scrape off; it is amazing how the little critters can flatten out and hang on for dear life to resist casual efforts to brush them off. The portion of the loop in question is the Black Point Trail, not long ago cleaned up and cleared by the park’s maintenance personnel and volunteers, and now in excellent shape. The work did clear away bothersome poison oak, but could not clear away the seasonal black flies around the Black Point summit or eliminate a few very steep stretches with somewhat slippery footing on the south-facing slopes. You may well wonder - ticks? Black flies? Slippery slopes? This is a favorite trail? Rest assured that there are compensating features - the Black Point Trail is one of the park’s top attractions, best appreciated during the spring months. Your exploration starts at the Mitchell Canyon Road trailhead, at the end of the paved Mitchell Canyon Road on the outskirts of the little town of Clayton. A modest parking fee is charged. On weekends and holidays, drop in at the Visitor Center to get the latest information on trail conditions. And before starting your trek, be sure to visit the native plant garden behind the Center, an amazing display created almost singlehandedly by Dave Caniglia, a park volunteer. Now follow the road along Mitchell Canyon for just 1/2 mile, to the first posted trail on your right. This is the beginning of the Black Point Trail, and the first part is a gently ascending road with a packed sandy soil base. In the middle of spring, the road base is transformed into delightful carpets of bright, ground-hugging wildflowers - in particular, Bird’s Eye Gilia (Gilia tricolor ), Baby Blue Eyes (Nemophila menziesii ), Goldfields (Lasthenia californica ), and many others. More flower species, some blooming right into the warm summer months, favor the narrow zone between the road and the surrounding chaparral, in particular, Blue Witch (Solanum umbelliferum ), Indian Paint Brush (Castilleja spp. ), and Deer Weed (Lotus scoparius). If you enjoy flower identification, this is the trail for you, although other attractions will vie for your attention - such as the ever-changing views of Mitchell Rock across Mitchell Canyon. Soon you reach the end of the road, and a single-track trail beckons you to plunge into the cool, mixed-green woodland of Black Point’s north-facing slopes. The forest here is typical of Mount Diablo - a mix of Bay Laurel (Umbellularia californica ), Madrone (Arbutus menziesii ), Gray Pine (Pinus sabiniana ), and oak species. The flowers are not as noticeable, but the eye is gladdened by a profusion of bunch grasses which at one time covered the mountain, to be displaced by introduced Mediterranean grasses. The well-engineered trail is a pleasure to follow, zig-zagging its way moderately to ascend the flanks of Black Point. All too soon, and quite suddenly, the trail leaves the forest and starts its way through “hard” chaparral. This portion of the trail, right up to the summit at 1,790 feet, can be quite warm in summer, but is quite tolerable during the rest of the year. The dominant chaparral shrub is Chamise (Adenostoma fasciculatum ) in springtime it displays myriad showy cream-colored flowers, and in the fall its rust-colored fruits turn whole hillsides a rich, vibrant brown, worthy of a Flemish painting, and a joy to behold. Quite a few other species proliferate among the Chamise: the aromatic California Sagebrush (Artemisia californica ), Black Sage (Salvia mellifera ) with its attractive spikes of springtime flowers, Big-berry Manzanita (Arctostaphylos glauca ) blooming late in winter. But two species, blooming spectacularly in good years, will monopolize your attention. One is Pitcher Sage (Lepechinia calycina ), an unexpectedly lush-looking small plant along all those tough drought survivors. It has felt-like leaves and beautiful pale purple flowers enclosed in an urn of sepals - the “pitchers.” The other spectacular bloomer is the Bush Monkey Flower (Mimulus aurantiacus ) unlike the rarer Pitcher Sage, it proliferates. It prefers the narrow zone between the chaparral and trail’s edge, and on occasion one walks along corridors with walls of bloom, in colors of peach, salmon and rose wine. These blooms often last into the warm months of summer. The trail reaches its highest point in a saddle below the summit of Black Point. A short spur trail of about 100 yards leads to the summit proper, which is pretty overgrown; better views are obtained by continuing on the Black Point Trail as it rounds the western flank of the mountain. Far below you, you will spot gently rolling, grassy foothills, the grazing spread of John Ginocchio’s cattle ranch, and an effective and welcome barrier to the flood of development reaching toward the park’s wilderness. Here the plant world benefits from a little more moisture even in summer, moisture brought in by morning mists. The chaparral is “softer,” with shrubs, such as Squawbush (Rhus trilobata ), that are characterized by more pliable, “softer” leaves. As you head south, the chaparral again becomes “harder,” and Black Point Trail descends, sharply at times, into the depths of White Canyon. The trail ends at its junction with Red Road, and here you turn left to meet Mitchell Canyon Road, after a gentle descent of about one mile. A metal bench at this junction offers a welcome rest in a shady nook. Rather than returning to the trailhead entirely along Mitchell Canyon Road, we suggest that you backtrack a few yards along Red Road to the beginning of the Globe Lily Trail. This is another of the park’s “secret” trails with any number of visual surprises. It is a showplace of wildflowers, and in the middle of spring you are likely to spot beauties such as the Mount Diablo Globe Tulip (Calochortus pulchellus ) and the Checker Lily (Fritillaria lanceolata ). The trail’s end closes your loop trip at the Black Point Trail where you started, and you retrace your steps back to the Mitchell Canyon Road trailhead. The total distance traversed is about 4-3/4 miles, and you climb some 1,200 feet. A gentle pace with rest stops will require 3-1/2 to 4 hours. Check out more Spring Wildflower Hikes: Springtime in North Peak Globe Lily Trail Mary Bowerman Hike Black Point Trail Map Black Point Trail Elevation BACK TO LIST

Wildflower Mount Diablo California Pitcher Sage Scientific Name: Lepechinia calycina Family: Lamiaceae (Mint Family) Blooms: Apr - Jun Color: White Shrub Native, endemic to California Jump to Blooming Now Blue / Purple Red / Pink White Yellow / Orange Invasive Plants Mike Woodring

Sachem Atalopedes campestris Hesperiidae Skippers Flies March to November Host Plant Grass Nectar Plant Bull thistle Kevin Hinsta Female Hank Fabian Underwing

Oak Woodlands Excerpted from MDIA's book Plants of the East Bay Parks, by Glenn Keator, Ph. D. Plant Communities of Mount Diablo State Park 1999-01-01 Coast Live Oak | Glenn Keator Probably no more characteristic treelands occur in our part of California than oak woodlands, for they typify large areas of low foothills in both the Coast Ranges and Sierra Nevada. From a distance oak and foothill woodlands look similar; relative dense groupings of trees. Where these same trees are widely spaced apart, they're referred to as savannah. In both, oaks grow as broad, round umbrellas; only on closer inspection is it obvious that they are of several different species. In what is often called foothill woodland, where the terrain is steeper or higher in elevation gray pines and California buckeyes often join ranks with the oaks. In contrast to chaparral, oak and foothill woodlands most often occupy gently sloping terrain. When the occur on steep slopes, they do so on north- or east-facing hillsides, where the hot summer sun does not linger all day. Chaparral prefers sun-drenched south- and west-facing slopes. Oaks have developed two equally effective water-conserving strategies for the hot, dry summers they must endure: live oaks bear long-lived, leather, evergreen leaves that resist wilting and are covered with a waxy layer to prevent drying out; deciduous oaks -- called robles -- produce thin deciduous leaves that are shed when water supplies dwindle but are renewed during the peak of the wet-winder spring rains. Both kinds grow side by side, blue oaks with interior live oaks, valley oaks with coast live oaks, and canyon live oaks with California black oaks. Some, such as valley and coast live oaks, prefer canyon bottoms with a higher summer water table; others, such as blue and interior live oaks, live perched high on hilltops or along sides of rolling slopes. Because of their sometimes prolific production of acorns -- with their attendant rich stores food -- oaks are the intermediaries of their ecosystems, creating abundant food for insect larvae, rodents and, not so long ago, Native Americans. Various midges and minute wasps also find oaks to their liking, as nurseries for their young; they lay eggs in various tissues of the oak and these grow into the multifarious galls we see commonly on oak trees. And even the parasitic mistletoes favor oak trees as places to grow and prosper; they bring with them birds that depend on their berries for food. Woven into this web of life are the several shrubs and numerous grasses, wildflowers, and bulbs that benefit from the shaded protection of oak branches or the increased soil stability and water-holding properties of oak roots. In the more open oak woodlands, the wildflower displays can vie with those of our best grasslands. Buckeyes and gray pines help fill out the personalities of these woodlands; while the rounded canopies of buckeyes mimic those of oak trees (but in miniature), the uneven and often double barreled spires of gray pine punctuate and contrast with these umbrella shapes. Gray pine is the picture of a conifer well-adapted to dry, drought summers; its sparse, gray needles reflect away summer sun and its stout trunks hold water reserves needed to complete the production of the oversized seed cones. Among the heaviest of all seed cones in the world, gray pine's also are armed with stout spine-tipped scales, but the offer up nutritious food. The large pine "nuts" are similar to those of the desert- and drought-adapted pinyon pines, and they are important to local animal life as yet another source of food. So too, doubtless, are the poison-laced chestnut-shaped seeds of the buckeye, for the poisons are not harmful to some animals. These seeds are also adapted for rolling, being perfectly round, and allow buckeyes to disperse their seeds downhill to the protection of shaded canyon bottoms. The rich food reserve in the dormant trees -- oaks, buckeyes, and gray pines -- not only encourage animal dispersal of the seeds but give the seeds a head start when they germinate. Should they land in the shade of competing trees, the extra stored food allows the resulting saplings the chance to grow vigorously toward light. While seed dispersal in oak and foothill woodlands therefore differs markedly from that in trees of riparian woodlands, pollination is another matter. All oaks and pines rely on wind to carry their pollen, just as with most riparian trees. Pollination occurs during late winter and early spring, just when winds are likely to be most reliable. The buckeye, however, uses another strategy. Its colorful candles of white flowers attract large numbers of pollinators, though the poisons in the nectar favor butterflies (which are immune to the poisons) over bees and other insects). BACK TO LIST

Wildflower Mount Diablo Rose Clover Invasive Scientific Name: Trifolium hirtum Family: Fabaceae (Legume Family) Blooms: Feb - Mar Color: Red-Pink Annual herb Introduced Naturalized from Eurasia and north Africa, per Errter & Bowerman Jump to Blooming Now Blue / Purple Red / Pink White Yellow / Orange Invasive Plants Mike Woodring Flower detail Mike Woodring Leaf detail

Wildflower Mount Diablo Golden Yarrow Scientific Name: Eriophyllum confertiflorum var. confertiflorum Family: Asteraceae (Sunflower Family) Blooms: May - Jun Color: Yellow-Orange Shrub Native Jump to Blooming Now Blue / Purple Red / Pink White Yellow / Orange Invasive Plants Kevin Hintsa

Anna's Hummingbird Hummingbirds Anna's Hummingbird Calypte anna All Year Hummingbirds Daniel Fitzgerald Daniel Fitzgerald Found in a wide diversity of habitats, ranging from open woodlands to brushy chaparral habitats. Upperparts greenish in color, dusky white below with greenish wash. Note red throat and crown in male. Learn the squeaky, insect-like song; at first, it is easy overlooked, but once learned it becomes a valuable aid in identification. Nests in trees or shrubs. Nest is a cup-shaped structure built from plant down and spider's silk. Feeds on flower nectar, small insects and spiders.