There was another car already parked at the trailhead, but we did not see them on the trail; fora change, we had it all to ourselves. We started by switchbacking up the side of Little Yeager Canyon onto a rocky hillside covered with oak and juniper agave and beargrass.
Not really a grass nor the lily-like plant they call beargrass in the Rockies, but a kind of narrow-leaved yucca.
In an hour we reached the rim of Mingus Mountain and moved into ponderosa forest. Here we saw lots of birds, a bluebird nesting in a dead juniper, mountain chickadees and bridled titmice, painted redstarts, and a bird we've been looking for since we visited our first conifer forest in Arizona, the bird of the day - the pygmy nuthatch. Of course, once we saw one, they were everywhere, and we've been seeing them ever since.
At the higher elevations there were lots of very large, very old junipers.
We walked through pine forest till we reached Yaeger Canyon and this was the best part of the hike. We had great views as we descended steeply through changing rock layers with great views of the Prescott grasslands below. We were serenaded by Western scrub Jays and then we heard the descending call of the canyon wren.
Eventually we reached the canyon bottom and walked through cottonwoods full of warblers, including a pair of black-throated grays.
Not much blooming yet up there, but I did find two very tiny wildflowers. blooming.
Have a look at Comandra umbellata? I thought your photo looks like it might just be resprouting after being cut back like the oak ( or whatever) next to it. But you would probably know that one from the Junction grasslands.
ReplyDeleteThat is likely just projection on my part because I've spent the past month studying bastard toadflax.