UT, Colorado Plateau, 20060424
Robber's Roost, birds and lichens etc.

Walk down tributary to French Spring Fork of Happy Canyon to the main fork. Surprisingly only a few minor obstacles, all of which can be bypassed on either side, or in one case can be down-climbed via an exciting and ungraceful but ultimately easy mantle. PJ scrub above; descending from 1950m to 1600m (a little over 1000 feet); cottonwood-willow salt-tolerant riparian below. Excellent rock and soil lichens, esp upper half.

lichens

Tons of these which I haven't studied yet.

Buteo jamaicensis

APP large hawk, brownish featured bel, striking solid red tail and more solid dark wings and body above
VOICE screaming-cry
BEHAVE soaring

Catherpes mexicanus

By voice alone; deep in canyon.

Sialia mexicana

APP medium sized, bluish overall, lter bel, rufous patch on breast, black eye and beak
VOICE silent
BEHAVE alone, feeding on ground and low in junipers

Zenaida macroura

By voice alone; on rim in evening.

Gymnorhinus cyanocephalus

APP medium size jay-like, grayish blue overall, lter and greyer bel, dark eye and beak, dark wing tips
VOICE soft nasal rising-falling or falling "caw", also some short naasal "ca-caw-cawr"-like repeated notes and a wavering descending nasal "errrr" sound
BEHAVE loose flocks, sometimes "fighting" hidden inside pinyons making quite a racket, often flying long distances chasing one another (as opposed to in a flock), powerful flight w rapid stiff wingbeats, always in pinyons and junipers, always secretive
These are the birds I see with the Perisoreus canadensis I've been trying to identify.

Draba

GEN ann, tiny, 1 st
ST stell, 0.2dm
LF basal, obov-spat, 5x3+0.5mm, v d long 3-4-br white stiff stell both sides
INFL d term rac, 6 fls, frs spread 0-30deg, d stell, pedicel to 1mm
SEP d stell, 1.5mm, erect, persist
PET ?
STAM ?
STYLE much < 1mm
FR narr ellip, flat parallel to septum, 5-7x1-1.5mm, acute both ends, 12+ seeds, d simple to forked bristly, 2 rows seeds per chamb
SEED ~0.6mm, no wing

Dermatocarpon miniatum

THAL rough brown bel

Dermatocarpon moulinsii

THAL d covered w stubby black rhiz bel

Lappula [voucher]

GEN ann, slender tap root, to 0.5dm
ST v d pil
LF
basal oblance, 4x1.5+0mm
caul alt, reduced, lin, 3x0.5mm
v d long spread white pil both sides
INFL term rac, ~3 fls, pedicel to 3mm in fr, fls erect, fr spread
HYP pyramid, half as high as fr
SEP 5, free, erect, pil, 1.5x.5mm, lin
PET 5, join, salverform, lt blue, tube 1mm
lobes ~0.5x0.5mm, spread 90deg
yell in throat, total < 2mm wide, 5 yellish bumps around entrance to throat
STAM 5, att halfway up tube, incl
OV 1, sup, 4 lobes around base of style
STYLE 1, short, incl
FR 3-4 wedges w 6 2-barbed spines, also hooked scab, spines free
Now that I've actually seen L. redowskii there is no question this is another species, not just a dimuntive variant of it.

Streptanthus? [voucher]

GEN ann?, erect, well-br'd, tall, all glab and glauc
ST solid, round, glab
LF
basal oblance, v shall wavy toothed to entire, 80x15+0mm, round tip
caul lance-lin, abruptly rounded, 60x10+0mm
glab, glauc, flat
INFL term rac, internodes to 20mm in fr, pedicels 2mm, fls erect, frs fully pend, to 150x15mm or longer
SEP green ab, wh bel, 3.5x1mm, oblong, erect, v nearly equal or v sl biradial
PET dusty yell, excl ~1.5mm, ~4.5mm long, marg sl wavy ab, flat to sl troughed, claw as wide as blade
STAM 6, 2 excl, all totally free
STIG simple, style 0.3mm
FR 25x0.7mm, lin, terete, glab, perfectly straight, no or almost no beak or st

Fraxinus anomala [voucher]

FR oblance, 17-18x8-9+1-1.5mm, v flat, seed-part ~12x4mm, rounded tip

Townsendia incana? [voucher]

GEN peren, low matted, v lfy
LF oblance, 15x3+0mm, sl folded up, d long silvery strig
INFL 1, term
PHYL erect, appress, sev rows, invol, 10x7mm, acute, strig, strig, v d clear cil, purp marg on inner ones
RECEPT naked, sl convex
RAY 14, white fading pinkish-purplish, spread, showy, ~7x2mm
DISC yell, many
OV 1.5mm, cyl, white, sticky min clear gland puber
PAP subplumose bristles, falling easily and separately, 1.5mm on rays, 6mm on discs, white, 30 or so, maybe sl flattened?