This is Prairie Smoke or Three-flowered Avens near where we camped on the Blackfoot River in Montana. After pollination (by bumblebees that push their way in), the flowers turn upwards and open up. They then develop seeds with long fuzzy hairs which are the origin of the "prairie smoke" name.
We finally have our picture hanging system set up so I can get back to printing regularly. Viewing photos on the computer just isn't the same as a big print up on the wall.
There are lots of Yellow-bellied marmots at Five Springs. Usually they would disappear as soon as they spotted you, but this one was a little more cooperative. Maybe it felt safe with an escape route right behind it.
Marmots are large ground squirrels. Yellow-bellied are one of the smaller ones. Wikipedia says they live in colonies, but I only saw individuals. They make a whistle sound as an alarm cry, leading to their nickname of "whistle pigs".
My photography tends to be feast or famine. I didn't take many in the winter, even though, unlike Saskatchewan, it's definitely warm enough. (If you dodge the rain.) But since spring I've been taking lots. In the first six months of this year I took almost as many as all of last year. This batch of photos was all taken on one day, first in an early walk before work, and then later in the day on another walk to do some errands.
I didn't even make it out of our townhouse complex before starting. This is a Flowering Dogwood, as opposed to the native Pacific Dogwood which has mostly white flowers. "Flowering" Dogwood seems like a silly name, since the other dogwoods also "flower".
Although it was early (7:30am), it was warm enough for the bumblebees to be starting. They can't fly if their muscles are too cold, but they can vibrate their wings to warm up.
There are lots of Canada Geese around these days. This year's juveniles are looking almost like the adults now. These ones were feeding on the abundance of seaweed (algae). Of course, I like the background reflections.
I was walking along the path when I heard a strange croaking squawk. Maybe a Great Blue Heron? But I couldn't see any by the water where they usually are. Finally I spotted it in the top of the tree above me. It was an awkward angle for photographs.
I'm accumulating quite a few photos of oystercatchers, but I can't resist their bright red beak and eyes. It's hard to see against the dark background but this one had a mussel in its beak. I wonder how it was going to open it?
Early on a sunny morning is a good time for reflections. Here's one of many. (Good detail if you look closely.)
I got stopped outside our townhouse by the Calla Lilies.
Later, walking by the nearby marina, I noticed a good size Red Rock Crab. I'm always amazed how many crabs there are, especially since the otters and birds seem to pull out a never ending supply.
I noticed another crab, but this one was a Northern Kelp Crab.
I see the crabs quite often, but then I saw what looked like a sea cucumber, which I haven't seen before in the harbor. Sure enough, when I looked at it on the computer, it was a Giant Californian Sea Cucumber. It's fun to see this sea life without even leaving the walkway.
After a coffee stop at Cafe Fantastico, I saw this mother mallard and her ducklings in the water feature by the next door condos.
And where there's water, there's reflections.
I liked the color contrast between these purple flowers (some kind of lavender?) and the red leafed bush behind.
And a final quiz - before you look at the caption, can you guess what this is? (less than 1/2" long)
This is another one from Wyoming, a Two-tailed Swallowtail.
Shelley and I were hiking and this butterfly flew by us. I paused to see if it might land so I could photograph it. It finally landed about 50 feet away from us. I couldn't really see it, but I had a pretty good idea where it was, so I got my camera out and started moving closer. Shelley was skeptical whether it would sit still long enough, but amazingly it did. It didn't let me get that close and my longer telephoto lens would have been better but I managed some decent shots, including a lucky shot of it flying away.
It appeared to have picked this particular flower, which was the only one like it in the vicinity.
On our recent road trip in the US, we spent some time at Five Springs, on the edge of the Big Horn mountains in Wyoming. This is one of my favorite spots for paragliding, hiking, and nature photography. One day we went for a hike along a ridge with some high alpine meadows. We were lucky to see a herd of elk with lots of young ones. We were far enough away that they didn't immediately leave, so we got a chance for some photographs.
It was hard to get an accurate count of them since they were moving in and out of view. But there were lots, I would guess 30 to 40 in total. One of them had a radio collar. (right most)
I took lots of photos but they're all quite similar.
Despite sensing our presence, they were still calm enough for this mother to let her little one feed.
I saw a bee on this plant, but it wasn't moving, which is unusual. Looking closer I found a crab spider (Goldenrod crab spider?) had ambushed the bee. It was quite hidden but it was preoccupied enough with its meal to let me pull some leaves back to get a better view.
I went back a little later and the spider had turned the bee around so it could "eat" the other half. (They inject digestive fluids and then suck out the resulting slurry.)
When I checked in the morning at first all I could find was the empty husk of the bee. Eventually I found the spider hiding a few inches away.
I think the plant it's on is Wolf Willow (native), although Pl@ntNet identifies it as Russian Olive, which is related but not native (from Asia). But Russian Olive is a small tree, whereas these were bushes. The flowers smelled nice.
The Western tent caterpillars are numerous right now. People don't like them, but they are actually quite attractive.
My sister Clare would be proud of me for spotting a hummingbird, but it was up in the top of a tree where it was hard to get a good photograph.
This Black Oystercatcher was the opposite, it was on the shore below me so the angle still wasn't ideal. I probably would have overlooked it, but I heard someone say "I wish I knew birds better" so I looked around to see what they were talking about. While I was taking photographs of it, another couple came along and exclaimed about the colorful beak and eye. The man asked if I sold my photographs to National Geographic. I said no, to which he replied, "Oh well, I guess it's still a good hobby." I hope so, since only an extremely small fraction of photographers sell their photographs to Nat Geo.
I'm still getting used to Great Blue Herons being so much more common here than in Saskatchewan.
Now that the weather has finally warmed up a bit (coolest May on record) the bees are coming out. There are certainly plenty of flowers for them. A lot of them are bumble bees, but they are hard to identify when they are buzzing around. I think this is a Yellow-faced bumble bee. It was a large one, perhaps the queen herself out foraging while establishing a new nest.
Western honey bees are the most common honey bees, despite being non-native. They are the honey bees used in commercial honey production.
I'm not sure what kind of bumble bees these were.
Staying at Lonsdale Quay in North Vancouver last week (for a wedding) was the perfect opportunity for some reflection photos. There are lots of ships and buildings to add color, and I was often out early in the morning in search of coffee or in the evening after supper, when the light is good for reflections.
An orange Coast Guard ship provided the color for this one:
I think it was a yellow crane for this one:
A creek overhung by trees provided the next two:
And a couple from Lynn Creek Canyon:
Sometimes it's not the color or the patterns that attract me, it's just the texture of the water.
One of the things I like about this kind of photography is that there is endless variety as the wind and waves come and go. These next two were taken standing in the same spot within minutes of each other at an outdoor pool at the aquarium.
We were leaving the Vancouver Aquarium in Stanley Park when I spotted this coyote beside the road. We stopped and I got out to take some photos. The coyote cooperated by not leaving as soon as I got out my camera (as so often happens). I had a few minutes before another car showed up and instead of stopping across the road as we had, it pulled up right in front of the coyote, at which point we and the coyote departed.
We had seen signs around Stanley Park warning about coyotes. I searched on the web and it sounds like there was some conflict last year with "aggressive" coyotes. As usual in conflicts between humans and the rest of nature, the humans "won". Many coyotes were "culled". I hate these euphemisms. If you're going to kill them, have the guts to say so.
First, some woodpeckers, although they don't all have "woodpecker" in their names. We saw this Red-breasted Sapsucker at Goldstream right at the beginning of our walk. It stuck around for a while and I took lots of photos, but there wasn't much light in the forest and this was the best I got. I put my long lens on the camera for the rest of the walk, but of course that jinxed me from seeing any more birds.
This Hairy Woodpecker was also at Goldstream, but on another day. I came around a bend in the trail and there it was on a log right beside the trail in a perfect spot to be photographed. I moved slowly to get my camera out without scaring it away, but then Shelley came up the trail behind me and it flew away. I only managed a couple of photographs. We used to get Downy Woodpeckers (almost identical but smaller, with smaller beaks) at our bird feeder in Saskatoon.
We heard this one calling loudly and repeatedly before we spotted it in the top of a tree. Maybe calling for mates? 'Tis the season. We used to see Northern Flickers on our lawn in Saskatoon. They're one of the few woodpeckers that feeds on the ground. I like the spotted feathers on its breast.
I was walking home after taking photos of the Arbutus flowers when I saw this Great Blue Heron. Of course, I didn't have my long lens (since I was taking flower photos) but the herons are quite accustomed to people and I got close enough to get some decent photos anyway. It's interesting to watch them fishing. They stare so intently at the water until they spot a fish and go after it.
Success!
