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Category Archives: wildflowers
Fall to winter
Today, winter swept to the valley bottom. It seems that fall is not yet ready to concede defeat. Snow blankets the mountainside, but western larches proclaim its arrival is premature.
Posted in wildflowers
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Larch
In the fall, my favourite deciduous tree is actually a conifer: the larch. Although a conifer, the needles of the larch become orange in the fall and are then shed. Larch trees border a mountain lake.
Posted in scenes, wildflowers
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Incidental images
Outdoors, I often am looking for something specific, maybe a wild orchid, maybe a grizzly bear. While this approach is often successful, this fall, it has not been. I head out but don’t see many things previous years would … Continue reading
Posted in birds, fish, scenes, wildflowers
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Pipe pollination
The Indian Pipe (Monotropa uniflora) is an interesting plant — it lacks chlorophyll. Yet, it thrives in rare locations on the forest floor where it has carved out a niche which does not require it to have access to … Continue reading
Posted in bugs, wildflowers
2 Comments
Galls
I had no idea what I was looking at. The plant was the wild rose (Rosa woodsii), but what were those spiky red balls on its leaves? Adjacent clues — spider’s threads, spittlebug’s froth — turned out to be … Continue reading
Posted in bugs, wildflowers
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Wildflower walk
A forest walk revealed wildflowers. The Tiger Lily likes sunshine and so favours clearings in the forest. Also a member of the lily family, the Queen’s Cup favours the dappled sunlight of moist woodlands and was strewn across the forest … Continue reading
Posted in wildflowers
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Bombus vagans
The Half-black Bumble Bee (Bombus vagans) is a common bumble bee of North America. Its local scarcity this spring has prompted me to wonder about it. However, I am finding it now — not in great numbers, but it … Continue reading
Posted in bugs, wildflowers
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Fairy slippers
It was an unexpected experience. I was crouched low (and I thought, inconspicuously) on a forest hillside taking pictures of wildflowers when a family hiked by, paused, saw what I was doing, and asked, “Are you Alistair?” So it was that among my … Continue reading
Posted in wildflowers
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Pollen covered
This spring has been a strange. Insects, usually plentiful, have been sparse — but not absent. In a field of dandelions, both hover flies and solitary bees (but, not social bees) flew from flower to flower seeking nectar. It was fairly … Continue reading
Posted in bugs, wildflowers
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Ducks of that ilk
Sometimes a picture is taken merely so as to delight in a whimsical, but obscure, title. It may be that only a canny Scots botanist will get this one.