Meandering on a Sunny Day

Up an on the road early.  If rain is forecast before noon, best get to it.

I was happily surprised as I got north of Everett to see that the skies were getting a bit lighter and before I got to Mt Vernon, there was actually sun in the sky.

Even though I was walking in the woods, it is good to be out in as good a sunlight as the day can muster.

I headed to my favorite place, Washington Park, near Anacortes to do my first good wildflower walk of the year.  There were few disappointments save for my camera work.

The Calypso Orchids are out.  This seems to be a good year, though not a great year.  Numbers look down a bit, and some of the flowers have already started to go to seed.  I was up one month ago and saw no buds breaking, so they came and went pretty fast.

First of the year

A happy trio

Fawn Lily are doing well.  Here too , many which were just starting to show buds are past.

The trail most of these are on is just magic.  A solid carpet of all kinds of mosses and lichens with dainty flowers and solitude.

I even saw a fair number of Coralroot Orchids starting to spike, looking like red asparagus.

The south facing slope was starting to show off its special delights.

Small Flower Blue Eyed Mary is truly small flowered.

Early Saxifrage, Prairie Star, Meadow Chickweed and Death Camas  are doing well.

The Common Camas were not breaking their bud yet.

I skirted into the woods to seek out some rare and elusive things.  In the woods there was plenty of birdsong and all over wrens, chickadees and kinglets were courting and squabbling.  I watched one wren check out multiple holes in a dead tree.  It was shopping in a condo block. A chickadee patiently waited to do its inspections.

There was a lot of new fungus coming up through the mosses. This fallen Madrone tree was really covered with tails

Out on the rock-face the wet area is just getting started with Monkeyflower

I paused to take in the view.  Clouds are starting to set in.

It was here I heard something missing for some time.

"I'm a pretty little bird-e"  The call of the White-crowned Sparrows, back from their winter in the South.  I didn't think this zoomed in photo would work, but you can see him in the top of that Juniper

Barely.  I looked in my archives for a nice picture of this bird but have none in my computer, they are all on backup discs.

What a nice walk.  Many people were out and everyone seemed in joyous spirits.  Our region needs these fine days and any break in the weather to help the workers up at Oso is welcome.

Tidy Tidy Tidy

Well if cleaning the beach was not enough, I met up with some folks to clean a local park. 

It was my intention to visit Sharpe Park on Fidalgo Island.  I had not been to this area before and my friend Ron told me of its open balds and some of the plants he found there.  Thinking about what else I might fine there I looked at the Geocaching map and saw that there was an event called a "CITO  ~ Cache In Trash Out".  CITO are organized as part social and part service events.  Meet and chat then set out into the territory to clean up.  This day of sprinkles and dreary weather drew in about 15 friendly members and one parks ranger.

We set off in all directions.  My intention was to clean for the two hours then return to areas I did not visit on my sweep through the park.

It was quickly evident that this park was either little visited or well attended by other groups.  I was hard pressed to find trash of any kind.  My final haul was barely half a bag.  In it was a pop can, a beer bottle, a baseball hat and some varied bits of plastic paper and foil.  When I returned to meet up with the group, others found the park pretty free of litter and spent their time with the ranger clearing bits of brush and branch that invade the trails.  I was about the only one who found any trash worth speaking of.  I guess you can say we tidied up rather than cleaned.  It all fit in the trash barrel, no semi-truck needed like at the beach.

One of the members who is a cactus hobbyist brought us cold hearty cactus to take if we like.  Here we have some of our very local Opunta fraqgilis ( brittle prickly pear )cactus.  They are found on a very small stretch of Whidbey Island at Ebby Landing,  just south of here. These are fine looking cactus.  The ones I've seen in the wild look like a string of little potatoes.  Larger classic pad cactus were also a choice.  I took a single pad cactus.  J.P. said they should do just fine outside in our chilly winter weather.

Heading out again I visited the large bald to the south end of the park and took time to enjoy and photograph.  All over the trails Calypso orchids were in bloom.  There is something in the ecology of Fidalgo and Whidbey Island that these flowers love. 

Where there are calypso there are often Fawn Lily.  Not many were here but I was astonished by the robust size of those that were.  Never have I seen such large flowers and strong color.

This park has a little marsh in its center.  Not something I have found in other parks along this rocky strip of land.  This day the Marsh Wrens were chattering away.  I was disappointed that I was not able to capture one close at had, they are great photography subjects.  This fellow is up on the cattail chattering his heart out.

On the north bluff the land gave way to a sheer cliff-face and I was thrilled that two Pigeon Guillemots were feeding close in.  Those red legs and feet turn this from a black and white bird into quite a showstopper.

The woods on the north half of the park were filled with rock faces and ledges covered in mosses.  Succulents ferns orchids and lily love these areas.  I need to be sure to return earlier in the Spring next year to see what bounty is there

The southern half of the park is more woodsy.  There are many small narrow trails and I always enjoy the adventure of meandering around twisty trails, newly blazed.  Some of these trails go up slopes and make use of the roots of the trees themselves to form a staircase.  You can see there is not much soil covering the rocks.

The moss and ferns love this rock-face.

Once at the top of the balds you get great views out to the Salish Sea and the islands and islets of the San Juans.

The slope of grasses and mosses supports a whole new group of flowers, much like the south slope of Washington Park.  Here the Camas was just coming to bloom

What a fine way to spend a sprinkly morning.  I found a new place to enjoy and envy those who live so close and can enjoy its solitude.  On the way out I noted that a garbage can shows that this park has been adopted by a Starbucks store.  Store 468 is in Puyallup, quite a distance from here.  I assumed that it was the local store in Anacortes.  Perhaps they all work together to help make this lovely little place

Walking in the Rain

A rainy Spring weekend.  In high contrast with last weekends sunny and 70, it is low clouds and barely 50.  In the mountains, snow is once again falling so I must stick to the wet side.

Yesterday was Biosurvey at Ohop.  My love for this place cannot even be diminished by the rain.

Newly arrived swallows; Violet-green, Tree, Barn and Rough-wing were found swooping all over the fields.  The Rough-wing traced its way up and down the creek, while the others took higher to the sky.

The creek is flowing deep.  During salmon runs it is fairly shallow.  If you look closely at the creek you will see a line across.  This is a device that counts salmon that have microchips.

We rambled the fields for a soggy 2 1/2 hours looking for signs, sounds and sights of living things.  It was slow going.  I am happy to say my waterproof pants boots and coat really do the trick.  Even they, however, could not keep my electronic data recording device from seizing up.

Another two months and this field will be alive with greenery and, no doubt, bugs galore.  The birds eventually will find great feeding in the hundreds of young trees.

The trees and shrubs planted over the last few years are thriving.

Today with rain coming down in buckets I revisited Washington Park to see my flowers.  The rain was really coming down as I neared Anacortes, but by the time I parked it was a more sedate rain.  I figure as I was going to be in the woods most of the way, it really didn't matter that much.  There were only a few souls out.  All were well protected from the rain by a wide variety of foul-weather gear.

And I got my prize.

White Fawn Lily are abundant in the mossy glades. 

The Calypso Orchids are going strong. 

 

 

I even found a large number of Coralroot Orchid starting to spike.  Right now they look like red asparagus breaking through the forest floor litter.  I found them all along my route and I don't remember seeing this many in the past.

On the south slope the Serpintine soil supports a wide array of unusual flowers.  Yellow Monkey Flower decorate the rock faces

Spring Gold, Sea Blush, Blue-eyed Mary and buttercup carpet the open slopes.

The rare Puget Sound Juniper thrives on these slopes.

A Banana Slug slips easily along the glacier gouged Serpentine rocks.

That is the front of my size 11 Ahnu boot so you can appreciate how big this fat fellow is.

I officially love my boots.  I got a gel insert and now they fit perfectly!  They are comfy and waterproof too!

Perhaps next weekend we will see how the comfy boots face the threat of cactus

Spring is Really Here.

It is still chilly and snowing in the mountains. Here in the Puget lowlands, chilly mornings seem to give way, reluctantly to somewhat comfortable 50+ days. But clouds, winds and rain are the order of the day, after day, after day.


But Saturday, AH it is the day we have all been waiting for. Stunning blue and 60+.


Better yet, we had our first Washington Native Orchid Society field trip. For April means Calypso orchids and Washington Park was out meeting place.





My favorite local park has burst into bloom since my visit a few weeks ago.


I arrived early simply because I could not wait to get into the area. My friend Ron was right behind me, itching to get out there. We walked out to Green Point passing many of the early bird walkers. As usual it was greetings and "good mornings" from every person we passed. One gave us a tip on a Bald Eagle in a tree.






Out at Green Point the Shooting Stars are coming on strong. I love the dew drops.







Ron and I took a sneak peek at the area I knew was my usual good place for Calypso Orchid. They have sprung up and the Fawn Lily continue to join in. We made our way back along the road and met this fellow sliding across the road. He was actually making pretty good time.






Joining the group we returned along the loop road to Green Point. All along the road we found individual orchids. At Green Point early signs of other species were found in the woodland edge. We proceeded along the loop road and enjoyed some time back at the mossy trail filled with Fawn Lily and orchids. By now the sun had joined us full force. There were fun opportunities to play with sunlight. A tip of the hat to Ron for pointing out this particular lily with the cobwebs.






You know me, I cannot resist a bug shot.





We circled the park, scouting for flowers to come and appreciating the ones already here. I love the south slope with its Junipers. The old fellow at the top of the channel slope always fascinates me with its bare bones. These Prairie Stars made a pretty picture at the foot of one Juniper.







There was no topping this day. I knew weather changes were coming but when I heard the snow in the pass forecast, I knew I was going to have to stick by home. I want to get over to Eastern Washington to the dry areas, but driving in the snow is a bit of an issue.




So I stuck around home visiting my local Watershed Park. My gloomy spirit was a little uplifted by finding many more birds. I failed to charge my batteries after a long day out Saturday so I am sorry my little pocket ELPH could not do justice to the wrens I found gathering nest materials or the courting Mergansers.



I found Robin eggshells in a couple of places. Many birds carry egg shells away from the nest and drop them in the environment. I heard nest peeping in a few places.

Unlike the Washington Park, this Watershed Park is deep and green and moist. Plenty of boggy areas and Skunk Cabbage is up in full force.



Trailing Violets lined almost all of the trails.





I intended to go out the full length of the park to a pretty pond but I heard a noise and knew I had to follow.



Too toot toot toot. A Pygmy Owl! It was going to be hard to find but he was persistent in his tooting and it was a fun exercise to work at pinpointing where the sound was coming from. I made my way along a second trail and knew I was pretty close by the quality of the sound. I knew I was really close when he stopped. I looked , I waited but nothing, so I moved on. But it was not too far and he could not resist. I knew he was now behind me.


And I found him. Up in the very top of a fir tree, about 75 feet up. I cranked my camera up and shot, hoping that there was something.


Here he is 6.75 inches of lovelorn owl, calling for his female.