Falling for Orange

When looking for ideas for exploration I am usually driven by several factors.  I am enjoying Geocaching in a low key manner and if someplace I am heading has a geocache or two, more the better.   My Flickr photography projects are never far from my mind. 

Currently I am doing two projects; "The Monthly Scavenger Hunt" and a 365 Project where I take a photo every day and post it on line.  The Monthly Scavenger Hunt lists 15 topics, concepts or ideas at the beginning of each month and we try to convey them with our image.  For the 365 Project we receive a "color of the month" and each days photo must feature that color.  Inside the 365 there are some who try to capture the same type subject every month.  At the end of the year you will have 12 images, in different colors, of the same type subject.  I have almost completed a full year of this project and my monthly special subject capture is a house.

This months color is orange.  With Fall colors slipping away I went out yesterday and today to capture some foliage shots.  It is rainy and the dreary gray skies make many things look dull.  How some of the trees would be glorious with a bit of sunshine lighting them up.

I set out for the Chinese Garden at South Seattle Community College.  I knew the garden opened at noon and figured I would visit the Washington Park Arboretum first, then the Chinese Garden in West Seattle after.  Of course in my easily distracted morning mind, I drove out on I-90 and soon found myself in West Seattle at the campus... at 9am. 

I was happy to find a little arboretum right there and since it was always open to the public, I put the Chinese Garden aside for another day.  I strolled around enjoying the nice collection of conifer trees and shrubs of all types.

I always love gardens when they have water ways and bridges.  They always add a photogenic touch.

 I found this Pinus contorta "Chief Joseph" by the little waterway.  This is its normal Fall and Winter colour.  In the Spring the needles will green up again.

Another conifer changing color.  This Dawn Redwood will drop its needles.  I love the disgruntled face in the little cone.

In the entry garden I could not resist trying to capture the raindrops.  Here on a berry.

and an explosion of Dalia

Heading back to visit the Washington Park Arboretum as originally planned, I missed a tricky ramp exit off the West Seattle Bridge.  Ah well, I figured, I might as well go via 23rd Avenue up the heart of the oldest neighborhoods in town.  Along the way it dawned on me that for this month I was going to have to find an orange house ( oh no an ORANGE house).  I eyes instantly started swiveling around as I knew many of the neighborhoods I would be passing through were given to some pretty colorful takes on house decor.  It was not long before I found this little turn of the last century gem.

I ambled around the arboretum for a while and know that I must come back here in the Spring when the Rhodie's are in full bloom.

Today I set out for a good solid hike around the Cougar Mountain Wilderness Park .  At 3100 acres it is filled with many trails, most barely two people wide.  Some trails are open to horses and it is a highly popular with trail runners.  The parking lot was filled at 8am with people who likely cannot accept that "Fall Back" = sleep in.  Hikers, runners, dog walkers, the lot was full.  I thought I was in for a busy day.  I headed out and quickly found myself in wonderful solitude.  I had loaded up about 10 Geocache co-ordinates and I set off for what turned out to be a 4 hour loop hike.  It was drizzly a bit but most of the moisture came from heat arising from wearing my waterproof coat.  I soon opened the vents of my coat, but my glasses were happy to steam up.  I need to keep up these distance conditioning hikes for my vacation next year.  The complex of parks here in the Issaquah area ; Cougar, Squak and Tiger have miles of trails and ample opportunity for long flat distances or good stiff climbs.

The Big-leaf Maples  are dropping their leaves in abundance and the trails big and small were paved over.  A person not savvy to finding their way on the smaller trails might get a little confused, but I had no issues today.  This is the wide main trail that runs down the middle of the park.  small side trails take you off in every direction.  Many of the old coal mines, the old town and community that flourished here are discussed with helpful signs.

But for the most part you wind you way around on little trails that take you to nice waterfalls and viewpoints.  Coal Creek Falls were not running heavy, even though we have had a fair amount of rain.  I have to wonder if the ground and trees are still soaking the water up following the extra long dry season we just left.

The fine drizzle left a lot of pretty drops on the mosses.  I cannot resist moss communities.  For my monthly scavenger hunt, one of the subjects is texture.  I think this photo conveys "mossy" texture pretty well.

Drip drip drip... The Fall continues

Ohop Bio survey

Saturday I experienced a new volunteer opportunity.  I joined volunteers lead by the staff of Northwest Trek in a bio survey of the Ohop Valley property owned by the Nisqually Land Trust.

I have told you about this great property and the rehab efforts underway.  The creek through this valley was reintroduced to its historic meandering bed three years ago.  Volunteers from the Land Trust, the Nisqually tribe and Northwest Trek have worked to monitor the progress and revitalization of nature in this little bit of solitude.

A bio survey attempts to note all living creatures present in the study environment.  On the large scale, you see "bioblitzes" events where experts in every conceivable field gather and attempt to survey every living thing in the environment.  It turns into a bit of a competition and all serves to further the science of the environment.  Our low key bio survey tries to characterize what and who is using the environment on a more basic level

This day we noted birds and signs of animals.  We looked for fish and frogs in the meandering creek.  For me a big star was a Magpie ( Pica pica) .  I have never seen a Magpie on the west side of the Cascades.

Magpie was attracted, along with Jays Crows and Raven by an Elk carcass, just below this post.  Personally I suspect this was a hunters leavings after dressing out the kill.  There was no skull rack or skin to be see.  Fresh bones, well stripped of meat.  All around there was scat (feces) of coyote.

We found these lovely feathers which show that a Ruffed Grouse met its end here.

Shortly after starting our survey, the weather turned very unfriendly and rain then hail slammed down.  We had some handy abandoned barns in our section so we walked about inside looking for signs of owls rodents or other creatures that might have used a shelter.  All of the birds ducked for cover and it was a good vantage point to see them emerge from the woods when the hail ended.  It was here we spotted a lone Mourning Dove.

We cut down towards the creek and found this marvelous paper wasp nest.

Photos were taken to aid the possible identification of the species that made this nest..  It looks bold and tough , but one touch lets you know it is a delicate web of tissue paper consistency.

I learned that this is Balf-face Hornet nest , Dolichovespula maculata

Dolichovespula maculataDolichovespula maculata

I love how the reeds of grass and stems of the little tree are used as foundation of the hanging nest.

near here we found a second Elk carcass.  We also found evidence of Beaver and where deer or Elk had pulled tender bark off planted trees and shrubs.  In the tall grasses we found many snails and I took pictures of two that were unlike the others.

Next weekend I will return to this place and help the land trust pull the protective tubes from around the plantings done three years ago.  I was astonished at how large some of the trees have become in such a short time.  This day there were no Salmon in the creek, like there was last year.  ON my visit last year we had a record run of Salmon through Puget Sound and they eagerly came up the new creek which had not connected to the Nisqually River in at least 75 years.  I guess 4 to 6 years from now we may expect record return of fish that hatched last year.

With just a short mornings effort, I am excited to think I have added another opportunity to experience, learn and give back to the environment.  This work was different from bird surveys as it is an opportunity to expand and stretch skills.  Having people who are knowledgeable about diverse subjects really helps in learning together.  I shared birding skills, another shared their knowledge of scat. 

As I was down south I justified the effort to finish the drive to the beach and spend the night.  I have had my mind on a sweet kite I saw last visit and I figured, I deserved it.  The wind was not favorable to fly my little boat, but I am sure the next time it will be better.

I did get to experience a fierce storm coming ashore in the night.  It sounded like a car wash.

Nothing much, how about you?

Yes I am back.

I was never really gone but it certainly seems my Summer was long and, I have to admit, filled with ennui.  Between a virus that hit me hard and frequent trips into work on the weekends, I never felt greatly inspired for blogging.  Fires late in the Summer kept me home from so many of my favorite areas.  I did some fun stuff and I visited an amazing place I will tell you about later.

    
It seemed that Summer would never arrive and rain persistently kept me from my favorite areas.  I even got turned back by snow in early June.  I had some nice visits to Eastern Washington and one of my favorite encounters was with this Great Horned Owl nest.

I paid a quick visit to my favorite hike to Red Top, but was turned back by snow.  I stopped at the little abandoned cabin to check on an orchid I know blooms there and encountered this feral peony bloom with a butterfly, perfect timing.

Late in  June I left for a vacation to England and Madeira.  On Madeira I hiked from hotel to hotel using a Sherpa service to transport my bags.  This method of travel is quite popular in Europe and I am aiming for another trip next Summer. 

I was in London for the solstice.

Madeira is remarkable for its rugged volcanic mountains.  I will certainly return to hike in this area.  I fell ill a few days into my visit and did not feel up to the 20Km hike along the spine of the island.  At ~ 6000 feet, I didn't feel totally confident I could easily and safely cover the distance.  I contented myself with spending the day at the hotel enjoying the view and drinking tea.

My neighbor and I had a trip rock hounding.  Augite crystals are found no other place in Washington but this one location.  It was a blazing hot day and we were introduced to several methods of finding rocks.

One new activity that I have really embraced is Mud Racing, or MOB events; Mud Obstacles and Beer.  Warrior Dash is one of the larger events but I am finding smaller events sponsored by local community groups to be just as much fun.  I did eight events this summer and look forward to the next one.  I braved the North Bend Warrior Dash along with some co-workers.

I had two nice hikes, both of which involved trains.  Lester is a ghost town in the Cascades that served as a railroad stop back in the day.  For a long time I have wanted to hike up the abandoned road to pay a visit. 

A second hike took me to the Iron Goat trail.  I need to go back as my visit was highlighted by a fall that broke my camera.  This Pika was the final subject for my Olympus.

My friend Ron suggested a few cameras for me and I was instantly in love with the Nikon Coolpix 510.  I have been out and about snapping pictures for my projects.  I was able to capture the August Blue Moon

This fearsome Isopod on International Rock Flipping Day

A handsome rooster at the Evergreen State Fair.

The stretch of 80+ sunny days was finally broken last weekend with rain.  I feel all is right with the world now.  I even see a hit of new snow on some of the higher mountains today.  I ran out to Snoqualmie Falls on Sunday and got this pictures of the clouds for my Scavenger Hunt.

and Kubota Gardens for the Fall color in the rain

I will probably be heading to the beach soon.  I saw a kite there that I cannot get out of my mind.  My little place in Neah Bay, Bullman Beach, is not going to be open in the winter this year, so I am looking for a little snuggery for the holiday week.

So that's about everything.  I will try to do some stories on Madeira soon.  It is a lot like here, only different.

All Creatures Great and Small

A lot of critter encounters in the last few weeks.

American Robin in the early morning sun

   Great Horned  Owl and Owlet.

"Look how far down!"

"Whooos Dat?!??!

Fancy digs for Spiders

Crab Spider finds a home in a rare Trillium parviflorum

Cannot miss these colorful standouts.  There were many Ladybugs in these field of Camas

I didn't see the spider, I only saw the butterfly.  My friend Ron mentioned he could see it and sure enough, my computer showed me.  A Crab Spider eating a Field Crescent

It is a happy day when I see a frog.  Even happier when I capture a good picture.

A very tiny Pacific Treefrog

Green Commas in abundance on the road to Red Top

A Mourning Cloak was shy and flighty

These two were pretty preoccupied with each other, allowing some rather personal pictures.
They will continue for 24 hours like this.

Elgaria coerulea principis - Northwestern Alligator Lizards

This was my first time sighting what the field guide says is a somewhat common lizard.

Look For a Needle in a Haystack

Late last week my friend Ron Hanko reported he found, via tip from a friend, a white Calypso orchid in Washington Park.  This rare form of our common Western Calypso was something he and others had been looking for over the years without success.

He let me know its whereabouts. I knew exactly the path he found the flower along.  It was here we had such an amazing bounty of orchids last year.  Earlier in April, when I visited, this area was just starting to bud up but did not seem as promising as previous years.

Ron then sealed my fate, or so I feared

"You can't miss it"

I had heard this statement made many times over when looking for hard to find birds.  Barred Owl in particular was a nemesis for years and friends directed me or took me to their best "can't miss" spots.

Oh, yes I can.

But I was game and dutifully set out early in the morning to start my day at this wonderful park.  I quickly made my way to Green Point to visit the beach at low tide.  It is here where the salt water hits the shore that you first meet Shooting Stars and Monkey Flower. 

Many people who visit the park never venture off the paved road that winds its way through the forest,  It is a shame that they would miss these lovely blooms. 

A group of kayak's were near shore and from what I could hear, it sounded like a class for sea kayakers.  They navigated in and out of the rough water working the shoreline.

I visited the rough rocky beach and poked around in some tide pools.  Hermit crabs and whelks galore.  The shiny iridescent color of some of the shells really caught my eye.  This little one didn't stay still very long.

These were content to sit tight and await the return of the water.

I proceeded to the trail as Ron directed. I noted, along the way, that most of the Calypsos were pretty much pass their prime. Overall it feels like a somewhat less bountiful season here in the park. I noted that Western and Spotted Coralroot orchids were well underway. I think I noted them in locations I had not seen them in before. I also noted Chocolate Lily .

OK these are from Catherine Creek, but you get the idea.

I walked slooowly through the designated trail and up the slope.

Nothing.

I worked my way down the slope, checking out some Calypso that were past prime.

Still nothing.

At the bottom of the slope I chose to cut left and pass down a small branch of the trail that goes out to a dead end on an open slope above the water.

Nothing except a barking Sea Lion.

I figured that "Oh yes I can" applies today and in a moment there it was.

Totally in a little patch of light  to the side of the trail. Bowed over, face down.  It's stem bent over, either from its own weight or the fall of a twig or stray footfall.

I tried to appreciate and take its picture by holding the stem upright but finally I settled on propping it up with a small stick.

Poor thing, I am not sure it will last much longer with its stem pinched that way.  I took a GPS reading so that we can watch the area next year.

For now we are content at the sighting of this lovely gem.

Ron has his native orchid blog here

http://nativeorchidsofthepacificnorthwest.blogspot.com/


Pay him a visit and be stunned by his amazing photography of this and other gems.  Thank you Ron, and to your friend, for sharing the information about this prize.