A female Cassin’s Finch finds ample shelter under a large spruce on a recent rain-soaked afternoon.
A quick look up and …hey the sky looks lighter to the west.
Tag: nature photography
Fuzzy
Looks like this little guy could use a shave but that will have to wait until he is done enjoying a nice cool drink.
Yellow Rumped (Audobons) Warbler
Nothing like the sound and the all to uncommon sight of a male Audobons Warbler on a cool overcast afternoon. All to often this bird spends most of its time up high in the canopy of the spruce trees in our area so it was nice to see him down low that afternoon.
Chocolate Lily
This year we have been lucky to find several of these wonderful Chocolate Lilies blooming on the trails nearby. I am a bit up in the air as to the specific species as two reliable websites list the chocolate lily as two species one being Fritillaria affinis var. affinis and the other lists the plant as Fritillaria atropurpurea.
The plant is fairly inconspicuous and without the flower not very showy at all. It is a beautiful plant and we were glad to come across it as according to Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center database it is one that frequently takes years off from flowering.
Yellow Headed Blackbird
A male Yellow Headed Blackbird enjoying the evening light.
Reflection
A Black Necked Stilt enjoying some quiet time alone in a temporary pond created by spring rains. Soon the pond will be gone and the Stilt will have moved on.
Sharp-shinned Hawk: Accipiter striatus
We have noticed an agile small hawk buzzing around the woods over the last month or so and when we finally got a good look it turned out to likely be this Sharp-shinned Hawk.
These small hawks are very agile fliers and able to ambush their main prey, unfortunately small songbirds, in dense woods. So the next time I see what looks like a hawk streak by in the woodlands nearby I’ll have a good idea who it is.
Western Toad: Anaxyrus boreas
It always is a treat to see a toad or two while out on a hike. With published data in Britton, the USA and other places around the world all indicating toads, frogs and other amphibian populations are in serious decline.
This day we ran across the Western Toad: Anaxyrus boreas and we thrilled.
He sure is a bumpy little guy and was happy to let us photograph him around the edge of his pond.
A few days latter while out on hike we ran across another Western Toad just off the side of the trail resting in the tall grass.
Although this statement may not apply to everyone, for me it feels eerily strange and quite foreboding that within our life times we now consider it special to experience amphibians that were once a common experience in our childhoods.
MacGillivray’s Warbler: Geothlypis tolmiei
Near the end of a recent hike we came across several MacGillivray’s Warblers flying rapidly back and forth between willow bushes on each side of the trail we were hiking. These birds rarely took a second to sit still and when they did they were perched deep in the willows. Luckily with a bit of time spent sitting on nearby rocks we were able to get a few photos and a good look at these wonderful little warblers.
We have gone back to the same spot hoping to find them again but they must have just been passing by on their spring migration.
Glacier Lily: Erythronium grandiflorum
As quickly as the snow receded in early May the Glacier Lilies appeared to carpet the forest floor a beautiful yellow even before the grasses greened. Now only a month latter they have bloomed and done their thing. It’s hard to say how many photos we took of these wonderful flowers in just a few short weeks but they kept coming back to photograph them just a wee bit more more each and every day.
Here are a few chosen somewhat at random presented as a tribute to a wonderful wildflower.
All through May they kept us company on rainy days
And sunny days as well.
nature has no boss 
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