We were up high in the mountains a week or two ago and much to our surprise there were numerous butterflies going about their business even as the nights have been cold and the flowers have long died out for this season. Must be slim pickings this time of year for this wonderful comma butterfly foraging on Lichen, Rocks and Spruce.
Ahhh…one last bath on a fine fall day. A Magpie bathing in a small pond as the sun shines on an unseasonably warm fall afternoon.
An American Robin surveys the surroundings from a burnt tree which matches their color quite well. This fire happened long ago but burnt trees still fill the landscape even as decades have passed.
One of my favorite animals to inhabit the alpine tundra and one I always think of as summer turns to fall is the American Pika. Scurrying about above the tree-line diligently gathering vegetation to stock their winter larder. The Pika is adapted to live year-round in the harsh alpine environment. However tough they may be climate change poses a significant danger to the continued existence of the Pika and in the lower regions of North America have already lost up to 1/3 of their previous habitat to climate change.
It would be a sad day indeed if a hike through the alpine tundra was devoid of a pikas song.
Small plants high up on a windy ridge doing their part in convincing me fall is indeed here.
Something about fog brings out the quiet in the landscape so much so that sometimes all I want to do is sit and watch the quiet. Photographed while kayaking past one of the innumerable small islets along the west coast of Vancouver Island on a foggy and rainy morning. August, 2015.
It was cloudy and cold all day but as evening approached the clouds were on their way out, blue sky moving in and just a dusting of snow on the peaks in the distance. Morning will be crisp and the sky clear as a bell.
A handsome looking hare posing for a portrait on the Arapahoe National Wildlife Refuge earlier this summer.
High up in the hills the flowers have all flowered and transition fills the air. What a wonderful time.
The Aspen tress are doing their thing and a day spent soaking it up is an experience as good as gold.
Happy fall to all.
nature has no boss 
You must be logged in to post a comment.