spring

Mountain Lady’s Slipper Orchid

June 6, 2013
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Of the dozens of orchid species in the Pacific Northwest, the Mountain Lady’s Slipper (Cypripedium montanum) might be the most exciting– because it is both beautiful and uncommon. The flowers are large and showy. The lower petal is inflated into a 1-1.5 in (2-3 cm) white bowl, streaked with purple veins. In orchids, this modified petal…

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Red Columbine (Aquilegia formosa)

May 25, 2013
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Red Columbine (Aquilegia formosa) is an easy-to-recognize, perennial wildflower that grows in moist forests, meadows, woodlands, and on rocky slopes. It can be found in these habitats at low elevations and up to the subalpine zone in the mountains. At whatever elevation it…

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Chocolate Lily (Fritillaria affinis)

May 7, 2013
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Chocolate Lily (Fritillaria affinis) is one of my favorite northwestern wildflowers. It’s beautiful, but doesn’t quite hit you in the face with it’s good looks, the way more showy blossoms can. It’s charms are more subtle. Getting a good look at a Chocolate Lily takes a little bit of work. First of all…

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Early-blooming Wildflower: Grass Widow

March 11, 2013
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I recently made it out to Catherine Creek in the Columbia River Gorge. My mission was to find Grass Widows (Olsynium douglasii) and find them I did. Check out the video…

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Western Sandpiper

February 10, 2013
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The Western Sandpiper (Calidris mauri) is a small shorebird that can be found year round on the Pacific Northwest coast. Small flocks work their way up and down sandy beaches and mudflats in winter and much larger congregations pass through on their migration journeys in spring (April and May) and…

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Upland Larkspur – Delphinium nuttallianum

August 25, 2012
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A handful of Larkspur species (all in the genus Delphinium) are native to the Pacific Northwest. The ones I’ve seen all have purple or blue flowers. A hollow, tube-like spur juts out the back of a Larkspur flower. The spur contains nectar that entices bumblebee and hummingbird…

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Western Painted Turtle

June 23, 2012
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The Western Painted Turtle (Chrysemys picta bellii) is one of only two turtles that are native to the Pacific Northwest (the other is the Western Pond Turtle). Since we don’t have very many turtles in our region, it is a real pleasure to see one in the wild. And it’s even more of a pleasure to see 10 Western Painted Turtles, of various sizes, all sunning themselves on a log at the Smith and Bybee Lakes Wetlands Natural Area in Portland…

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