summer

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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Western Anemone

September 22, 2012
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When a Western Anemone (Anemone occidentalis) produces seeds in summer, it looks like a fantastical plant from the pages of a Dr. Seuss book. Many of the other common names for this plant– Dishmop, Towhead Baby, Old Man of the Mountains, Mouse-on-a-stick, Moptop– describe its appearance when…

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A Non-native Katydid

August 21, 2012
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Katydids are insects in the family Tetigoniidae of the order Orthoptera (the latter group includes grasshoppers, crickets, and their kin). Many katydids mimic the plants they feed on by resembling leaves. This helps them being seen and eaten by…

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Black Cottonwood

August 4, 2012
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It’s summer in the Pacific Northwest. In June and July, in places where a river flows nearby, the afternoon breezes are often filled with drifting particles that look like cotton balls. These are the seeds of Black Cottonwood trees (Populus trichocarpa; or Populus balsamifera, subspecies trichocarpa), which grow along…

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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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The American Dipper

September 29, 2011
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One of my favorite birds is the American Dipper (Cinclus mexicanus). I love to spend time near streams and so do Dippers. I’m always really happy to see one of these birds. An American Dipper looks like a small, dark gray robin or thrush. Dippers live their entire lives along the frothing, bouncing waters of

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Wildflower: White Bog-orchid

September 13, 2011
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White Bog-orchid (Platanthera dilatata) has small flowers that are not as showy as those our native Fairyslipper Orchids (Calypso bulbosa), but they are quite beautiful in their own way. The numerous flowers of a bog-orchid plant grow along an erect stem that can be up…

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