Western Trillium - official start of spring

White flower sighting alert! I just enjoyed spotting my first Western Trillium emerging from the forest debris on our property. Let the show begin! A lot of things will be coming sooner this spring than any other in most of your memories. We all know how soon the winter snow pack in the Cascades will be gone, no matter how much snow might fall when weather patterns change in early spring. Ticks and mosquitoes are already out with abundance at many locations in the state. But one thing that excites many of us is the “official” start to spring when the wildflowers of the lowlands begin their annual show. This year trees flowered many weeks early, desert wildflowers of the Columbia Basin were beginning to bloom by mid-March, and any day now one of the most beautiful wildflowers of our neighborhood should start to wake up: the western trillium!

While other wildflowers bloom earlier (such as skunk cabbage and palmate coltsfoot) the western trillium (Trillium ovatum) is close behind. It also is common to see it going by the name “western wake-robin” since it is one of the earlier species to bloom. I know many people who feel that spring really is here once they see their first one blooming along a local trail or on their property! We are very fortunate to have numerous places on our property where they grow much to our enjoyment. However, if you are not this lucky there are many close-by locations you are sure to see them now. Walk the Snoqualmie Valley Trail and they will be emerging along the moist hillsides and streams that you find in the semi-shaded regions. Most trails within the Tiger Mountain State Forest as well as the easy stroll to Twin Falls out east of North Bend all offer prime viewing. Likewise, they often are seen in large quantities on most semi-shaded moist slope along any hiking trail in the lower elevations of the Cascades. Very often you will see them growing along with ferns, salal, and yellow violets (which bloom at essentially the same time). You can certainly see where this flower got its name from by taking a closer look at the plant. Most of the structure of the trillium, such as leaves, pedals, flower parts, etc…) are exactly three in number. If not, they are in multiples of three. What a perfectly designed native flower! The flower grows from the top of a very sturdy stalk which rises out of the ground from the rhizome, which is the “storage root” of the plant.

I highly recommend if you already have a location within your garden which is landscaped as a native garden to consider adding the western trillium to the mix! It is available in fall as rhizomes from a number of native plant growers in the Pacific Northwest. But whether you have them in your yard or not be sure to try and sneak a peek at this triumphant signaling of “The Official Start of Spring”!

Just one photograph....

So yesterday I departed for what was long ago planned to be a 4+ day photography road trip to photograph many things in the Ochoco/John Day Highlands, with the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument being the key here. Long story short I'm back not 18 hours after leaving, many hundreds of miles driven, due to a family emergency. Alas, that is what can happen to the best laid out plans sometimes! I planned the details of this trip for the better part of 5 weeks! Leaving early this morning to get back to the home fort, I did pull off the highway climbing out of the Columbia River Gorge toward Goldendale...the wildflowers in the eastern gorge desert climates are stunning and totally prime right now. Don't believe me? Just look at the ONE image I took on the hundreds of miles driven trip that was 4+ days cut short. Shot out my truck window none-the-less, from the shoulder of the road near Dalles Mountain Road.

I promised myself a return next May to retry this again - I know first week of May always treats me right for these!

Western Trillium's annual kick off to spring

Many things mark the arrival of spring in our beautiful state. Some are not so thrilling to deal with - ticks and mosquitoes are already out with abundance at many locations in the state. But one thing that excites many of us is the “official” start to spring when the wildflowers of the lowlands begin their annual show. Over the past couple of weeks now one of the most beautiful wildflowers of our area has stirred to life: the western trillium!
While other wildflowers bloom earlier (such as skunk cabbage and palmate coltsfoot) the western trillium (Trillium ovatum) is close behind. It also is common to see it going by the name “western wake-robin” since it is one of the earlier species to bloom. I know many people who feel that spring really is here once they see their first one blooming along a local trail or on their property! We are very fortunate to have numerous places on our property where they grow much to our enjoyment. However, if you are not this lucky there are many close-by locations you are sure to see them now. Walk the Snoqualmie Valley Trail and they will be emerging along the moist hillsides and streams that you find in the semi-shaded regions. Most trails within the Tiger Mountain State Forest as well as the easy stroll to Twin Falls out east of North Bend all offer prime viewing. Likewise, they often are seen in large quantities on most semi-shaded moist slope along any hiking trail in the lower elevations of the Cascades. Very often you will see them growing along with ferns, salal, and yellow violets (which bloom at essentially the same time). You can certainly see where this flower got its name from by taking a closer look at the plant. Most of the structure of the trillium, such as leaves, pedals, flower parts, etc…) are exactly three in number. If not, they are in multiples of three. What a perfectly designed native flower! The flower grows from the top of a very sturdy stalk which rises out of the ground from the rhizome, which is the “storage root” of the plant.

I hope you get out and see some for yourself and while you are at it, keep letting me know what else you are seeing out there!

Spring at the Washington State capitol

It got a late start but spring is finally showing off at our state capitol in Olympia. Finally after a few tries over the past years I timed a visit there for when the cherry trees were in full bloom. Victory! The grounds in the courtyard between the Legislative Building (aka capitol come building) and the buildings of the House and Senate were also finely landscaped with literally thousands of daffodils. Other areas to the NE of the Legislative Building had rows of tulips that were just emerging and would offer fine photography opportunities in another week or two in the morning hours.

After well over an hour photographing around the courtyard I did my typical visit to interiors of buildings and also used more time than previous visits in the Temple of Justice where the State Supreme Court resides. Something about that building really draws me. Maybe it is because there is hardly anyone in there compared to the zoo that is happening under the capitol dome outside of the legislature rooms!

(photos: Washington State capitol in spring; interior of where the House Reps meet; interior areas of the Temple of Justice)

He is Risen!

Looking at today in Western Washington, you wouldn't see much brightness or hope even if you were a positive cheerful person - it's downright ugly outside and pouring! But...Happy Easter to everyone! While children may have had to endure indoor egg hunts (what's so wrong with having to look on top of church beams or under sofa cushions to find the eggs anyhow!!??) the rain today continues the "drab and depressing" spring weather we've endured for well over a month here. But today is special...it is a day of great hope and joy. I always feel like Easter is shown through the sunburst rays of sunlight coming out behind things...thus why I enjoy sharing images like these. To Christians today is most special. It is also special in its own way to almost anyone if they let today present itself for what it can offer -- my hope to all of you is that today brings you great joy, peace, and hope.

If you are feeling like you are running out of options even with difficulties in life, may today offer you a renewed positive hope and comfort that you really can move forward in life and put yourself in situations where joyful things will occur.

Turkey in the sky - and an April's Fool + 2 days

OK, what is going on here? Sure enough not an April Fool's joke, but maybe April Fool's + Two Days indeed to wake up with an inch of snow on the ground. Again!!?? My wife told me she would remove the wreath on our front door finally, but not until we stopped getting snow! That wreath does look nice there..... Ha!

In other news, today marked my first 2009 Snoqualmie Valley sighting of a Turkey Vulture soaring over the West Snoqualmie Valley Road. I've seen them as early as mid-March before but typically it is into April when I start seeing them. So at least something seems to be "on time" in this 2009 spring season we've had! This lone vulture was sure looking lazy and happy as it roamed over the fields of the valley. Soon I'll see groups of 7-12 of them at a time circling in the warm spring updraft winds! To some they are ugly birds, but nature's clean up crew are amazing Turkeys in the sky!

(photos: April Fool's + 2 days daffodil in yard; Turkey Vultures in the Snoqualmie Valley)

Skunks in the forest!

I get extra excited and antsy this time of the year. My nature wanderings take me to explore where the wildflowers can be viewed and photographed from April until at least July. While there are many spectacular native flowers that are still waiting “just around the corner” to put on their annual show, one beast of a native flower already has been showing off in areas around us and I just saw my first group of them for 2009. Skunk Cabbage (Lysichitum americanum) has long been one of the most amazing head-turning plants that I’ve ever seen!

I recall back as a child on a large farm in Oregon’s Willamette Valley when, in mid-March, these fascinating yellow “blobs” would begin to emerge from the swampy forest grounds lining our fields. I always was afraid to get near them! In early spring the skunk cabbage pokes its yellow (up to eight inches) flower and spike out of the wet area where it thrives. Sometimes, the green leaves will appear at the same time as the flowers, but most often, the bright yellow flowers are all that is seen for a week or so. The leaves are said to be the largest deciduous leaves in North America, growing to five feet in length! These large leaves were employed by virtually all western Washington tribes like waxed paper, for wrapping food, lining cooking pits, separating foods being cooked together, and drying berries on. The stinky, skunk-like smell they carry proves critical to this early blooming flower to attract small flies and gnats for pollination. Bees will pollinate the flower as well later in the spring once they become active. Native animals also rely on them as a food source as bears regularly dig up the underground rhizomes to eat, as they are packed with starch. As impressive as skunk cabbage may look, they also perform a miraculous feat each spring by generating their own heat to melt the snow away from them! If you catch the right time, you can put your finger into the cavity formed by the spathe (the bright yellow shield) and when you touch the flower head, your fingertip warms up noticeably. Biologists have found that skunk cabbage flowers produce warmth over a period of 12-14 days, remaining on average 68 degrees above the outside air temperature, whether during the day or night! This explains the remarkable sight of seeing a skunk cabbage flower emerged from the ground with snow still surrounding it, but a circular ring of snow melted away from the plant.

So put on your muddy boots or go for a drive past regional muddy wetlands and get out to enjoy the show of this "Skunk in the forest"!

The Chorus of Nature

March is a magical month of life in nature. Plants begin to grow and our daylight hours are filled with the songs of birds. Another choir of spring also starts to warm up, but this one is at night! Ah, one of my favorite parts of spring. The longer evening hours of warmth lead to that first night where darkness brings on a riot of singing from our hidden but noisy neighbors: the Pacific Tree Frogs! Just last night with it being a tad bit warmer outside, I heard my first chorus of them in the wetlands and valley around my property - and this mornning a small single visitor to the old fall leaves still laying at the edge of our yard was located by my border collie. Good dog!

The Pacific Tree Frog (Hyla regilla) can be found almost anywhere in our region. Woodlands, meadows, pastures, shrubs, small trees, flower gardens, and smack in the middle of your lawn! They often are found even in urban areas quite far from the nearest body of water! Their toes have sticky pads which allow them to climb about on plants with great agility. However they do tend to stay much closer to ground level than most tree frog species, preferring to remain within two feet of the ground most of the time. I have always been fascinated with the care these little creatures use in selecting areas to lay their eggs. The eggs are laid in early March to May in temporary ponds. Why? These temporary ponds are key because their predators such as brown salamanders and bullfrogs do not live or lay their eggs here! These other species require permanent water for their livelihood! By choosing temporary ponds (which will dry up by summer) instead of deep permanent ponds, Pacific Tree Frogs reduce the number of predators that may eat the tadpoles!

So just why do frogs sing? There are actually a wide variety of reasons! Sometimes, frogs sing when they are trying to attract a mate ("Hey there! Come and find ME!"). Sometimes, they sing to mark their territory ("Excuse me, this is MY lily pad!"). Other times, frogs sing because they know the weather is going to change or they even squeak when they are frightened or hurt! But at this time of year what stands out the most is the males call for attracting females. The male frogs are territorial and protect their part of the pond from other males by repeating their two-toned call at night. This call can be heard from as far as a mile or more away and attracts females who hop along to find where the males are hanging out. This loud call is so famous and "perfect" in a sense that even Hollywood has taken notice. The distinctive call of the Pacific Tree Frog is widely used in films for a "tropical" background! Once the eggs have been laid in the temporary pond (attached to a branch or clump of grass) the parents hop back to open forests and other places, leaving the young to fend for themselves. Thus begins the remarkable transformation of an egg to a tadpole and eventually to the young froglet which first grows back legs, then front legs, and then loses the trail to become a froglet. This happens by autumn and young frogs are mature at about one year of age. At that point their main predators are raccoons, herons, mink, bullfrogs, snakes, and other animals.

As March passes along and we get our first warm evenings that last well past dinnertime start keeping an ear open for this spring choir to kick into full swing! While it can be very difficult to spot these little fellows (they cease calling if they feel threatened) you can always sit back and enjoy knowing they are present nearby. Having Pacific Tree Frogs (or any species of frog for that matter) nearby is one of the strongest indications that we have a healthy ecosystem! These little amphibians are one of the first indicators of when an ecosystem is starting to struggle under pressure and we need to keep them happy if the rest of the natural cycle around us is to remain healthy and happy too!

When winter fades toward spring, there is hope and life

It is hard to not have a sense of great hope and new life every year that winter shows signs of easing and allowing spring to take control. It is such an uplifting experience and a feeling that you can't ignore when seeing how nature is screaming it in your face. With the concerns of virtually a million things on the minds of many of us, nature and the wheel of life around us continues to tell us a story, every day. Even if it means you get attracted to photograph old outhouses sometimes like the abandoned beauty in a farmyard I spotted this week, fully decorated as a focal point to the yard! This week while roaming about the back-roads of one of my favorite counties in Washington, Kittitas County, the day began somewhat a downer. My overly detailed plans for the day were blown to pieces immediately as the sun climbed above the eastern horizon of Whiskey Dick Mountain from the Kittitas Valley. My planned locations to be photographing the rising sunrise light on a pair of my favorite barns, and one old thrashing machine location, all while having a freshly snow-plastered Mount Stuart Range of mountains as the backdrop? Those plans were smashed to pieces in an instant! A freak band of low clouds crawled up and over from the south, hiding the sun just as it was about to crest the eastern horizon. By the time they would have move off to the north and allowed morning sunlight to fill the valley, Mount Stuart would have been long hidden behind those clouds north of my location. Nature can sure play cruel some days! I honestly admit it, I nearly just went on back home at that moment – I mean, how could I “waste” a day under these clouds in crummy light when it would be gorgeous at the home base getting a lot of work done there? Then, after allowing myself to calm down over matters, I decided I should at least go spend a hour driving around back roads in the region to check on trailhead access locations from my book Best Desert Hikes-Washington, which I had not been to a few since the original research was done six years ago already. While the renewed research was extremely valuable (one location near the Yakima Training Center has been altered some in access it appears – more on that later!) what happened afterwards brought out yet again why no day out is a waste of time.

Departing westward again but using back roads in the Kittitas Valley to do so, the sun came out warmly (well, 28* at 11:00am was more warm than the 16* I had that morning!) on my back. I revisited barns and farms I’ve passed many times and suddenly my creativity juices began to flow. I pulled out only my big lens and chose to only shoot rural scenes using 200-400mm for a focal length (that’s 300-600mm on the DSLR). This created an entire new dimension to what I’ve always shot there in the past – having to drive uphill out of the valley a bit above my target to be able to get the barn/house/fence/ etc… in view and also get a snowy Manastash Ridge behind it, for example. What fun I had!

Then the great sense of hope and new life hit…passing one farm after another, every herd of cows was dotted with newborns, some fields I counted upwards of 40+ baby calves that couldn’t have been more than a week old! I parked, stopped the motor, and just watched and listened. Oh sure, I took some photos as well. But this is where the utmost joy comes from my pursuit of sharing what excites me about what I see out there. Sometimes you just need to stop everything and see the small special things in life.

(photos top-to-bottom: farmyard abandoned outhouse decorated as nice interest point to the yard; pair of 'red barn' shots and snowy Manastash Ridge in the background-shot with 200-400mm lens, not up close; cute baby calf looking ready to take on the world!!)

Snow...just as expected, and on queue!

Aha, so I spout off about feeling all "springy" and things that were bright yesterday. The emerging Indian Plum, the frolicking Bald Eagles. Today? Snow! First light a snapshot out the window....later in the morning, more. Ah well, we'll have more this weekend so enjoy springs upcoming arrival. Maybe before July!

Calls for spring from nature

Oh how today brought thoughts of spring to my head. It wasn't warm by any means, just typical, but some sun breaks didn't hurt either. However it was nature that was telling me, "Hey there, we're starting to think about spring!" and that was what had me dropping what I was up to and just take in the story taking place around the property. Douglas Squirrels were tearing around the trees chasing each other (and that drove my border collie CRAZY!). Robins have replaced the presence of Varied Thrushes around the grounds, there even seems to be far fewer Dark-eyed Juncos roaming about. I had a drive-by stop at a feeder by an Evening Grosbeak, maybe since not being here all winter like they sometimes are it was passing by starting to migrate? Slugs seemed to be forming their assault forces ready to pounce on the property at moments notice once we have a warm evening. I'm sure the first night chorus of Pacific Tree Frogs can't be that far off! So on that note, I announce it to be the official start to the "Watch For Spring 2009" and I'll await hearing what stories you all might be starting to see as well. What a fun way to finish a weekend!

(photo - Douglas Squirrel, known to our border collie as "Douggie", works his way down a Western Red Cedar tree head first watching to see if our wonder dog is stalking it down below!)