Adam J. Blake

This weeks photo takes us again back to the archives. I took this photo at Hyas Lake near Kamloops. Sara and I stayed there overnight on our way back from Vancouver during summer 2012. This bright purple flower is European Columbine which not surprisingly is introduced here, unlike the three native Columbine species that occur in BC.

As mentioned in my last post Sara and I were in Stanley Park this past Thursday. I was pishing on the west side of Beaver Lake when we encountered a group of around 30 Golden-crowned Kinglets. In contrast with their usual behavior these Kinglets were extremely bold spending a lot of time in the open, low down in the shrubs layer. This particular Kinglet was kind enough to expose its red crown for the picture.

Sara and I spent the afternoon in Stanley Park enjoying the sunny weather. There was great late day light along the western seawall creating great photo opportunities like the one above. Look for some field notes here soon.

I haven’t felt very compelled to get out into the field in the last few weeks and my few recent outings haven’t been very productive photographically. This has left me with some time to catch up on my backlog of unprocessed photos. This weeks photo is from last summer’s roadtrip to Vancouver. On the return trip we took the Jasper Tramway up to the top of the Whistlers. You may recognize this shot of Mount Edith Cavell as one of the header images. I really like the green mats of vegetation juxtaposed with the blue of the mountains in the background. Look for a full set of field notes soon.

Sara recently finished her new cape (with hand appliquéd leaves) and wanted some high quality photos to share on the internet. A few nice photos turned into a small photo shoot with the lovely fall colours in the park across the street. This was my favourite photo from the day.

Last week I a took a quick trip to Colony Farm to look for migrating sparrows. Photo opportunities were slim with the withered vegetation and foggy light but on this grey day the bright fireweed leaves really caught my eye. This plant with the vibrant orange leaves and the pendulous remains of the fruit looks almost nothing like Fireweed during the growing season. These pendulous segments are formed when Fireweed’s fruit (a linear capsule) splits lengthwise to release hundreds of silky haired seeds.

Male Saffron-winged Meadowhawk

Sympetrum costiferum, Libellulidae
Grant Narrows, Pitt Meadows, British Columbia, Canada
Nikon D5100, 70-300 mm f/4.5-5.6
October 6, 2013

Male Autumn Meadowhawk

Sympetrum vicinum, Libellulidae
Grant Narrows, Pitt Meadows, British Columbia, Canada
Nikon D5100, 70-300 mm f/4.5-5.6
October 6, 2013

Female Shadow Darner

Aeshna umbrosa, Aeshnidae
Grant Narrows, Pitt Meadows, British Columbia, Canada
Nikon D5100, 70-300 mm f/4.5-5.6
October 6, 2013

A couple weeks ago I headed out to Grant Narrows following up on some reports of a Great Egret. After getting some good views of the Egret from the northern viewing tower, I took a short walk down the Nature Trail. I was again impressed by the diversity of odonates. I was surprised to see any dragonflies flying in October let alone three species. After some reading I found my surprise was misplaced as several dragonflies in Southern BC fly well into October with the flight period of the Shadow Darner extending into early November.

I snapped this weeks photo on my way back from Grant Narrows. The flood of bright red cranberries right out of an Ocean Spray commercial caused a mini-traffic jam of amateur photographers like myself. Those unfamiliar with cranberries might be wondering what’s going on here. Cranberries contain four air pockets within the fruit making them float in water. Farmers make use of this fact during harvesting by flooding the fields, corralling the berries to one corner, and pumping them out with the water.

This weeks photo is yet another weed from Colony Farm. This plant is related to Common Yarrow but this specimen is lacking ray flowers, which made the ID tricky. This species is fairly new to the province and as a consequence is missing from most reference material but it is listed by E-flora BC.