Montana Outdoors

Fairy Slippers ~ The little orchids called Calypso

montucky — Thu, 16 May 2013 02:35:27 +0000

A few days ago I mentioned that I had feared that I might have missed seeing Springbeauties this year. I also had that feeling about Fairy Slippers, having seen only two so far. Today as I returned from a hike up beyond Sheep Gap on the old road just north of Sunset Peak, just about a mile above the new trail head for the Sacajawea Peak Trail I found dozens of these beautiful little wildflowers in full bloom alongside Forest Service Road 7581; a cause for celebration. (Calypso, the goddess daughter of Atlas, was a beautiful sea nymph who was hidden in the woods.)

May wildflowers

montucky — Mon, 13 May 2013 02:12:09 +0000

After the late arrival of warm weather, the wildflowers in this part of Western Montana have been hurrying to catch up with spring. Here are more that have started blooming in May:

Miner’s Lettuce, Claytonia perfoliata

Unknown

Western Blue Clematis, Clematis occidentalis

Heart-leaf Arnica , Arnica cordifolia

Fairy Slipper, Calypso Orchid , Calypso bulbosa

Falsebox, Mountain Boxwood, Oregon Boxwood, Paxistma myrsinites

Blue-eyed Mary, Collinsia parviflora

Yellow Wood Violet, Viola glabella

Arrow-leaved Balsamroot, Balsamorhiza sagittata

Serviceberry, Saskatoon, Amelanchier alnifolia

Antelope Bitterbrush, Antelope-brush, Purshia tridentata

Sticky Purple Geranium, Sticky Geranium, Geranium viscosissimum

Woolly Groundsel, Packera cana

Ground Ivy, Glechoma hederacea

Largeflower Triteleia, Triteleia grandiflora

Meadow Death Camas, Common Death Camas, Zigadenus venenosus

Small-flowered Woodland-star, Small-flowered Prairie-star, Lithophragma parviflorum

Holly-leaf Oregon-grape, Shining Oregongrape, Tall Oregongrape, Berberis aquifolium

Unknown shrub

Common Hawkweed, Hieracium lachenalii

Two-lobe Larkspur, Upland Larkspur, Delphinium nuttallianum

Spring Beauties

montucky — Sat, 11 May 2013 03:18:30 +0000

Having not encountered any of these in my wanderings in the valley this spring, I feared that I had missed seeing them this year…

Lanceleaf Springbeauty, Claytonia lanceolata

but here they are, growing next to snowbanks where they like it most,

Big Hole Lookout trail

and as usual, these are blooming along with them.

Glacier Lily, Avalanche Lily, Erythronium grandiflorum

Early morning jewelry

montucky — Thu, 09 May 2013 02:19:50 +0000

Field horsetail, Equisetum arvense

To see these displaying their jewelry, you must find them at just the right stage of their development and catch them early in the morning after a cool night when the humidity has been just right. For some reason tiny drops of dew will form on them and on nothing else around.

Fairybells

montucky — Wed, 08 May 2013 02:42:41 +0000

Rough-fruited Fairybells, Disporum trachycarpum

Today’s flora & fauna

montucky — Tue, 07 May 2013 02:02:09 +0000

On today’s walk with the canine member of the family:

Prairie Smoke, Old Man’s Whiskers, Purple Avens, Geum triflorum

Field Chickweed, Cerastium arvense

Early blue violet, Viola adunca

Long-flower Bluebells, Mertensia longiflora

Bighorn Sheep, Ovis canadensis

Aging so beautifully…

montucky — Thu, 02 May 2013 03:45:21 +0000

Their petals change to pink or purple as they age.

Pacific Trillium, Trillium ovatum ~ found blooming today at Munson Creek

Lichens and moss

montucky — Sun, 28 Apr 2013 04:16:53 +0000

In my wanderings on a rainy day last week I encountered an area along a creek in a very narrow canyon where the rocks and cliffs were simply covered with moss and lichens. I personally know very little about most lichens, but thought someone might be interested in seeing them and so I am posting the following photos with no narrative except a possible identification of two of the lichen species.

Umbilicaria phaea Tuck.

Umbilicaria mammulata

Monday morning, April 22

montucky — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 17:25:43 +0000

The river this morning:

Interesting day

montucky — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 02:17:06 +0000

After a heavy rain during the night there was a very light rain this morning and I found several more flowers blooming near the river.

Holboell’s rockcress, Boechera pendulocarpa ~ Arabis holboellii

Narrow-leaved Desert Parsley, Lomatium triternatum

And a member of the Saxifrage family that I have seen before but just now identified.

Peak Saxifrage, Micranthes nidifica

Soon after these photos were take it began to snow…. hard! Five hours later and after about five inches of heavy, wet snow it looked like this:

After taking the previous photo I headed back to the house, then instead of going in, decided to hike down near the river and perhaps get an interesting photo in the storm. On the way, about a quarter of a mile from the house I heard a loud crack and looked toward the sound just in time to see a large dead pine tree fall across the highway. I headed straight for it to stop and direct traffic and perhaps remove enough of the tree to permit traffic flow. There was too much tree on the road, but a pickup stopped and two men got out to help, leaving their truck with flashers on to block the lane that was completely blocked by the tree. I jogged back to the house for my chain saw while they directed traffic. When I returned it took just a few minutes for the three of us to cut enough of the tree to clear the roadway and get traffic moving again. I’m glad the tree didn’t wait until dark to fall!

An interesting day!