Lesser Yellowlegs

I jumped on my bike towards the 911 pond, to meet my friends; the Lesser Yellowlegs. And here is finally a photo. What a graceful flyer! It flies so close to me, because again I am in their territory and I don't know if they like it. I promise to always know my place. Talking about that, I try to be very respectful in nature. today I walked by one single blooming violet. What a treat, I have never seen them around here. Can you imagine if I by accident had stepped on it!

Anyway, back to the beginning, As soon as I am on the trail, I come to the Queen of the woods. The Larkspur is blooming.It's a big column, one and a half meter high, And a queen it is, she's elegant, beautiful, deep blue in color. She knows her place too as she is not...... She is related to the garden delphinium, which is more of a 'show-of'. The open path here, (fire-smart) is full of blues and yellows. I come upon another treasure, that is newly blooming, a purple Astragalus, a Milk vetch. It smells like sweet peas! It is from the pea family and today I promise to find out who she exactly is. As I sweep down the bank towards the highway, here there is no sign of a trail, and it appears I come straight out of the woods. There are two bicyclist on the road. It is a happy meeting. They are Swiss and they are biking from Prudhoe Bay to Vancouver. Amazing! They had been tried by the weather today, and I was also dressed for rain and cold, but as it turns out by the time I come back it is warmer and definitely sunnier. I am happy for them too.

At the 911 pond the grass is so green and tall. It is rippling in the wind. There is no duck in sight as the water is rough. I also see no sign of the Swans. I hope one is peacefully sitting on the nest and not visible because of the tall grass. Because there are no birds to look at I wander a little farther to the South on the east side of the pond. I am wearing my rain boots. The terrain here is.... marsh land.I find an egg-shell. It really looks like a regular chicken egg, I wonder who is it from. Let me know if you might have a suggestion. I come to more little ponds in the green,green grass. The water here is still rough, but less so and I do see 2 Lesser Scaups and 2 Buffle heads, males and females. The male Bufflehead by it self , and in another pond the three others together. This is kind of where I saw the 2 moose last time and I don't want to venture any further, in case I run in to them. or rather mother Moose running into me. On my way back I climb a tree to see if I can see the Swans. I am almost blown out of the tree and Ha! there are my friends, one in the grass, 50 yards from me, and others start flying and screaming at me. Time to go. I still do meet a Savanna Sparrow, and some Red-winged Black-birds.

One more note, as for the color blue, beside the many blue flowers and butterflies on the trail, there are the blue dragonflies. One is a Enallagma, a Boreal or Northern Bluet! And for the color yellow. Higher up I find a bright yellow butterfly, which is a Clouded Sulpher( Colias philodice).