Saturday, May 30, 2009

the deer fairy

Today i haven't been out of the yard. (yet)
And really why should i?

Deer on our driveway


And even a fairy
Destiny.

Deer
bouncing of into the forest
where did the fairy go?
she dances among trees
taking me
into her stories
she reads to me
we wish we were fairies
living with deer
sleeping on moss
and i dream
to be free
Alexander took this picture later in the day.

Ahhh, always when gardening i feel a little stuck. And even the wind that i love, seems to tire me out sitting here seeding the carrots.
What is it that i always need to move, or just lay down and enjoy.
Gazing, i call it.
I love gazing at my garden
It is quite the wilderness, more wild every year it seems.(did i do a post on this already?)
Anyway, i never seem to be able to control it, because beside that i don't like hard work, i want everything to live, all the weeds.(and all the stories)
So i try to keep some sort of balance. Today i froze the first meal of fireweed shoots. When i would let all the fireweed grow, that's what i would have, a sea of magenta.
Well wouldn't that be lovely, maybe one year i let it be.
Today i am happy to find other treasures. The poppies are blooming here and there, there are lupines and jacob's ladder, the bluebells.
And oh dear, i am so happy that my, transplanted from the wild, blue berry bush is blooming, pink bells.

And now i am going to have a bath. The evening sun shining bright through the big window into my tub. Don't you love it. I do:)

Friday, May 29, 2009

An Elk calf!



Thanks Virginia!!
The LaPrairies Bison Range. May 28 2009
This little calf is probably less than 10 days old
Apparently elk calf get on their feet after 10 days

sweet soft rain

It's a crocus gone to seed
standing
in the rain
I float down
lay right beside it
nurtured by the moisture
and caressed
by the crocus' fluff



For some reason this afternoon, i started doing housework because it was raining.
What a strange thing to do :) When Alexander was little(long time ago) we used to run out and feel it, catch it, play in it, wait for puddles. OK rain is rarity here.

another crocus' seed heads

Anyway i came to my senses, the vacuum cleaner still sitting here in the middle of the room.
And walk out in the oh so light rain.
I go around the pond, towards 'maria' mnt. come up by the "muffin' rock
and stayed low on the mountain, crossing it sideways. Just above the trees, so i can see the view.
See, i am all different, normally i am always so gang-ho for the top.

saskatoon blossom

You know i had never walked this way. The view all soft green and grey. The green color of moose skull exquisite.
But crossing the bedrock side ways wonderful, (more than that.)
It's here where birds live and little animals; i see a chipmunk (Rachel, at the waxing moon, has a good picture today!)

saskatoon bush

And off course all the flowers. I have many more pictures today, but this has to suffice.
The prickly saxifrage is starting to bloom, i came upon 4 flowers, there will be millions on this hill alone soon. They are white with tiny orange specks.
The pussytoes are blooming newly. I found the draba again and more of them. Hopefully i will positively identify it today, with the help of the photos i took.
And all the other flowers mentioned before are blooming more abundantly and bigger blossoms.

On the way home, even the crocus is still blooming, now it's purple set of against the wet brown leaves on the forest floor.

wild horses





wild horses
kicking dust
feathers
taking me up
all is beauty

ah humility
I am so high now
dangerously
maybe floating of this planet
loosing everything
that i never had
back to the beginning
being less than nothing
ahhhh
wild horses
and feathers


ps this horse is one of a group of wild horses, that have turned wild years ago.


pssst don't tell anyone, it's apparently illegal for them to roam free, but i love them so much. And one day when this all is park, which it should be, illigal for me to take feathers. What do you think?

Thursday, May 28, 2009

Brown-headed Cowbird




At LaPrairies farm, May 24 2009
I don't know much about this bird, it is a rarity in the Yukon, according to the bird book. I suppose it is more common down south.
So please feel free to tell me all sorts of stories!!!
I always love that, quite often people tell me stories about nature that are far more exciting than mine anyway.
And the thing is, i am very busy today again.
And would love it if you finish this post for me:)

Monday, May 25, 2009

Wood Frog

Rana sylvatica.

Ah that was easy. It is basically the only frog in the Yukon.
I had quite the time today, identifying what i have seen. Actually, you might think because i write it down here, i recognize all those birds, insects, flowers, animals. I kind of do, but most often have to check my books.

The day started off easy. Just because Mary was here really. She sees and knows so much.
(she is off hiking in Kluane park). I caught a ride with her to go to the 911-pond.

ha, what happened? Suddenly it is almost midnight, i will finish this post in the morning. See you!

Red-disked Alpine

Red-necked Phalarope

??? hooded Merganser, but could that be?
May 31 2009. Mary suggests it is a Hooded Merganser and on the right a Horned Grebe.
Even more exciting. Thanks Mary

Anyway my friend she brings over some flowers from beside the highway, the wild sweet pea(Hedysarum mackenzii) and a gorgeous German(Ben). I get to keep only the first.
We check out my nesting Flicker, he/she (the male apparently has a moustache) is in the tree by the clothes line.
On our way driving on the highway, she spots a cute but prickly porcupine.
And from there on i am on my own again. As i come to the pond, there is one swan, from the white pair, it disappears in the marsh grass, and later walking around the pond i cannot find them (which is normal, they know how to blend in).
There is less ducks today, most have gone on to there nesting places farther north.
There are still Scaups, Gulls, Swallows, for sure.
A real treat is two Phalaropes, they nest on the far northern coast.
And the bottom photo, i hope you can tell me. yes?
and then there is quite a number of Red-winged Blackbirds, with their wonderful sound or was it song Mary?

This year actually here at the pond there is less water, then last year, and i enjoy walking closer to the pond. The butterflies stay on the ground in between the wet marsh grass and the forest. Many of those dark Alpines, with a red flash best visible when flying. On the photo you see it sitting on a big Bison poop, sorry, it just happened to be the best photo to see its pattern on the wings.

I walk elsewhere and guess what, I find those red-necked (that is not their name, but refers to the dirt on their necks) Swans. (should i put up another photo? i love those swans, but don't want to bother you with too many photos)
The build a nest in a very visible spot. I hope for them it is safe enough. I will quietly check up on them often. (Really that's no help to them of course.)

It is another gorgeous day, hot as we want it to be. In the evening some dark rain clouds come over while the sun keeps shining, a low faint rainbow appears.
I welcome the rain, as i did even do some seeding again today.
I wonder Zee, i wish as you, i could put more love into it, but i do it too fast and consequently messily. The potatoes will be OK, they are my speciality (they are easy going)

Sunday, May 24, 2009

wild bunny!


Well there it is, a baby animal of the wild!
A young Snowshoe Hare.
It sits on the road, not shy at all. As we walk up to it, Tara, Kathy and me, it only quietly hops back into the forest as we are only a few metres away.

I am always surprised by gifts like this. As i was just talking about it yesterday.
You might think, well that happens. To me it's more then that, and works the other way too :) As i was kind of discrediting myself for not being the perfect wilderness woman (the quad and all), that very night i am called upon not being the perfect woman, ha!

My evening walk was lovely, i came upon the first blooming Lupines! missed the setting sun, as it goes down behind the hill now. Beautiful orangy sky and owls hooting (oops i made that up, not too many owls this year.)

And here some perfect rabbit food, plantain.
I saw it blooming a few days ago.



Yesterday it was one of the flowers in the field.
A field full, i say full! of Northern Jasmine, yellow potentilla, the big faded crocuses, catching the light. And here and there a Plantain, an Arabis and a Saxifraga.
All set among the grey of the prairie sage.
(No place to set our feet, so we drove over them.)

Saturday, May 23, 2009

farm animals

Last week Destiny showed me baby rabbits and today the week old baby goat.




In the wild there is animals being born too, but couldn't find any:)
So i went to Destiny's and in the afternoon to LaPrairie's.
Virginia and i went out on the Quads. Ahhh i know, wilderness woman on a farm on a quad.
First we go to find the Bison, only finding a big group right by the hay. We look for cows with calfs in the forested part of the field. Can't find any and leave the field to go down to the river. Through all other fields, one is, i say a 30 acres meadow, full of the little flowers that i have been finding lately.

Hey my life is not a perfect field of flowers,
Don is mad at me,
complaining
i am not the housewife
he wishes me to be
I know that
and don't have to listen
to his gramophone
so that's the end of this post
it's a nice evening
i'll be out there in my nighty
for a bit
maybe you want to come
and walk with me
to catch those last sun rays
of this day....

Friday, May 22, 2009

Dancing Yellow Legs

high pressure
flowers burst into bloom
birds do a ballet
and i?
i dream
loving the heat
how come clouds do move in?







more flowers blooming:
a Stellaria
Golden Corydalis
Coltsfoot
Goose berry
bear berry

Thursday, May 21, 2009

Spring Azure

All things summery are here!
Except the Birch sap is not running yet.
That's where i went today, but as there was no sap, i climb up my mountain in the back here.
The Blues are on the wing, lots of them, these two i actually saw two days agoI think it is a Spring Azure. It's a little bright blue butterfly, fluttering around blue, but when it comes to rest,you only see its underwings, grey.

I climbed the hill from the west.
looking South with in between the little lake, Moose Skull Lake.


Flowers everywhere and this (and the one above) is the Saxifraga nivalis.


The red plant you see on the rock everywhere is the Prickly Saxifrage, the most common one, it is almost blooming.
What else was blooming today here in the yard, the wild strawberries!

who are you?

I am much to big
among you tiny
flowers everywhere
where do i place
my big feet?
my eyes can't see
your minute detail
I am lost
on the hill side
dazzling in the sun
who are you?
belonging
underneath this rock
you look so
special
but
are you just
another mustard?
gloriously
confusing me


(anybody out there, please let me know if you have any suggestions)

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Moss campion

My most favorite flower!
(more pictures in my wildflower blog)
I didn't know i was going to see and smell it today, and was very happy to do so.
First summer hike into the alpine, well almost... It
is at the tree line, as you see on it's flat top, one clump of spruce trees.
As this is what you see from the highway, I have called it 'nipple' Mountain:)

I will hopefully be on this mountain a few times this summer, as i have been last year. It is the closest way for me to get into the alpine, right from my house. The first 2 km. i ride my bike.
It is by no means an easy hike. Today it took me 6 hours there and back. i have done it faster. Only the first part is marked (by me). I have written about it before, and don't want to repeat myself now. Every part of this hike is wonderful, and too much to the describe all the different sights. I took a slightly different route today. But was caught by Alders. Climbing uphill in Alders, they grab you and snare you.
Ahh but taking on step at the time, i find many treasures among them. It's a land of big boulders, big spruce, vistas and little ponds. First i think i was progressing very slow in this part. The Mountain, when i get a glimpse,kept seeming far ahead, k but then suddenly.
Untangling myself from those alders, i see a rock slide, grey sharp boulders, full of fragrant Ferns growing in between them. And realize i am higher as i thought.
Now it is only a short climb to the top.

Ha! didn't get a better picture, as i take many of the Moss Campion.
But you get the picture, I am high up, where i love to be!

On the way down, i make sure i steer clear from too much alder.
All though going down hill, It just a way of letting myself fall through them. They bend to let me go.
I intercept a lovely spring creek,
It makes pools in the leaves on the forest floor.

Monday, May 18, 2009

Pink Mountains

I wasn't going to post anymore tonight
but as i stepped outside
the white mountain tops in the South pink
the sun setting in the North-West
the Flickers had finally come to rest
as the two of them where quietly chatting
seemingly having chosen a tree right in front of the house
i had to talk to you all
wanting to tell

Yellow-shafted Northern Flicker

this is one of them this morning
they have been screaming
flying around my house all day

then i find here at the blog your comments
so, i am happy i came
to chat quietly with you

That reminds me someone else who came buzzing out today. We actually do have an attic occupant here. He showed his face today. It's a Carpenter Bee, a great big fellow. He has been living with us for years, has given us no trouble, so he is allowed to stay.

I worked in the garden some more today, actually loving it. We eat the greens that grow where i don't want it. And maybe you understand; only young shoots and very young leaves. It is an acquired taste. Alexander said: oh no, we are into this time of year again :( , meaning the kind of salads we eat from now on, for a while. I smile, because he does eat them.

Later Don and i drove to Kusawa Lake. The ice at the lake is actually also quiet this year. Sometimes it goes more....uhmm i don't mean noisy, but it will push up the shore, or fall away in big chunks or long candles. Now it seems to retreat quietly.



And here is Kusawa River with Mnt. Vanier in the back. The road to the lake follows this river. It is low, this time of year.
It's name actually Takhini River, but that's another story.

Sunday, May 17, 2009

Arabis

Ah, the weather is better. This morning i woke with the sun shining brightly in my bedroom. I do love that. (I also love to go to bed in the bright sun, but that hasn't happened quite yet.
Today i worked in the garden most of the day(after sleeping in that is)
My garden is rather wild, even what is to be the vegetable patch. I have a hard time not letting the wild creep in, or straightening out what is wild.
We just had dinner: the potatoes, still from last year's garden, Moose gravy and the salad 50% wild greens. I think i mentioned it already, but here it is again (different everyday anyway); dock, fireweed, plantain, raspberry leaves, bluebell leaves(the mertensia, not a true bluebell).

I did make it up the hill though and found yet another flowering plant.
I think this year because of the extra moisture(snowmelt) there is lots blooming on the hillside. This one an Arabis nutttalliii, i believe. a rock cress.
The flower slightly larger than yesterday's. The petals 5mm the inflorescence 1.5cm.

And last week Mary noticed that the kinnikinnick is blooming. These flowers taste delicious!


Sunrise 5.10 AM Sunset 10.46 PM

Saturday, May 16, 2009

Golden-crowned Sparrow

Shorts you said?
We are back to winter clothes. It is sunny, but the wind is sooo cold.
Which makes it a good day to spend behind the window, on the computer:)
Which remind me that at the 14th of May, it was that i finally had a Purple Finch at the feeder. My records are.... disturbing. Or when you don't want to believe in global warming, quite uplifting:
2001 - May 13
2002 - May 7
2005 - April 23
2006 - April 15
2007 - May 2
2008 - May 8
2009 - May 14
As i add 2001, i see we haven't go anywhere. Maybe all is good and this beautiful little red bird arrives right on time.

A new discovery for me:
The Golden-crowned Sparrow


And she might just live right here behind the house.
Yesterday Mary noticed her call, and today there she is, showing herself!
About birdsong, when i am with Mary, i am pretty pleased with myself, recognizing the birds by sound. Today without her.....

Kip's puddle is just wonderful! Lots of the waterbirds are there this year, a 2 minute walk from my house.
Where as moose skull lake and teapot pond, are kind of deserted this spring. This morning at moose skull, there were maybe 3 birds on the lake, even the gulls had left.
At teapot pond, which i didn't yet go around totally, it's a group of ponds actually.
Not much better; I did hear the frogs! 3 ducks flew off, and i did spot a pair of Barrow's Goldeneyes
Aren't they beautiful?

On my Yukon Wildflower blog, i posted some flowers today, but here is the Northern Jasmine, she's tiny, her petals...hmmmm i have to go out there and measure.
here in the big book of Yukon flora, it doesn't even talk about petals, but lobes are 0.5 to 1mm long. Is that 1/32 of an inch? OK she is small :) a candle for the fairies. (Added the next day) Cody got all his mm mixed up, why did i believe him?
Because he wrote a scientific book? Anyway it is 5mm to 10mm which is mr. Cody o.5cm to 1cm. Which is more like 1/4 of an inch. Right? Anyway, the once up the hill are 3mm. 1/8 inch.(flowers blooming later will be bigger)
Fairy-candelabra.

Friday, May 15, 2009

Lapland Longspurs

Some of them are still around here. But to set things straight; they are Longspurs not Larkspurs.
According to Mary Whitley, named so for one toe, the hallux, that is much longer than the rest. In the comments, the happy trappers (see link at the bottom)
added some interesting information too. Apparently the males raise the young males and the females raise the young females. Is that correct Bryan/Vikki? That is interesting!

Today Mary came out here to do some birding with me.
I learned so much!! Thanks Mary.
I will try to write down here, while taking you on the tour,what i remember.

First we go to a Mendenhall meadow. (what's new?)
walking through the forest, Mary recognizes most of the birds that we hear.
Coming out onto the meadow, she almost immediately hears the Red-winged Blackbird.
As it doesn't want to show itself, Mary gets herself tangled in the willows, and soon i see it fly off;
A beautiful shiny blackbird flashing its red stripe on its wings.
Later at the end of this tour, we see it sitting in the tree and see the yellow shoulder patch.
We are on our way to the 911-pond, but look at every bird on the way.
We flush a duck of her nest (sorry by accident). Probably a Mallard, she has 1 egg, but will probably lay many more in the nest. One would never find the nest, if you didn't know where it was, under the trees on the ground in the long dry grass.
We chase a nuthatch, but it is to smart for us.
At the pond, we see a few different species of shorebirds.
Lots of Scaups, and all the regulars that i posted a few days ago.
Another new discovery; A Surf Scoter. Just one.
It is blustery cold here, so after half an hour or so, we go back.
And at the pond where we started, we see 2 Swans, different ones than the ones in the 911-pond.


Different, because these have red necks. They are the same species; Trumpeter Swans, and the red, because of the mud they have been digging in.

We have lunch at home and after we climb the hill, because of the Townsend's Solitaires. We don't see or hear them.
I am on my hand and knees again, there is more flowers blooming.
More little yellow roses and they are indeed the Potentilla nivea(snow).
The Northern Jasmine, the tiniest you can imagine. later in the spring they will be larger. And maybe tonight I'll go back for a photo. Because i also want to make a positive identification for a certain Saxifrage, that is almost blooming.

We walk over the hill toward Moose Skull Lake, and there is one duck, only, on the whole, still half frozen lake.
One bird, but Mary is very happy, so that makes me happy, because she says, these go North and are not seen by many people in their summer plumage.
It's a Long-tailed Duck, formerly know as the Oldsquaw.
Maybe i walk by the lake too, tonight :) to get a good photo of him, He was sleeping this afternoon, far out in the middle of the lake.

I did get a nice photo of a Ruffed Grouse, his crop full of food.

Looking at it now, i do wonder if it was a Spruce Grouse????
No, it's not, I say it is a female Ruffed Grouse, positively:)
What were Mary and I saying? When we keep studying, looking into things deeper and deeper, it all becomes simple again....everything made up out of energy...spinning matter in space....I better stop my head's spinning.

One more thing: I have a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, living in my yard! Yippee.

The Happy Trappers

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Too much :)

I am so spoiled!!!
The first gift came when i was still feeling sorry for myself.


A flock of Lapland Larkspurs flies right by my window.
One poor thing hits it, but as you see quite alive, and on his way rather fast.


These birds are on their way, to the Arctic or high mountain tops. They stay around all day.


2nd gift: right in the puddle at Kip's (the neighbor) are at least a dozen Northern Shovelers(see photo), a Pintail and those great, Lesser Yellowlegs.


I am just not going far today, still it keeps coming.
As i lay my face on the warm rock to be caressed, if it was the skin of a lover.
I see the moss blooming.


And there is more, this a bryophyte blooming.


Same plant, i will find out tonight all their proper names.


Feeling happier now, i walk down the hill and receive yet another gift.
A yellow rose!


probably a Potentilla nivea
a cinquefoil
from indeed the rose family

And last but not least, thanks for friends lifting me!