Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: Castilleja miniata

The day before yesterday, 27 July 2019, was such an enjoyable day, with a few lovely surprises. We had been invited to do a bio-blitz (i.e. list every plant, tree, bird, insect, fungi, etc. species) on the property belonging to Dennis Apedaile and family. This forested area is NW of Cochrane, reached by a beautiful road that was new to us. The night before the trip was SO hot indoors (no air-conditioning), I didn't get even one minute of sleep all night. The early morning started off with our first sighting - one of the neighbourhood Jackrabbits, seen when we were leaving our leader's house. The next sighting, and unfortunately only seen by me, came as a total surprise. We were driving along the highway when I spotted a black dog in a field. I was a bit surprised to see it wandering on its own. OMG, it's not a dog, it's a Black Bear!! We were going too fast and passed it before anyone else could see it. Wish I had thought about trying to get a photo - no time, anyway. Nine of us from Calgary took part in this bioblitz, along with three ladies from the Summer Village on Ghost Lake. We were also joined by about 12 members of Dennis & Charlotte’s family, their friends and neighbours. A fun, most enjoyable group of interesting people. Our group took our lunch with us, but we were encouraged to also help ourselves to the delicious food provided. The morning and part of the afternoon were spent on a slow walk along various forest trails on the Apedaile's acreage. We came across all sorts of wildflowers, the odd insect, and yes, we even found a few mushrooms, including Aspen Boletes. Birds were almost non-existent! I spotted a Hummingbird that flew to one of the feeders, a Black-capped Chickadee flitted about in the trees near the house, and someone noticed a Red-breasted Nuthatch. Everyone was thrilled to bits to suddenly notice something fairly small flying in all directions near a fire pit, that had a tangle of dead branches and a few pieces of wood piled up. It was a Little Brown Bat! After a few seconds, it flew into this pile, hid from view, and stayed there. When it was time to leave, we began walking towards our cars, when suddenly the wind became very strong and it started to rain. It didn't last long, but unfortunately, we had to make a very hurried departure. Thank you so much, Dennis and Charlotte, for letting us come and explore your wonderful property! Having you all come along with us made the visit even more enjoyable. Thanks, too, to good friends, Dorothy and Stephen, for driving four of us there and back. As always, so much appreciated.

For those unfamiliar with this species, the pink parts are the bracts; the very small, narrow, green parts (only one can be seen in this photo) are the actual flowers Yesterday, 27 July 2019, was such an enjoyable day, with a few lovely surprises. We had been invited to do a bio-blitz (i.e. list every plant, tree, bird, insect, fungi, etc. species) of the property belonging to Dennis Apedaile and family. This forested area is NW of Cochrane, reached by a beautiful road that was new to us. The early morning started off with our first sighting - one of the neighbourhood Jackrabbits, seen when we were leaving our leader's house. The next sighting, and unfortunately only seen by me, came as a total surprise. We were driving along the highway when I spotted a black dog in a field. I was a bit surprised to see it wandering on its own. OMG, it's not a dog, it's a Black Bear!! We were going too fast and passed it before anyone else could see it. Wish I had thought about trying to get a photo - no time, anyway. Going to have to finish my description shortly, as it is 2:15 pm and I have not yet had breakfast or lunch! Thankfully, it was not hot last night and I was able to sleep for much of this morning. The night before the trip was SO hot indoors (no air-conditioning), I didn't get even one minute of sleep all night. Later .... Nine of us from Calgary took part in this bioblitz, along with three ladies from the Summer Village on Ghost Lake. We were also joined by about 12 members of Dennis & Charlotte’s family, their friends and neighbours. A fun, most enjoyable group of interesting people. Our group took our lunch with us, but we were encouraged to also help ourselves to the delicious food provided. The morning and part of the afternoon were spent on a slow walk along various forest trails on the Apedaile's acreage. We came across all sorts of wildflowers, the odd insect, and yes, we even found a few mushrooms, including Aspen Boletes. Birds were almost non-existent! I spotted a Hummingbird that flew to one of the feeders, a Black-capped Chickadee flitted about in the trees near the house, and someone noticed a Red-breasted Nuthatch. Everyone was thrilled to bits to suddenly notice something fairly small flying in all directions near a fire pit, that had a tangle of dead branches and a few pieces of wood piled up. It was a Little Brown Bat! After a few seconds, it flew into this pile, hid from view, and stayed there. When it was time to leave, we began walking towards our cars, when suddenly the wind became strong and it started to rain. It didn't last long, but unfortunately, we had to make a very hurried departure. Thank you so much, Dennis and Charlotte, for letting us come and explore your wonderful property! Having you all come along with us made the visit even more enjoyable. Thanks, too, to good friends, Dorothy and Stephen, for driving the four of us there and back. As always, so much appreciated.

Today, I'm taking a break from posting images taken in Waterton Lakes National Park, and instead adding three photos taken yesterday (23 July 2015), closer to home. Five of us spent the day botanizing the land belonging to Darryl Teskey, SW of Calgary and SW of Millarville (maybe a 40-minute drive from the city). This was the first time I had been there and I'm so glad I went - I would have missed all sorts of things, including a family of Ruffed Grouse and several fungi. Fortunately, the rain stayed away until we started driving back to Calgary. Quite a lot of black clouds, reminding me of the tornado that passed through Calgary just the day before (22 July 2015). Our walk took us over grassland and through forest, everywhere treacherous with so many fallen logs which were often barely visible. I have never, ever seen so many tiny Skipper butterflies - there must have been hundreds or even thousands of these bright orange beauties that were flying or perched on flowers of every colour. Our purpose, as always, was to find and list everything that we saw - wildflowers, trees, grasses, birds, insects, fungi, etc.. Our leader then compiles an extensive list of our finds and this is later sent to the landowner, along with any photos that we might take. Always a win/win situation, as the landowner then has a much better idea of just what is on his property - and we have a most enjoyable day. This summer, with so many botanizing outings like this, plus two 3-day trips to Waterton Lakes National Park, I am so behind with the photos that I need to edit and e-mail! "Castilleja, commonly known as Indian paintbrush or prairie-fire, is a genus of about 200 species of annual and perennial herbaceous plants native to the west of the Americas from Alaska south to the Andes, northern Asia, and one species as far west as the Kola Peninsula in northwestern Russia. These plants are classified in the broomrape family, Orobanchaceae (following major rearrangements of the order Lamiales starting around 2001; sources which do not follow these reclassifications may place them in the Scrophulariaceae). They are hemiparasitic on the roots of grasses and forbs. The generic name honors Spanish botanist Domingo Castillejo." From Wikipedia. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castilleja

I love to see Indian Paintbrush - so many different colours and I'm never sure which is my favourite. These deep pink ones were growing near the edge of a backroad NW of Calgary, mixed in with others that were peach coloured, green or yellow. I always think of these flowers as being found up in the mountains, so was surprised (and happy) to see them in this area. The actual flowers are the very small, green parts (seen in the upper part of the photo), and the pink are bracts. This native plant belongs to the Orobanchaceae family. The generic name honours Spanish botanist Domingo Castillejo. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castilleja Two days ago, on 5 July 2014, I decided at the last minute that I just couldn't take being in an "oven" any more. Not complaining about the hot, sunny weather we are having at the moment, but my house turns into an oven and then tends to stay that way for many days or weeks afterwards. I left the house later than I had hoped (10;00 a.m.) and drove NW of the city and NW of Cochrane. Hadn't been that way for a long time and wanted to see if I could find an owl of some sort, especially a Great Gray Owl. No luck, and in fact it seemed like all wildlife was in hiding, except for four Deer. My morning's finds included a patch of these beautiful Indian Paintbrush flowers. Also a noisy little Wren that I saw when I pulled over to take a look down a hillside to see if I could see the Red Fox that had just run across the road ahead of me - no luck. The next sightings were a lone Deer - forgot to check its tail, but it had enormous ears - and a Tree Swallow that was perched on its bright orange nesting "box". I wonder who chose one of the coloured, metal boxes this year; he or his mate, lol. Nearby, there were several Swallowtail butterflies down in the mud along the edge of the road. Before I could get there, a car came along in the opposite direction and off flew every single one. By the time I had photographed a few nearby wildflowers, one butterfly did return, so I was able to get a few shots. Deciding to return to Highway 1a the same way as I came, I passed two horses that always seem to be in the same place. I'm never sure about the health of these two, and they never seem "happy" animals, though maybe they are just getting very old. The white horse seemed to like resting its head against the rough bark of the tree they were standing under, or maybe it liked the smell of it. When I reached the road that I wanted to check out (including for a possible owl), I found that it had just been oiled ready for a new surface to be laid, so that plan went out the window. Wanting to stay away from my unpleasantly hot house for as long as possible, I came home via Bragg Creek and some of the backroads that I love, SW of the city. Brown-Lowery Provincial Park was my first stop - and it has the wonderful, added benefit of washrooms in the parking lot - the first ones I'd seen all day! I checked out the area near the parking lot and then went maybe a hundred feet into the forest. After checking for any fungi (none yet), I heard a very loud cracking of branches and eventually spotted a huge, very dark shape through the trees. From that angle, it looked horribly like a Bear, but when it lifted its head from feeding, I was so relieved to see that it was "only" a Moose! A young couple were coming along the trail towards me and I said they must have seen it even closer. My voice was heard by the animal and unfortunately it moved quickly away. I like to think that a Bear or Cougar would react in the same way, lol! From Brown-Lowery, I passed my favourite little wetland and found the Wilson's Snipe standing, as usual, on a fence post. Sorry, everyone, you might just get fed up of Snipe photos - if you aren't already! Got home around 6;00 p.m., feeling content that, even though the morning had been pretty disappointing, the day was a a good one.

I know, it's "just" Paintbrush, but I saw a lot of it today, when I drove into the mountains along the Elbow Falls Trail (Highway 66). It sure brightened everywhere, with its variations in colour. Drove right to the end of the highway, to Forgetmenot Pond, and then called in along the Ing's Mine Road, which is where I took this photo, on the way home.

I know RED is your colour, Rebecca : ) Also, red is considered a lucky colour, so thought I'd use this Indian Paintbrush to go with my very best wishes for tomorrow and the recovery time afterwards. Good Luck! I took this photo when I was out west of the city yesterday afternoon, at Maclean Pond. Sorry to hear about your extremely high temperatures! Created with fd's Flickr Toys

This was such a bright Indian Paintbrush plant, taken on a hike at Gunnery Pass, Kananaskis, on 18th July 2009. For those unfamiliar with this species, the red parts are the bracts, the very small, narrow, green parts are the actual flowers. Came across it while I was saving another few folders of images to my external hard drive, so that I could delete them and give myself a bit of desperately-needed free space on my computer. Thanks to Mark Egger, for the ID, Castilleja miniata - much appreciated! en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castilleja

HAPPY CANADA DAY, everyone! It always feels as though summer is finally here when I see Paintbrush flowers in full bloom. Photographed this bright beauty on June 27th at Bow Valley Provincial Park. The actual flowers are the green parts, and the red are bracts. This native plant belongs to the Orobanchaceae family. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castilleja

A rather pretty and less common mix of colours in this Paintbrush plant, found at Elkton Bog, near Cremona (NW of Calgary) on a botanizing trip, 30th July last year. Castilleja miniata is commonly known as Giant Red Indian Paintbrush. "The inflorescence is made up of bright red to pale orange or orange-tipped bracts. Between the bracts emerge the yellow-green, red-edged tubular flowers." From Wikipedia. Note: Mark Egger is a long-time expert on Castilleja (and other species!). He writes below: "I suspect these are not pure C. miniata, but perhaps a hybrid oc miniata x lutescens." Thanks so much, Mark!

I liked the grey and white rock behind this vibrant red Paintbrush, seen at the Ing's Mine road parking lot area a couple of days ago. This small, gravel road is off Elbow Falls Trail (Highway 66) at the eastern edge of the Rocky Mountains and is about 60 km from where I live. For those of you not familiar with this species, their color comes from dense, bright bracts that surround the actual green flower. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castilleja

Just had to shoot these Indian Paintbrush flowers, as they were such an intense, vibrant colour. Somehow, it's hard to resist photographing Paintbrush flowers, as they vary so much in colour : ) These ones were growing along the Gunnery Pass trail that I did with a couple of friends on 18th July.

This red Paintbrush seemed to glow in amongst the small trees and bushes. Seen near the parking lot at Ing's Mine Road, off Elbow Falls Trail (Highway 66). The irregularly lobed bracts are red and the flower is the narrow, yellow part. So easy to forget that the red parts are not petals.

Can't remember off-hand where I photographed this particular Paintbrush. I love seeing them in this colour. I'm trying to think if the tiny bug on the flower is called a Tarnished Plant bug (has a tiny white heart shape close to the head end).