Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: Dryas drummondii

Will have to add descriptions, etc. later, as I have a dental appointment to get to. Later. Yesterday, 2 August 2019, was a day of a little bit of everything, which was fun. I only decided around noon to go for an afternoon drive west of the city. It was hot and there was a haze over the mountains. Both cameras took photos with rather blown out skies - because of the haze? My destination was Forgetmenot Pond, out past Bragg Creek. Forget-me-not is the name of a flower. This weekend is a long weekend for a Civic Holiday on Monday, so I thought there might be far fewer people yesterday, Thursday. A lot of people seemed to have the same idea as me! There was a good variety of wildflowers, some of which I will have to leave unidentified and post simply as "pretty pictures". So nice to find Prairie Gentians, which I haven't seen for a long time. A few others were Grass-of-Parnassus, Elephant's Head Lousewort, different Paintbrush, Alpine Bistort, and beautiful Yellow Mountain-avens. Love the small flowers of the latter and their beautifully twisted seedheads. The only birds I saw in the area were Barn Swallows who were nesting, and a calling Spotted Sandpiper, perched on a piece of driftwood the far side of the river. After walking around the lake, I started on my return drive. Before long, I decided to take a quick look in a forested area, to see if there were any mushrooms, but only found the ones seen in one of today's photos. While I was there, cows were the furthest thing from my mind. I guess they are let loose in that area of forest, so they do a good job of fertilizing everything. When I spotted the two mushrooms, I was excited and didn't realize that my left shoe ended up in something that felt very soft and a little slippery! Sigh! Maclean Pond was the only other place I stopped, just briefly, during my mountain drive, until I was closer to home. Thought I would drive along one of the roads that had given me a good variety of birds fairly recently. This time, absolutely nothing. I discovered that one road was blocked (maybe part of the major road construction going on for the Ring Road around the city?), Instead, I came back along a road I hadn't been along for quite a while - and what an amazing sight I saw. Way down the road, I could see some large brown animals on the road. My first thought was 'cows'. However, I pulled over and zoomed right in to check, discovering that they were Elk. Maybe two or three hundred of them - they just kept coming and when you thought they would be no more, another group appeared on the hillside. They were all constantly calling, which you can hear on the little bit of video I took. Will post another short, somewhat closer bit of video later. There were males, females and young ones. Fortunately, no other vehicles came along the road while I was there. An amazing thing to witness.

Macro shot taken on 1 July 2011, when I walked around and near Forgetmenot Pond, at the end of Elbow Falls Trail, Kananaskis. So pretty when seen up close. This is a native, woody shrub that forms a low-growing mat. Belongs to the Rose family, Rosaceae. www.flora.dempstercountry.org/0.Site.Folder/Species.Progr...

Not sure what is up with Flickr this morning. I couldn't use my usual uploader and clicking on something takes forever. Everything else on my computer seems to be working properly, but it is a reminder to myself that I HAVE to back up more of my photos and make some more free space on my hard drive. I'm down to 47 GB now, which is not a good thing : ) This is a macro shot of a very small flower, taken near Forgetmenot Pond, Elbow Falls Trail, Kananaskis, on July 1st. So pretty when seen up close. This is a native, woody shrub that forms a low-growing mat. Belongs to the Rose family, Rosaceae. www.flora.dempstercountry.org/0.Site.Folder/Species.Progr...

On October 18th, I drove west from the city out towards the mountains. Highway 22X/Highway 66 goes past Bragg Creek and ends up at Forgetmenot Pond - one of my favourite places to drive for just an afternoon. Snow was on the ground when I reached the Pond and so I was down on my knees in snow to photograph this whispy Yellow Mountain-avens seedhead. A little sunshine on the snow and I ended up with a bokeh of tiny sparkles. It snowed a bit this morning while we were on a three-hour walk again in Fish Creek Park - no Northern Pygmy-owl, no Northern Goshawk, no Townsend's Solitaire, no Coyotes - but I did spot a very small caterpillar clinging to a tall stalk of grass, LOL!

A macro of a Yellow Mountain Avens flower (Dryas drummondii) after it has gone to seed. I always love to see the long, tight twist of fine, silvery hairs. Photographed at Cobble Flats, Kananaskis, on 12th July. "Native across Canada and Oregon to Montana. Uncommon. Stems, prostrate and much branched forming a mat (actually a woody shrub). Leaves, alternate; elliptic to oblong, 1.5-3cm long, edge coarsely scalloped, rounded at tip, wedge-shaped at base, leathery, strongly wrinkled surface, hairless or slightly white woolly below. Flowers, solitary on woolly stalks, 5-25cm high in fruit; 8-10 pale yellow petals, strongly ascending; flowerhead and sepals covered with black, gland-tipped hairs; June-August. Fruit, numerous, with much elongated feathery styles, spirally twisted together when immature or in damp weather. Habitat: gravelly slopes, river bars and roadsides". talkaboutwildlife.ca/profile/?s=1144

Used (for the very first time outdoors) my little macro lens on this very small Yellow Mountain-avens flower three days ago, when I was at Cobble Flats, off Elbow Falls Trail, Kananaskis (i.e. the eastern edge of the Rocky Mountains). This is a very low-growing plant, so it really kills my neck to have to be about 6" away from the subject, using this lens! Anyway, this is what one of those small yellow flowers with the drooping heads looks like a bit closer : )

I always find the seedheads of the Yellow Mountain-avens quite fascinating and certainly beautiful. These plants grow along river banks and flats, on gravel slopes and roadsides. The elongated styles become feathery after pollination has taken place and are often twisted together when the fruit is immature. I love to see them in this twisted state. The plants in my photo happened to be growiing on the bank of the river near Forgetmenot Pond, which gave the background blue colour and the sparkling waterdroplets in the bokeh.

This tiny member of the Rose family is also called Yellow Dryad. We do get this wildflower in the city natural areas, but I saw this plant out at Elbow Falls Trail yesterday afternoon. Normally when I photograph this plant, the leaves come out nice and sharp but the flower itself is usually completely blurry, so this made a change.