Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: Bentz Lake Natural Area

One day last summer, we spent a full day botanizing the Bentz Lake Natural Area, north of Calgary and west of Sundre, and these Yellow Pondlilies were growing near the edge of the lake. To get to them from the forest where we were exploring, we had to make our way through a very watery bog, LOL. Apart from one small mishap that left one friend soaked to his upper thighs, we managed it with only soaking wet feet. This native, aquatic member of the Water-lily family blooms in lakes and ponds June to August. The yellow flower is 4-7 cm across, has 6 yellow, petal-like sepals and several small, inconspicuous petals.

Early August last year, we saw this mushroom while botanizing the Bentz Lake Natural Area, north west of the city. It really was a beautiful specimen, with lovely cap colour and white stalk. We had yet another gorgeous, mild day today, with lots of sunshine - unfortunately, had to spend the afternoon indoors for my volunteer shift : ) I did get out for a walk yesterday morning, at Carburn Park. I really need to get back into the habit of walking. This winter has been pretty brutal and, most of the time, I just couldn't face all the snow and bitterly cold temperatures. Consequently, it is now extremely painful to walk. Once spring arrives, I will be back to doing more walks, but it will be even more painful if I don't start getting out more during the remaining winter months. I think snow is in our forecast for tonight.

It was such a thrill last summer to botanize an area we'd never been to before - Bentz Lake Natural area, north west of Calgary! I'd never seen a Yellow Pondlily before, either, and these wildflowers are just so gorgeous.

Another shot of this beautiful red mushroom, taken on 6th August at the Bentz Lake Natural Area. This glorious mushroom came as a total surprise - and made my day! "Russula emetica, commonly known as The Sickener, is a basidiomycete mushroom of the genus Russula, one of many species with a predominantly red-coloured cap and white gills and stalk. It gets its common name from its inedibility, as it causes vomiting and diarrhea when consumed. It has an extremely peppery taste, which is said partly to disappear on cooking, along with its toxicity, though eating it is not recommended. Mixing one emetica with otherwise edible red Russula will ruin the whole meal, and it is a common reason some do not pick any Russula-species." From Wikipedia. Not sure what happened to Flickr a bit earlier this evening - nothing but blank, white pages! I know I'm not the only one who had that.

I'm not sure, but I am assuming this jelly fungus is Witch's Butter? I love the name and I love seeing this growing on logs in the forest. Such a pretty, bright colour.

Just a little family of mushrooms growing at the Bentz Lake Natural Area on 6th August.

Just a little mushroom in the spotlight, deep amongst the forest trees. Caught the sunlight on it, which made the cap a glorious, rich colour. Found it on 6th August at the Bentz Lake Natural Area, north west of the city. Several of us went back to the Bragg Creek Natural Area for the day today, to botanize a different part of it. Oh, the poor mushrooms were in such a sorry state - dried, withered and broken : ( No rain in our forecast for the next few days, either. Still managed to see some other interesting things though. Only got about an hour's sleep last night and the same two nights ago, so I am falling asleep at my computer here - and it's not even 6:00 p.m.! Later, almost midnight - thanks so much, everyone, for visiting - I fell asleep in front of the TV and woke up to find it was about 11:30 p.m. and of course I hadn't put all three of my photos into groups or added any tags, LOL.

One of the lovely fungi we came across yesterday, when a handful of us botanized the Bentz Lake Natural Area, north of Calgary, west of Sundre. These ones are Oyster mushrooms, growing from an old, rotting log. They almost glow in the dark of the forest.

I don't think any of us would have noticed this tiny Wood Frog at the base of this tree if we hadn't happened to have been watching it jump in the grass. Seen yesterday, when a handful of us went to the Bentz Lake Natural Area, north of Calgary and west of Sundre. A good part of the day (I left home about 6:45 a.m. and got back around 7:00 p.m.) was spent exploring a forested area, recording all the flora and fauna of the location. In between, we would walk closer to the small lake through a bog area that was VERY wet - LOL, I had soaking wet feet for about nine hours of the day! However, we had seen from the road, at the start of our full day, that there were some yellow Pondlilies growing on the lake surface, and nothing would have stopped me from reaching them to get a few shots of this new (to me) flower! They are absoutely beautiful, and I was torn as to whether to upload a close shot of this or the little red mushroom. The mushroom won : ) The following link goes to a short, fascinating video on YouTube, about how Wood Frogs freeze solid in the winter. www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fjr3A_kfspM

I was thrilled to bits yesterday when friends called me over to see this beautiful, red mushroom! We don't usually see a sight like this, so it was an extra special surprise when we were exploring and botanizing the forest at the Bentz Lake Natural Area, north of Calgary and west of Sundre. And, yes, in case you are wondering, this really IS its colour : )

I felt so lucky to see another Police Car Moth when we spent all Thursday botanizing the Bentz Lake Natural Area (north of Calgary and west of Sundre). Perhaps unfortunate that its right wing tip is damaged, but it is still beautiful. It was resting on a branch and then friend David put his finger by it and the Moth climbed on to it. In large size (if you have time to take a peek), you can really see those feathery antennae (that belong to moths, not butterflies).

Two days later, I am STILL on a natural high after seeing these gorgeous, wild Yellow Pondlilies for the very first time. We spent a full day on Thursday botanizing the Bentz Lake Natural Area, north of Calgary and west of Sundre, and these Yellow Pondlilies were growing near the edge of the lake. To get to them from the forest where we were exploring, we had to make our way through a very watery bog, LOL. Apart from one small mishap that left one friend soaked to his upper thighs, we managed it with only soaking wet feet. This native, aquatic member of the Water-lily family grows in lakes and ponds June to August. The yellow flower is 4-7 cm across, has 6 yellow, petal-like sepals and several small, inconspicuous petals. Today, I was out with five friends, exploring and botanizing (recording all flora and fauna seen) the forest of Bragg Creek Provincial Park, west of Calgary. A perfect day weatherwise as well as far as enjoyment and sightings were concerned. Lots of mushrooms - though no brilliant red ones today, LOL!

This is a greatly enlarged photo of this Marsh Cinquefoil flower. The actual reddish purple flowers are 15-35 mm across. My plant book says that there are 5 purple sepals and 5 reddish petals, but my flower puzzles me as to just what is what : ) This native wildflower grows in marshes, bogs and shorelines, July-August. This one was seen in a bog by the lake at Bentz Lake Natural Area, north of Calgary and west of Sundre.

.... maybe I'll turn into a beautiful princess! LOL, I couldn't resist posting this tiny Wood Frog (Rana sylvatica) sitting gazing at friend David : ) I thought the hand would give a perfect sense of how small these frogs are. The Wood Frog is the smallest true frog in Alberta, ranging from only 30-60 mm in length. Seen at Bentz Lake Natural Area on 6th August. "Wood frogs tolerate the freezing of their blood and other tissues. Urea is accumulated in tissues in preparation for overwintering, and liver glycogen is converted in large quantities to glucose in response to internal ice formation. Both urea and glucose act as "cryoprotectants" to limit the amount of ice that forms and to reduce osmotic shrinkage of cells. Frogs can survive many freeze/thaw events during winter if not more than about 65% of the total body water freezes." From Wikipedia.