WTD#11 - Is it really August?

I'd hoped to post this before going down to the coast for a week or so (last week), but things got too crazy busy and I ran out of time.  So now I'm back-blogged!  These photos are still from June and July rambles with Dawg in our lovely valleys and hillsides.

This is the osprey nest at the junction of Highway 6 and Pass Creek Road at Crescent Valley.  There was at least one nearly grown chick in the nest at the time.

White-flowered Rhododendron on the mid-elevation slopes above Pass Creek.

This is Pink Monkeyflower aka Lewis's Monkeyflower, growing near a stream in the same area.

Arctic Lupines were growing there as well

Back down in the valley bottom near the Kootenay River we found this female Black-headed Grosbeak staying motionless in it's nest while we passed by.  There is a little chick with its mouth wide open, just below the beak of it's mother.

By early July the Soopolallie berries have already ripened,

and the horseflies are on the prowl, searching for fresh meat.

The two bright yellow spots on the belly of this spider give it the appearance of some kind of scary alien.

This is Woody Nightshade, aka Bitterseet or Climbing Nightshade.  It is a vine that climbs quite high on nearby trees and vegetation, and is apparently mildly poisonous.

These Skunk Cabbage "spikes" have matured from the flower stage to seeds (I think)

 Yellow Salsify seed head

This is a European Skipper, perched on a Knapweed bud.  Interestingly, both are "invasive species".  The Skipper was introduced into Ontario in 1910, and has made it's way west in the intervening years.  This photo was taken along the Slocan Valley Rail Trail.

St. John's Wort, also along the rail trail,

as well as Chickory.

I have searched high and low and can't find this butterfly in any of the books or on-line sites I've seen.  It might be a Common Checkered Skipper or a Two-Banded Checkered Skipper, but none of the photos I've seen look quite like this.

I believe this is a Northern Crescent, perched on a daisy along the Slocan Rail Trail

The bud of a Yellow Waterlily on one of the ponds along the Mel Deanna trail near Castlegar

Prince's Pine flowers along the Mel Deanna trail

Nodding Onion flowers - same area

Scene from the Damselfly Kama Sutra.  I have no idea which is the male or female, but it's interesting that the top one seems to be pushing down on the neck of the bottom one in order to give it the leverage it needs for mating. Also they make the shape of a heart - isn't that amazing, Dawg?

"Yeah - cool!"