WTD#25 - Back-blogged again!

Wow - my last post was in February, and here it is almost August!  Where did the time go?  I guess it's been a busy spring/summer.  Still, the pup has been taking me out into our usual haunts and the jpegs have been piling up on the hard drive, so here we go with a bit of catch-up.

Seems like only yesterday that the dawg was enjoying a cavort in the snow on the rail trail.

And this coyote was hunting mice in a field in Krestova (Dawg was in the car so no chase/confrontation)

Once the snow was gone, the red ants began marshaling on the tops of their anthills.  For some reason there are a lot of them down in the Kootenay Canal area.

This is an American pipit we spotted along the Kootenay River near Selkirk College.  They are local migrants at this elevation in the spring, and will breed at higher elevations or further north.

The ponderosa pines were also blooming along the trail.

Before long the spring flowers began opening everywhere. like this twinflower.

And this cinquefoil.

The bees emerged and started foraging for nectar, like this bumblebee on a spreading dogbane bloom.  I thought I might start documenting our local wild bees until I learned that there are around 400 species in BC alone! So I think it's a project for another lifetime.

We spotted this heron hunting among the cattails on the edge of a beaver pond near the Kootenay Canal.

Thimbleberry flowers attract all kinds of bugs

And the minute you turn your back it seems they are at it.  It's no wonder there are so many of them!

I spotted this pretty moth (as yet unidentified) on a grand fir twig.

Walking up in the Rover Creek area we got a nice view of the Valhallas.  This might be Gimli in the foreground but I'm not certain.

I was becoming engrossed with the reflections in the puddles,

only to look up and see this big fellow on the edge of the road.  Dawg foolishly gave chase, and the bear luckily ran away, giving the dawg an ego boost (and setting an unfortunate precedent).

Meanwhile, back along the Columbia River, the camas was in bloom once more.

So there we are - a quick journey through a season.  What do you think, pup?

"Time for a break."