Late winter excitement in the Skeena region (now known as the Northwest Health Service Delivery Area) begins in mid-March with the oolichan/eulachon (Thaleichthys pacificus) run on the Skeena River.  2018 was the last big run and we’ve got some excellent photos from that event (thanks Mel and Evi Coulson), plus a selection of photos from the smaller, less dramatic run of 2021 by members who travelled downriver on medical trips or as a cabin fever daytrip.

One month later in mid-April, it’s the annual sandhill crane migration north to the Copper River delta.  Again, we’ve got a few great shots from Mel and Evi Coulson who’ve made several recent trips to the Kispiox Valley.  For those staying in the Bulkley Valley, there’s also plenty of sandhill action to be had by just listening and looking up.

Please enjoy (click on the photos for a better view).  And if you have some great photos to share, please send them along and I’ll add them to this post.  Also, let me know if I’ve incorrectly identified something.

2018 Skeena River Eulachon Run (photos by Mel & Evi Coulson)

Gulls of at least four kinds (2018)

Tsimshian fishers amid the gulls (2018)

Steller sea lions (Eumetopias jubatus) on ice floe (2018)

Harbour seals (Phoca vitulina) on a melting ice floe (2018).

2021 Eulachon Run (photos M. & E. Coulson and S. Haeussler)

Not the huge flocks/herds/harems/convocations of animals seen in the past, but some stellar photography nonetheless, especially when the sun came out – — plus river otters!

Sunshine on the lower Skeena River

Hopeful bald eagles wishing the sun would come back out

Tidal flats on a gloomy day. Also a pretty cool sight.

Closeup view of Steller sea lions near Kasiks River. What’s with the raised flipper?

Sandhill Cranes

For those interested in learning more about the cranes that bugle their way through our valley each spring and fall, the International Crane Foundation has a fascinating website including this fantastic map showing the migration route from Sacramento Valley to Homer, Alaska including stop #15  in the Bulkley Valley and an E-bird heat map showing their distribution throughout the year.

Here are some photos from Mel and Evi Coulson’s recent trips to the Kispiox Valley.  Please send your own best crane shots (from these or past years) and I’ll add them here.  The cranes leave their overnight staging areas by 10 am, so this is an activity for early risers.

Sandhill Cranes at km 35 on the Kispiox Road.

Sandhill cranes (Antigone canadensis)

Landing, not dancing.

Part of a big flock of some 1500 birds, April 21

Just part of the flock

Houston Nature Centre at Buck Creek opening its doors for Earth Week (April 19 -23)

Cindy Verbeek, Coordinator of the A Rocha Buck Creek Canfor Hatchery and Nature Centre in Houston has announced that the Nature Centre will be having its soft-opening this week Earth Week (April 19-23, 2020).  The Centre will be open for drop-ins every day this week between 2-5 pm. There will be a scavenger hunt, interpretive displays and an Earth Day Story Walk.

After Earth Week, the Nature Centre will be open Tues & Thursday (2-5 pm) and Friday (2-4 pm) for drop ins.  To arrange a visit outside these hours please contact Cindy  at 250-845-4540.

In keeping with COVID restrictions, a maximum of 8 people will be allowed indoors at a time.  Please bring a mask.

Contact Cindy (250-845-4540) for a complete list of events taking place at the Houston Nature this summer and fall.
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Congratulations to Cindy (and all the volunteers) for tireless work to get this project off the ground.

The Nature Centre also expects to hire a full-time summer assistant.  This is a 16-week position. Contact Cindy to apply.

February 2 is World Wetland Day and in this year of COVID there are more opportunities than ever for those of us in the North to join with our fellow Naturalists across the Province and around the world  to engage in online learning.

BV Naturalists enjoying a wetland outing this summer (Tina Portman photo)

Thanks to Walter Thorne of Kitimat Valley Naturalists for passing on this notice about a Wetland Webinar  organized by the Friends of Semiahmoo Bay Society

Date and Time:  Tuesday, February 2, 2021:  10 am to 12:30 pm.

Speakers will cover topics ranging from wetlands to salmon, invasives and more.
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            Renata’s “alpine” photo excursion went ahead August 30th with a very small “bubble” (just Renata and Evi), although at a much lower elevation because of the weather. It was snowing on Hudson Bay Mountain.  They walked the perimeter trail between the CN rail line and Smithers golf course and saw an amazing variety of natural “treasures” on this short stretch of path. It really shows that one doesn’t necessarily have to travel far to see interesting subjects, which is a good  thing in this uncertain time!  All photos by Evi Coulson.

Saskatoon leaf (Amelanchier alnifolia)

red clover (Trifolium pratense)

hardhack or pink spirea (Spiraea douglasii)

inverted dandelion seedhead (Taraxacum officinale)

ghost pipe (Monotropa uniflora)

identical twins under pine.

hammered crottle lichen (Parmelia sulcata) with beard lichen (Usnea) on spruce

and a collection of holey leaves.

It was another of those chilly, windy days with a rainshower ready to break out at any moment for which the summer of 2020 will go down in history (right, there’s that pandemic too). Our party of 11 met up at the Telkwa Esplanade and set off for ‘The Microwave’ in a convoy of 5 cars. This was a bit more of a 4 x 4 adventure than the BV Naturalists are known for, but the trip up Winfield Creek Road to the Telkwa Microwave Tower was much smoother than expected (4-wheel drive definitely helpful, but not essential).

Roadside wildflower meadow at the Telkwa Microwave (T. Portman photo)

Botanizing at a distance (E. Coulson photo)

Somehow the rain held off to a minor drizzle and the roadside meadows near the tower did not disappoint.  Although our plan was to split into 2 groups after lunch with one mobility-limited group staying beside the road and the other group setting off across the tundra, we didn’t quite pull that off. Almost everyone loitered in and around the roadside meadow for the rest of the afternoon.  This allowed plenty of time for in-depth well-spaced botanizing, macro-photography, and existential discussions that can’t happen on a hike, but eventually we did get rather cold.

Long-time Bulkley Valley naturalists agree that the monsoons of 2020 produced one of the best wildflower displays in living memory. The star of the show, without a doubt, was this purple daisy:

subalpine daisy (Erigeron glacialis or peregrinus)

But is it an aster?  Or is it a fleabane? This is a topic where a forester masquerading as a botanist can get into trouble:  do the bracts subtending the floral disk overlap like shingles (aster) or are they more-or-less equal in length (fleabane)? In the case of our purple daisy, some of us knew ahead of time that it was a fleabane (genus Erigeron), but the bracts looked very shingled, so has the guidebook got it backwards? or were we just confused? (Yes, in fact. The key is that the bracts were narrow rather than wide and only very slightly shingled ). Let’s agree to call it subalpine daisy, and move on.

Existential question number 2:  Is it a grouse or is it a ptarmigan?

female grouse, probably dusky (Dendragapus obscurus)

It turns out that this is not a ptarmigan because both the male and female ptarmigan have red combs above their eyes and are more coarsely speckled.  This is a female “blue” grouse.  You can tell that it isn’t a spruce grouse mainly because of its larger size.

But the taxonomy has been revised, giving rise to yet another question. Is it a sooty grouse or a dusky grouse?
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The species formerly known as blue grouse has now been subdivided into a coastal species – the sooty grouse (Dendragapus fuliginosus) with a pale grey terminal band on the roundish tail (18 feathers), and an inland species– the dusky grouse (Dendragapus obscurus), with no gray band on its somewhat squarish tail (20 feathers).  Both species (and probably also some hybrids between the two) can be found on eastern slopes of the Coast Range, including our local Hazelton to Telkwa Mountain Ranges. You can read all about it here, under “Biology”.  As a plant person, I’m just happy to see birders also struggling to stay current as the taxonomy changes.

Some members of our group were happy to simply enjoy the diversity of life and to take beautiful photographs of the spectacular wildflowers:

                              Left, above: Small-flowered paintbrush (Castilleja parviflora) with mountain arnica (Arnica latifolia).  At right: mountain monkshood (Aconitum delphiniifolium).

A closer look revealed this delightful red pixie cup lichen among the heathers:

[above left and right: this is most likely Cladonia bellidiflora, known as the “toy soldier”, or  “floral pixie” lichen.]

….along with this less showy, but delicately attractive alpine ground cover:

[above left and right: Partridge-foot (Leutkea pectinata) growing with a crustose lichen and with a mountain-heather]

Bumblebees were still busy extracting the last of the nectar and pollen:

from the BC Community Bat Program (thanks to Ashleigh Ballevona)

Check out a bat book at the library_ Shown here Squamish ‘Bat Pack’ by R O’Grady

As Halloween approaches and bat decorations appear, bat enthusiasts around BC are celebrating and supporting our real bats by participating in International Bat Week (October 24-31). Bat Week is all about appreciating these amazing animals and their benefits, from eating insects to pollinating the agave plant used to make tequila.

Take a moment to learn about the many ways bats contribute to our lives, and what you can do locally for bats, at www.batweek.org or through the BC Community Bat Program at www.bcbats.ca. Research bats online, host an educational event, help restore a wetland, learn about bat-friendly lighting, prepare your bat box for next spring… there are many ways to participate and support bats.

“Bats in BC help control agricultural and forest pests, as well as mosquitoes in our yards – but now bats need our help” says Mandy Kellner, Coordinator for the BC Community Bat Program. “The conservation of bats in BC has always been important, since over half the species in this province are considered at risk. With the continuing spread of White-nose Syndrome in Washington State, bat conservation is more important than ever as we expect to see impacts in BC in the near future. ”

Bat box on barn by Habitat Acquisition Trust

Bat Week is also the time to say ‘so long’ to bats in our neighbourhoods, until the return of insects with the warmer weather in spring. As insect-eaters, our BC bats must leave their summer roost sites and migrate or hibernate to survive the winter. This absence means that this is the time of year to do home renovations that you have delayed due to bat presence. You can clean out and repair a bat box, or do bat-friendly exclusion work, without disturbing or injuring bats.
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If you do see a bat in winter, please report it. Monitoring for White-nose Syndrome in BC will continue this winter, with Community Bat Programs requesting reports of dead bats or sightings of winter bat activity starting just after Bat Week, on November 1.

In partnership with the BC Ministry of Environment, and funded by the Habitat Conservation Trust Foundation, Forest Enhancement Society of BC, Habitat Stewardship Program, the BC Community Bat Program provides information about bats in buildings, conducts site visits to advise landowners on managing bats in buildings, coordinates the Annual Bat Count, and offers educational programs on bats.

Outdoor bat info booth by J Balke

You can report winter bat sightings, find out more about the BC Community Bat Program, Bat Week activities, and options for helping local bat populations, at www.bcbats.ca, skeena@bcbats.ca, or 1-855-922-2287 ext 19.

Anne Hetherington led a group of 7 participants on a canoe trip to Hidden Lake on August 2nd.  Hidden Lake is located approximately 5 km east of Highway 16 at the top of Hungry Hill.  The lake is 1.5 km long (slightly smaller than Seymour Lake) and has a large wetland at the north end.

aerial image of Hidden Lake courtesy Houston Hikers (www.houstonhikers.ca)

To access the lake, turn east onto the Summit Lake forestry road and at approximately 4 km take the left fork onto Hidden Lake FSR. After ~3 km turn right onto Barren FSR. Continue for ~300 m then turn left onto unsigned road to the lake.

Hidden Lake is a typical central Interior sub-boreal lake surrounded by conifers with a small shoreline fringe of alder.

After reaching the wetland at the north end of the lake the group disembarked for a stretch and to check out the sundews and other bog treasures. Thank you to Evi and Mel Coulson and Tina Portman for the photos:

Anne Hetherington organized and led the field trip to Hidden Lake.

Mel and Evi Coulson consulting the plant guidebook

Hooded ladies’ tresses is a widely distributed orchid that typically grows in wet ground near lakes and streams. As suggested by its scientific name (Spiranthes) this plant can be distinguished from other white “bog” orchids by the spiral- or helix-like arrangement of individual flowers within the spike, perhaps reminiscent of braided hair. Orchids in this genus have a sweet vanilla- or almond-like scent that attracts bumblebees and other pollinators.

Although hooded ladies’ tresses occur frequently throughout in our region and appear to tolerate some disturbance (often found in ditches and seeps along logging roads), they may be sensitive to the warming climate if it is accompanied by increasing drought.

The stars of the show at Hidden Lake are undoubtedly the sundews.  While two species of sundew can be found in our region – the great sundew (Drosera anglica) which has an elongated, oblong leaf is the species found at Hidden Lake. The second species (Drosera rotundifolia), has smaller, round leaves.

Great sundew (Drosera anglica)

Great sundew, growing with Sphagnum (peat) moss and bog cranberry (Vaccinium oxycoccus)

Sundews are carnivorous plants that acquire the additional nutrients needed to flourish in wet, acidic soils, by consuming invertebrates that become trapped on their leaves.  While the droplets on their leaves may look like dew (hence their common name), this is actually a specialized sticky fluid containing digestive enzymes (similar to those in our stomach) that gradually break down the trapped prey.

Sundew tentacles curl inwards to trap their insect prey T. Portman photo

Another characteristic lakeshore plant that was common at Hidden Lake is the beautiful Sitka burnet (Sanguisorba canadensis).

Sitka burnet (Sanguisorba canadensis) Evi Coulson photo.

The protruding stamens on the “bottle-brush” spikes give this plant a “fuzzy” appearance.  Its rose-like compound leaves give a clear indication that this plant is a member of the Rose family.

  Some other wetland plants captured by Tina Portman:

Hudson Bay clubrush (Trichophorum alpinum).

Marsh cinquefoil (Comarum palustre)

The tiny bog cranberry (Vaccinium oxycoccus) with oversized, unripe fruit growing amid golden Sphagnum moss.

Liz Zweck takes a rest before paddling back down the lake.

It took a while, due to COVID-19, but we finally managed our BV Naturalists outing to Malkow Lookout on Saturday, June 20th. It had been raining throughout the week, but Saturday morning was fair.  Eleven members of the club showed up at the trailhead parking lot (Brigitte even courageously rode her bicycle from town) . We split into two groups to respect our Phase 2 social distancing guidelines, with Mel Coulson, Evi Coulson and Anne Hetherington leading the group who wanted to focus on birds, and Sybille Haeussler leading a smaller group concentrating on blooms.

Sybille pontificating while Brigitte looks on

Crossing Nageli’s meadow. T. Portman photo

The sun held for over two hours and the mosquitoes mostly left us alone, allowing for some excellent photo opportunities across the Luther Family’s cow pasture,  through the poplar gully, and up to the Nageli meadow.  With all the rain, the plant life is exceptionally lush this year. The birds were also abundant and noisy, but rather difficult to see through the dense foliage.  American Redstarts (Setophaga ruticilla) were particularly exuberant, perhaps due to several large groups of recently fledged young.

Mel Coulson submitted this list of bird species seen and (mostly) heard:

1. American Kestrel
   

   Swainson’s Thrush (Catharus ustulatus). R. Neftin photo

2. Wilson’s Snipe
3. Rufous Hummingbird
4. Red-breasted Sapsucker
5. Olive-sided Flycatcher
6. Least Flycatcher
7. Western Wood-Peewee
8. Warbling Vireo
9. American Crow
10. Black-capped Chickadee
11. Ruby-crowned Kinglet
12. Swainson’s Thrush
13. American Robin
14. Cedar Waxwing
15. Orange-crowned Warbler
16. Yellow-rumped Warbler
    

    Calliope hummingbird (Selasphorus calliope) male on a black twinberry stalk. T. Portman photo

17. American Redstart
18. Northern Waterthrush
19. Clay-coloured Sparrow
20. Lincoln’s Sparrow
21. White-throated Sparrow
22. White-crowned Sparrow
23. Dark-eyed Junco
24. Brown-headed Cowbird
25. Pine Siskin

also  26. Calliope Hummingbird (captured at right by Tina Portman)

The next day (Sunday, June 21), Rosamund Pojar made the same trip and reported the following additional species:

1. Ruffed Grouse
2. Dusky Flycatcher
3. McGillivray’s Warbler
4. Purple Finch

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5. Common Raven

Botanical highlights included the heavy growth of arboreal lichen draping the spruce trees.  These old-growth specialists grow particularly well in moist, nutrient rich environments on conifer trees located within the drip zone of a poplar tree, as in this photo captured by Brigitte Kloosterman:

Alectoria (witch’s hair) and Usnea (beard) lichens festooning a white spruce tree. B. Kloosterman photo

chocolate lily, B. Kloosterman photo

A special treat for photographers at this time of year are the chocolate lilies (Fritillaria camschatcensis), also known as northern rice-root, because of its starchy rice-like bulblets that were such an important source of early spring carbohydrates for Indigenous people across northwest BC. 

More chocolate lilies, growing here with purple peavine (Lathyrus nevadensis). E. Coulson photo

this one looks particularly delicate T. Portman photo

And we can’t forget the bugs. Here is a photogenic selection, courtesy of Tina:

One of the many species of Gossamer Wing butterflies known as “Blues” in the family Lycaenidae. T. Portman photo

I’m going to say this is a damsel fly rather than a dragon fly due to its delicate build and because its wings are together rather than spread outward. T. Portman photo

Bumblebee double-dipping on a pair of black twinberry  (Lonicera involucrata) honeysuckle blossoms. T. Portman photo.

And then suddenly a monsoon rainstorm struck, turning our trail into a river of mud.

If the weather is getting you down (actually it might be improving), take some time out to enjoy these videos & links, sent to us by BC Nature:

Engaging Videos and Links

Podcast by Ripplecoast: Killer Whales Parks Canada: Plants and Animals of Point Pelee National Park CuriosityStream: When Did the First Flower Bloom?  Nature Scoop: Spotted Turtle, Jellyfish, Tarantula and more – Caring for Live Animals at the Museum  National Geography: Amazing Time-Lapse:Bees Hatch Before Your Eyes Science: Like humans, these big-brained birds may owe their smarts to long childhoods Bird Language: Birds Songs TheCornellLab: How to Photograph Birds in Flight? BC Parks Fundation: How to be Wildlife Observer in BC? BC Parks Fundation:How to Be a BC Parks Citizen Scientist?  CBC: Volunteering in  Northern B.C. Wildlife Shelter Lacks to Care for Bears  Change: Preventing Environmental Damage from the Development of a 35-Site Campground on Vaseux Lake  International Wildlife News The Guardian: The UK's Barn Owls Are Growing in Number! Thanks to Humans The New York Times: New York is quiet. Listen to the birds! Webinars:  Pollinator Partnership: Habitat Restoration and Management Webinar Series Educational Links for Families Nature Scoop: Learn How to Press Plants Wildsite: Earth's 4 Spheres: Grades 4-7 TheCornellLab: Virtual Bird Camp  WestCoast Families: 6 Best Wildlife Live Streams to Watch Now NorthShorebears: Bear Spray Tutorial  Useful Apps Park Wildlife Nature’s Notebook iBird Lite Wildlife App What’s Invasive App You are at online levitra valsonindia.com a risk of being recurred if you really plan to do so. Another viagra no prescription natural treatment that you may not find this medication in all pharmacies, but it will definitely be facing this particular problem into your life. Ajanta pharma is the well known name cheap cialis for manufacturing medicines which can help to solve such problems. This eliminates the ordine cialis on line find description problem happening due to active PDE5 enzyme which is trapped until men gratified him by achieving complete joy on bed.

There’s no better time to visit Malkow Lookout than late May or early June. (As long as you’re prepared for a few mosquitoes).  Mel and Evi Coulson were recently there and sent along some photos of the many flowers in bloom.

I’m providing links to descriptions of these flowering plants on E-Flora BC, the most authoritative botanical web atlas for British Columbia. There’s also a matching E-Fauna BC web resource, although it’s less complete.

fairy-slipper (Calypso bulbosa). M. Coulson photo

The yellow lip apron on this fairy slipper indicates the variety americana. M. Coulson photo

It’s hard to beat our most colourful orchid, the delightful fairy-slipper (Calypso bulbosa), also known as the Calypso orchid.  Up close, you may be able to detect a scent of vanilla, but it’s all a ruse. Like many orchids, the fairy-slipper is a food-flower mimic that relies on naive bumblebees for pollination.  It doesn’t actually produce any nectar.  Instead, packets of pollen, called pollinia, are deposited on the back of the bumblebee with the expectation that the bee is a slow learner and will visit at least one more fairy-slipper before giving up.

Did you know that there are two varieties of fairy slipper in Canada?  Here in the Bulkley Valley, we typically find variety americana, which has a yellow lip apron covered with bristly yellow hairs and is found across North America, all the way to Newfoundland.  But if you travel to the Coast, you will likely find variety occidentalis, which has a white lip apron and hairs. Keep an eye out for the white version here in the Bulkley Valley and Hazeltons, as we commonly have both coastal and interior versions of many plant species.  Fairly slippers are also found in Europe and Asia, but apparently these are of yet another variety.

western blue clematis (Clematis occidentalis).

closeup of western blue clematis. M. Coulson photos

 
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Our native western blue clematis (Clematis occidentalis), also known as “purple virgin’s-bower” (not my favorite, sexist, name) is another special treat at this time of year.  It’s almost done flowering by the end of May, but will soon produce an appealing cluster of long feathery-hairy fruits, before it practically disappears from sight.  Blue clematis is the only true liana native to central BC.  This type of growth habit isn’t well-suited to boreal climates.  You won’t find this clematis growing much further north than Smithers, and it frequently dies back after a cold winter or unusual cold snap in the Bulkley Valley.

Early blue violet (Viola adunca). M. Coulson photo.

The early blue violet (Viola adunca), also known as the “sand violet” is a much more common spring wildflower than the fairy-slipper or blue clematis. But what a treat to find it popping up in the lawn or along the driveway, along with our native wild strawberries, each year just before the dandelions, as well as abundantly along the path to Malkow Lookout.

Unlike most of our native flora, this little violet is extremely tolerant of disturbed and compacted, low-nutrient soils.  Apparently, the early blue violet is a key larval host for some of the early fritillary (Speyeria zerene) butterflies (at least in Oregon). I don’t know if that is true in the Bulkley Valley, because the zerene fritillary is probably restricted to southern BC, but certainly it deserves our full respect and shouldn’t be weeded, or fertilized, out of the lawn.  The seeds of this violet explode out of the seed pod when it matures and are further dispersed by ants, birds and mice, all of whom eat the seeds.

Swallowtail butterfly (Papilio sp.) on dandelion (Taraxacum officinale). M. Coulson photo.

This is also the season of dandelions.  Here, a swallowtail butterfly perches on the convenient pedestal. Dandelions provide an abundant source of nectar and pollen to a wide variety of pollinators.  Its effects on our local insect life are undoubtedly profound.

We have at least two types of swallowtail butterfly in the Bulkley Valley. Due to the amount of black on its wings, I`m going to stick out my neck and suggest that this one is the Anise Swallowtail (Papilio zelicaon), but am happy to be corrected by someone who knows their butterflies. The amazingly colourful larvae of the anise swallowtail feed on cow parsnip (abundant in the meadows leading to Malkow Lookout)  and other plants of the parsley family. Another local swallowtail butterfly, the Canadian Tiger Swallowtail (Papilio canadensis) has only narrow “tiger” stripes on its wings and is more of a forest creature. Its larvae (dominantly green with 2 false eyes) feed on the leaves of alder, birch, cottonwood, aspen and willow trees.

And below are a few more early June wildflowers. Thanks Mel.

Cutleaf anemone (Anemone multifida). M. Coulson photo.

Blue-eyed Mary (Collinsia parviflora). M. Coulson photo.

Prominent purple stigmas on female flowers of western meadowrue (Thalictrum occidentale)  M. Coulson photo

Prickly rose (Rosa acicularis). M. Coulson photo