Canada Goose
Red Baneberry
Finely iridescent
Snake's head fritillary / Fritillaria meleagris
Striped Coralroot / Corallorhiza striata
Baby fluff
Le Conte's Sparrow
Flowers of spring
The purity of white
White-crowned Sparrow / Zonotrichia leucophrys
Red-necked Grebe
Cow Parsnip / Heracleum maximum
Such cute little hands and feet
Hollyhock buds
Needed a change of colour
Red-edged petals
Grasshopper Sparrow / Ammodramus savannarum - OR i…
Sleeping down at the pond
Clay-colored Sparrow / Spizella pallida
Ornamental Spurge / Euphorbia polychroma (Cushion…
Tattered and torn - and still beautiful
Chilean Flamingo
Red River Hog / Potamochoerus porcus
Yesterday's summer hail
Egyptian Walking Onion
Showy Milkweed / Asclepias speciosa
Southern Bald Ibis / Geronticus calvus
Ladybug larva on Showy Milkweed
Hawk in Fish Creek Park - juvenile Northern Goshaw…
Blue Lettuce / Lactuca tatarica
Bold and beautiful
They can't see me
Juvenile Swainson's Hawk
The joy of spring
Periwinkle / Vinca minor
First day out in the big, wide world
Colour
Matching colours
A bird of many colours
Busy parent
Nuttall's Sunflower / Helianthus nuttallii
Snake's Head Fritillary / Fritillaria meleagris
Close-up of bee colony
The art of preening for a young owl
Early Cinquefoil
Perched in the sun
Hepatica
After the rain
Large Bee colony
One of my favourite spring garden flowers
Always a good mother
Indian Breadroot
American Wigeon pair
Purple Rain
Backlit beauties
Hellebore beauty
Grainy but cute
American Wigeon male, resting on a log
Elephant Ears / Bergenia cordifolia
A handsome mate
Golden Bean / Thermopsis rhombifolia
Beauty of spring
Art of nature
A recent spring arrival
Camouflaged as a rock
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03 Blowing in the wind
These Prairie Crocuses are the first flowers to appear each spring, often appearing around the end of March and sometimes as early as mid-March. No wonder they need to wear their furry winter jackets : ) However, this year, after an incredibly mild winter, the first report I heard of was from 3rd March. On 13 April 2016, after a volunteer shift, I finally got as far as the usual place I go to when I want to find and photograph them. Unfortunately, I find them on a hillside, which is sometimes a bit windy, and my balance is never particularly good. So glad I went, though, as I was already almost six weeks 'late'. I also noticed a patch or two of small, white Phlox flowers and a single patch of small yellow flowers. Will have to remind myself of their name later today. Early cinquefoil?
"This furry little perennial is actually not a crocus, which is in the Lily family; it’s really an anemone, in the Buttercup family."
plantwatch.naturealberta.ca/choose-your-plants/prairie-cr...
"The prairie crocus (Anemone patens), is the first plant to bloom on the prairie each year. The true harbinger of spring, its mauve, petal-like sepals dot the still drab prairie landscape, often before the last snow of winter has melted. By blooming so early, the crocus assures itself of the complete attention of available pollinators - small bees and other insects. Its seeds can then ripen by early June and if moisture is available they will germinate right away. If the prairie is too dry the seeds will go dormant, then germinate the following spring.
Tufts of much-divided leaves emerge once flowering is finished and the risk of severe frost is over, but still well before most other prairie plants.
The saucer-shaped construction of many spring flowers like the crocus, is no accident. Neither is the fuzzy centre of the crocus (composed of numerous yellow stamens and a tuft of greyish pistils - that become plumed fruit), nor its highly reflective petals. It all adds up to solar heating . . . Crocus Style!
The sunlight that reaches the crocus' shiny petals is reflected into the flower centre. This energy is bounced around between the stamens and pistils warming these vital reproductive parts of the flower. On a sunny day the temperature inside a crocus flower can be as much as 10 C (18 F) warmer than the temperature of the surrounding air. Not only does the dish shaped flower concentrate the sun's warmth, it tracks the sun across the sky, maximizing the length of time each day that it can stay warmer than the surrounding air." From naturenorth.com.
www.naturenorth.com/spring/flora/crocus/Prairie_Crocus2.html
"This furry little perennial is actually not a crocus, which is in the Lily family; it’s really an anemone, in the Buttercup family."
plantwatch.naturealberta.ca/choose-your-plants/prairie-cr...
"The prairie crocus (Anemone patens), is the first plant to bloom on the prairie each year. The true harbinger of spring, its mauve, petal-like sepals dot the still drab prairie landscape, often before the last snow of winter has melted. By blooming so early, the crocus assures itself of the complete attention of available pollinators - small bees and other insects. Its seeds can then ripen by early June and if moisture is available they will germinate right away. If the prairie is too dry the seeds will go dormant, then germinate the following spring.
Tufts of much-divided leaves emerge once flowering is finished and the risk of severe frost is over, but still well before most other prairie plants.
The saucer-shaped construction of many spring flowers like the crocus, is no accident. Neither is the fuzzy centre of the crocus (composed of numerous yellow stamens and a tuft of greyish pistils - that become plumed fruit), nor its highly reflective petals. It all adds up to solar heating . . . Crocus Style!
The sunlight that reaches the crocus' shiny petals is reflected into the flower centre. This energy is bounced around between the stamens and pistils warming these vital reproductive parts of the flower. On a sunny day the temperature inside a crocus flower can be as much as 10 C (18 F) warmer than the temperature of the surrounding air. Not only does the dish shaped flower concentrate the sun's warmth, it tracks the sun across the sky, maximizing the length of time each day that it can stay warmer than the surrounding air." From naturenorth.com.
www.naturenorth.com/spring/flora/crocus/Prairie_Crocus2.html
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