Sunflower going to seed
Katydid on Common Tansy
Regal
Gotta love those Golden Eagle feathers
Juvenile Red-tailed Hawk
Deadly duo - Amanita muscaria
American Kestrel - or is it a Merlin?
Fungi goblets
Up close and personal with a Turkey Vulture
Aging beauties
A big splash of colour
Turquoise fungi / Blue Stain / Chlorociboria aerug…
Sweet little thing
Colours and textures
Mariposa Lily
A splash of different colour
Growing on a tree trunk
Snake's head fritillary, Fritillaria meleagris
Dark chocolate bunny with milk chocolate eyes
Feather finery of a female Mallard
A beauty from mushroom season
Peregrine Falcon talons
Ferruginous Hawk
Shingled/Scaly Hedgehog fungus / Sarcodon imbricat…
Hiding in the shadows
Simplicity
A blast from the past
Clematis after the rain
Raindrops
Narcissus
Colour for a snowy day
False Morel fungus
Oak leaf and insect gall
Showy Milkweed with bee
Seedpod of Datura sp.?
A bright splash of colour
Fall colour
A special treat at Antelope Hill Provincial Park
Small fungi growing among the mosses
Shooting in the rain
Like floral flames for a deep-freeze day
Backside beauty
With a twinkle in its eye
Harris's Hawk
Beginning to burst
That majestic look
The droplet
Barn Owl
Canada's new National Bird - the Gray Jay
Remembering summer colours
Snowman who loves Amanitas
I love Llamas
Open wide - big yawn
A splash of fall colour
Don't you spit!
Turkey Vulture preening
Snowy Owl in rehab
Cheery sunflower
Unidentified fruit
Summer colour
Goat's-beard with visitor
The Sickener / Russula emetica?
Yellow-bellied Marmot
No need to worry about one or two wrinkles
Astilbe
Ice crystals on a mountain top
As fall colours come to an end
Larch in fall colour
Brightness on a cloudy day
Puffballs on Plateau Mountain
False Dandelion / Agoseris glauca
A fine network of cells - maybe Arcyria obvelata?
Spruce Grouse, adult female
Rusty Gilled Polypore / Gloeophyllum sepiarium
Yesterday's find
Autumn berries
Three insect species on a single flower
Strap/Coral Club / Clavariadelphus ligula
The colours of fall
Barn Owl / Tyto alba
Reindeer lichen
Look into my eyes
Fungus on a log
Highbush cranberry / Viburnum opulus var. american…
Eye contact
Growing amongst the mosses
Merlin
Lichen at Bunchberry Meadows Conservation Area
A splash of sunshine
Painted Turtle basking in the sun
Dragonfly in Southern Alberta - a Flame Skimmer?
Red-tailed Hawk portrait
Why I would never eat wild mushrooms : )
Bald Eagle portrait
Gathering in the forest
Juvenile Red-tailed Hawk
Lynn's cat at Marsland Basin
An odd colour in nature
False Morel fungus
Texture
Sainfoin / Onobrychis viciifolia
Aspen Roughstem Bolete / Leccinum insigne
A family of textured caps
Young Spruce Grouse
A garden in the forest
A fun find
A cute little cluster
Yellow Columbine
Cream and wine-coloured
Yellow Avens / Geum aleppicum
Swainson's Hawk male, light phase
Pinedrops / Pterospora - rare
Fungi family
Popular with the flies
Northern Gentian
Northern Willowherb / Epilobium ciliatum
Unexpected closeness
Don't call me 'Gopher'
Beauty in the forest
Gaillardia with little visitor
Yellow Owl's-clover / Orthocarpus luteus
Paintbrush - green flowers, red bracts
Black-crowned Night-Heron
Fly Agaric / Amanita muscaria
Loved by Monarch butterflies
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Keywords
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212 visits
Alpine Harebell
![Alpine Harebell Alpine Harebell](https://cdn.ipernity.com/200/19/26/43381926.1cc57c98.640.jpg?r2)
![](https://s.ipernity.com/T/L/z.gif)
Posting this photo just so that I can add it to my Plateau Mountain album. I think this was just about the only flower left in bloom on our hike at Plateau Mountain on 28 September 2016, apart from quite a few False Dandelions.
I have been lucky enough to visit this special area several times in the past, but wondered if I would ever be able to get back to one of my absolute favourite places. There are two gates across this road - the lower one always seems to be open, but the second, higher gate is always kept locked. This means a long hike up a gravel road. Took me a while to make up my mind whether to go on this trip, as I wasn't sure if I'd be able to manage it - my body just can't do anything uphill, even just a very slight incline. Also, I had read someone's report - they had been there maybe five days before us and had said that, up till the day they went, a female Grizzly and her two cubs had been hanging out there for 10 days! They didn't see the bears, but noticed all the many places where the bears had pushed over rocks and ripped up the ground to look for plant roots, etc.. Seeing all these digging sights was still unnerving enough! We also saw several bear paw prints in the gravel along this road. My main concern was that I would have to fall back and let my friends continue. The thought of being by myself and seeing a family of Grizzlies had been enough to keep me awake part of the previous night and I even broke into a sweat worrying about it, lol. However, I have very thoughtful friends, and we stayed pretty much together.
These friends were there to look for mosses, lichens, plants and liverworts - plus anything else of interest - so they don't walk at a fast pace and are always stopping to look at something. This suits my ability perfectly. We were, of course, too late for wildflowers, though there were a lot of False Dandelions and this little Alpine Harebell in bloom. We also came across quite a few fungi, most of them the same kind of very small, brown fungus. We did see one or two other kinds that were worth photographing. Because of stopping so often, we ran out of time to continue hiking this road as far as the very top, flat plateau - I would have had to stay behind if they had gone further. The lower plateau is where most of my visits have taken place, but I think I have been right to the very top twice, maybe three times, before. Almost every visit other years had been in the month of July. Actually, the last part of this hike was over ground that was very similar to the very top plateau, including some permafrost 'boils'. Birds seen on this trip included a tiny Pacific Wren, a few small flocks of unidentified birds flying fast, and a falcon (Prairie falcon?).
"This nearly flat high-elevation plateau is recognized for several unique features. There is an internationally recognized ice cave with ice crystals, curls, sheets and pillars (ice crystals are so fragile that a temperature increase of one degree Celsius can cause melting). The periglacial features (known as "patterned ground") in the reserve include active permafrost, sorted stone circles, polygons, steps and frost boils. The area also contains critical winter range for bighorn sheep." From www.albertaparks.ca/plateau-mountain.aspx
There are no public roads in Plateau Mountain Ecological Reserve; the road to the mountain top is leased by Husky Oil; to prevent vandalism to natural gas production facilities and to lessen impact on the area's natural features, access is controlled by the locked gate; travel in the reserve is by foot only; there are no facilities on site and overnight camping and open fires are prohibited."
www.albertaparks.ca/media/2741526/plateau_mtn_mgmt_plan.pdf
Thanks so much, Sandy, for organizing this wonderful trip and getting us out there! Not sure, but I think the last time I was out there was in August 2012. Major flood damage had kept the roads closed after that, so it was very exciting to know that someone else had discovered that the roads were now OK for travel. We were so lucky with the weather and only had a few raindrops. Rather chilly, but October was almost here, so hardly surprising. I think the temperature was between 2C and 4C, approximately. I was wearing thermal underwear, jeans, two fleece jackets and my thick winter jacket, and my winter boots!
Many thanks, too, to Ken, for the ride from and back to Calgary - much appreciated! A long drive, but through such beautiful scenery.
I have been lucky enough to visit this special area several times in the past, but wondered if I would ever be able to get back to one of my absolute favourite places. There are two gates across this road - the lower one always seems to be open, but the second, higher gate is always kept locked. This means a long hike up a gravel road. Took me a while to make up my mind whether to go on this trip, as I wasn't sure if I'd be able to manage it - my body just can't do anything uphill, even just a very slight incline. Also, I had read someone's report - they had been there maybe five days before us and had said that, up till the day they went, a female Grizzly and her two cubs had been hanging out there for 10 days! They didn't see the bears, but noticed all the many places where the bears had pushed over rocks and ripped up the ground to look for plant roots, etc.. Seeing all these digging sights was still unnerving enough! We also saw several bear paw prints in the gravel along this road. My main concern was that I would have to fall back and let my friends continue. The thought of being by myself and seeing a family of Grizzlies had been enough to keep me awake part of the previous night and I even broke into a sweat worrying about it, lol. However, I have very thoughtful friends, and we stayed pretty much together.
These friends were there to look for mosses, lichens, plants and liverworts - plus anything else of interest - so they don't walk at a fast pace and are always stopping to look at something. This suits my ability perfectly. We were, of course, too late for wildflowers, though there were a lot of False Dandelions and this little Alpine Harebell in bloom. We also came across quite a few fungi, most of them the same kind of very small, brown fungus. We did see one or two other kinds that were worth photographing. Because of stopping so often, we ran out of time to continue hiking this road as far as the very top, flat plateau - I would have had to stay behind if they had gone further. The lower plateau is where most of my visits have taken place, but I think I have been right to the very top twice, maybe three times, before. Almost every visit other years had been in the month of July. Actually, the last part of this hike was over ground that was very similar to the very top plateau, including some permafrost 'boils'. Birds seen on this trip included a tiny Pacific Wren, a few small flocks of unidentified birds flying fast, and a falcon (Prairie falcon?).
"This nearly flat high-elevation plateau is recognized for several unique features. There is an internationally recognized ice cave with ice crystals, curls, sheets and pillars (ice crystals are so fragile that a temperature increase of one degree Celsius can cause melting). The periglacial features (known as "patterned ground") in the reserve include active permafrost, sorted stone circles, polygons, steps and frost boils. The area also contains critical winter range for bighorn sheep." From www.albertaparks.ca/plateau-mountain.aspx
There are no public roads in Plateau Mountain Ecological Reserve; the road to the mountain top is leased by Husky Oil; to prevent vandalism to natural gas production facilities and to lessen impact on the area's natural features, access is controlled by the locked gate; travel in the reserve is by foot only; there are no facilities on site and overnight camping and open fires are prohibited."
www.albertaparks.ca/media/2741526/plateau_mtn_mgmt_plan.pdf
Thanks so much, Sandy, for organizing this wonderful trip and getting us out there! Not sure, but I think the last time I was out there was in August 2012. Major flood damage had kept the roads closed after that, so it was very exciting to know that someone else had discovered that the roads were now OK for travel. We were so lucky with the weather and only had a few raindrops. Rather chilly, but October was almost here, so hardly surprising. I think the temperature was between 2C and 4C, approximately. I was wearing thermal underwear, jeans, two fleece jackets and my thick winter jacket, and my winter boots!
Many thanks, too, to Ken, for the ride from and back to Calgary - much appreciated! A long drive, but through such beautiful scenery.
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