Tonight, I have posted another four photos taken on 27 June 2022. The plant in this photo was growing with maybe half a dozen other Milkweed plants along the edge of a gravel road. Soon, these little buds will open and reveal unusual, beautiful flowers.
Our late Naturalist leader, Gus Yaki, had beautiful Showy Milkweed growing in his garden. I always used to take photos of these fascinating flowers every chance I had. These plants had spread over a lot of the front garden. In 2012, it was very unusual, as people were seeing a few amazing Monarch butterflies in Alberta, including in Calgary. I even got to see and photograph a few Monarch caterpillars in this garden in July 2012, for the very first and last time. Milkweed does not normally grow in Calgary, though we have seen a plant or two growing in the wild at one location in the city.
"Monarchs only use milkweed for their eggs - no other plant will do. There is a good reason for this. Milkweed is poisonous and the caterpillars absorb the poison into their bodies, thus making them immune to predators." From edmontonnaturalizationgroup. The National Geographic has an amazing, fascinating video of the life story of these spectacular butterflies - couldn't find a link to it, unfortunately.
edmontonnaturalizationgroup.org/blog/2012/08/13/wildflowe...
""Pollination in this genus is accomplished in an unusual manner, as the pollen is grouped into complex structures called pollinia (or "pollen sacs"), rather than being individual grains, as is typical for plant pollen. The flower petals are smooth and rigid, and the feet of visiting insects (predominantly large wasps, such as spider wasps, which visit the plants for nectar) slip into notches in the flowers, where the sticky bases of the pollinia attach to the feet, pulling the pollen sacs free when the pollinator flies off. Bees, including honey bees only gather nectar from milkweed flowers, and are generally not effective pollinators despite the frequency of visitation.
Species in the Asclepias genus grow their seeds in pods. These seed pods contain soft filaments known as either silk or floss. The filaments are attached to individual seeds. When the seed pod ripens, the seeds are blown by the wind, each carried by several filaments." From Wikipedia."
It had been just over a month since I did a full day drive. On 27 June, it was the annual spring cleaning of our parking lot and all vehicles had to be removed by 7:30 am. I don't have street parking, so it meant that I needed to fill the time away from home. What better excuse for a long drive! On 25 May 2022, I had taken my daughter out for the day, driving SE of Calgary. Part of my drive on 27 June 2022 was along some of the same roads.
It felt so good to be out seeing birds and other wildlife. Old familiar barns, too; even several kinds of wildflower. This spring, I have had to miss just about all the wildflowers, as well as many bird species. On this day, I was so lucky to have several much-appreciated sightings, including finally coming across a Sharp-tailed Grouse walking across the road way ahead in front of me. I used to love seeing these birds, but hadn't seen one the last few years.
Two other birds I was so glad to see were a Horned Lark who posed nicely on a fence post, and a Great Horned Owlet. From a distance, I could see the outline of an owl, but it suddenly disappeared from sight. Driving very slowly past the trees, I spotted the youngster deep within the dark tangle of branches. Fortunately, a gap allowed quite a nice view of the young owl.
I always see hawks on this drive, the biggest thrill being a family of Ferruginous Hawks. Usually, I get better photos of the Swainson's and Red-tailed Hawks than I did this day, but I never tire of seeing these majestic birds of prey.
At a final, quick stop before continuing my drive home, all I saw were a couple of Yellow-headed Blackbirds and .... a Wilson's Snipe, one of my favourite birds to see and photograph : ) The latter was a surprise and, with a back view for a change, it did look rather cute.
Being out for 11 hours was a longer day than my usual day trips. I was tired out, but being out in nature rarely fails to leave me on a happy high. Distance travelled was 392 km.
Would love to have been able to sleep in the next morning, but I had to be up very early to welcome a plumber and his mate who came to install a new waste food disposer under my kitchen sink. The old one must have been leaking for a long time into the cupboard. Feels like luxury to be able to use my kitchen sink again, after washing dishes in the bathroom sink for about three weeks! A good thing done. Next thing on the urgent To Do List is to arrange for an electrician to come and repair/service my furnace. Thank goodness this problem arose now and not during the frigid winter months!
