Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Pass Island and Goose Rock


Tuesday, February 26th was a dry day and we decided to go and see if the Grass Widows were blooming at Pass Island.  They were and we spent the afternoon there and at Goose Rock nearby.  We walked the Deception Pass bridge to Pass Island and when we were finished returned to the south end of the bridge and hiked the half mile trail to the top of Goose Rock.

Pass Island lies in the middle of the waterway between Fidalgo and Whidbey Islands and separates Canoe Pass to the north from Deception Pass to the south.  The bridge between the two islands is in two spans which connect in the middle of the waterway on Pass Island.  One can walk the bridge and access Pass Island from the bridge.








These are older pictures of Pass Island and the Deception Pass Bridge, the first taken from Whidbey Island and showing the larger of the two spans with Pass Island the area in the background, the second showing both spans with Pass Island on the right and taken from Cornet Bay area of Deception Pass State Park and looking west our into the San Juan Straits.



It was there we saw one the earliest of our native wildflowers, the Grass Widow, once known as Sisyrinchium douglasii and now reclassified and placed in a genus of its own as Olsynium douglasii.  It is in the Lily family and is native to the Pacific Northwest from British Columbia to California.  Where it gets its name "Grass Widow" I do not know.










There was nothing else in bloom, though the Mahonias (Sea Grape) were budding and should be open soon, but we did get pictures of some of the other plants that grow there (most of these pictures are my wife's, as are some of the others in this post).




Finished exploring Pass Island we headed back south by way of the bridge and climbed Goose Rock, a massive outcrop that lies at the south side of Deception Pass.  There was nothing blooming along the way but we enjoyed the hike and took some pictures of the views at the top (the first with the Olympic Mountains in the background), also of the granite balds and Madrona trees that grow there.










Thursday, February 21, 2013

Birds, Flowers and Sculpture at Bloedel Conservatory


Bloedel Conservatory is part of Queen Elizabeth Park in Vancouver, British Columbia.  It features tropical plants and a collection of birds that have the conservatory as their home.  When we were there it also featured a collection of sculptures by local artists in various media.


We had been eager to get out and the day we went was a holiday here in Washington, but it was raining again, and so we made the decision to go to Bloedel, a place we had not visited before.  We spent a relaxing and enjoyable day there before fighting our way back through Vancouver traffic.

It should be noted that the pictures are in no particular order and that many of the pictures were taken by my wife.  I was trying out some high ISO settings due to the poor light and did not get very good pictures as a result.  It is not unusual, however, that she outdoes me. 

Phalaenopsis Orchids


Art and Rosie
Blue and Gold Macaw and African Grey Parrot


Phalaenopsis Orchids

Bromeliads



Zebra Finch

Red Winged Laughing Thrush


Orange Bishop Weaver Finch

Golden Pheasant


Canary and Green Singing Finch

Nelson
Hahn's Dwarf Macaw

Green Singing Finch

Gouldian Finch

Spider Lily

Anthuriums

Green Winged Macaw

Casey
Yellow Headed Amazon Parrot

Rosie
African Grey Parrot

Golden Pheasant

Cymbidium Orchids

Pied Imperial Pigeon and Bengalese Finch

Red Ear-striped Waxbill


Cockatoo

Silver Pheasant

Canary

Rosie
African Grey Parrot

Canary

Shrimp Plant

Canary


Japanese White Eye

Orange Bishop Weaver Finch

Cut Throat Finch


Canary

Red Winged Laughing Thrush

Zebra Finch

Green Singing Finch and Orange Bishop Weaver Finch



Casey
Yellow Headed Amazon Parrot

Unknown Plant and Variegated Bamboo

Shrimp Plant

New Zealand Tea Tree

Red Ear-striped Waxbill

Japanese White Eye

Easter Cactus

Anthurium

Red Ear-striped Waxbill