PACIFIC RAINFOREST WILDLIFE GUARDIANS 

Calypso Orchid

Found near waterfalls where misty spray drifts to canopied forest floor, it likes sparse moss and low ground cover. Several states list it as endangered because of it's sensitivity to disturbance. Queen Bumble Bees pollinate the orchid, mistaking the central pit as a nectar bowl. The bees learn from the mistake and don't return to it.

"Hi, Mrs. Jay! I see you, too."

Some Resident Forest Birds can be quite friendly once you get aquatinted. Stellar Jays are excellent communicators.

Endangered Fawn Lilly

These like meadow edges where it is sunny and warm all day. Swallow Tail Butterflies gorge on their nectar. This is one of the most ancient of North American wildflowers. It, too, does not survive disturbance well.

Night Heron nest in a Sedge Marsh

This recluse lets out just one loud "Grock!" at sunset, perhaps to frighten a fish to seek cover beneath her for supper at day's end. 

Red Columbine

Trumpets of honey flavored nectar hang amid tall shrubs at meadow's edge so deer won't see them, but Humming Birds do. They are a delicacy to Deer and children.

Trillium in Oxalis and Bleeding Hearts

Look below forest canopy in shade with small sun spots not far from openings. They like to grow when there is still frost or last snow so they choose forest cover. Trilliums are a first sign of spring.  Large deadwood holds water for slow disbursal late into summer, sheltering amphibians and keeping the forest lush.

Giant Skunk Cabbage

Skunk Cabbage Blossoms appear in spring snow, too. Blossoms actually melt snow above it by burning sugar that is used to keep warm while it blooms. Sugar comes from starch stored in the rhizome from previous summer sun energy. Sunlight caught in its pedal glows like a lamp to attract pollinators and induce energy into it's core.                

A Fox Kit keeps watch near her den.

Foxes are usually too fast to be seen, but for a rebounding vine. Silver Fox are often red and have retractable claws to escape up a tree. Red Fox prefer meadows to forest and do not have retracting claws (possibly introduced from England). Silver Fox are among the most widely spread of North American wildlife. The largest Athabasca native family name translates as "Silver Fox", with many thousands of relatives spanning the continent.

Yellow Monkey Flower

These orchids like emerging groundwater and light reflected off of water's surface. They can grow from shady cracks in rock walls or in open meadow wetland. Giant Purple Monkey Flowers of California are carnivorous, but pollinators are safe farther north. The yellow blossoms set aglow by sunlight have tiny brown speckles in their throats.

African Queen Baby Humming Bird

The pollinators are vanishing, due to pesticide use, and large commercial fruit operations that destroy their habitat, then use captive bees from disease contaminated hives. You can help by placing Mason Bee boxes, leaving cracked, dead and dying trees or limbs to act as nest snag habitat, avoiding chemical sprays, and planting wildflowers and others including: Bee Balm, Trumpet Vine, Catawba Rhododendron, Red Columbine, Delphinium, Nootka and Wood Roses, Thimble Berry, Mountain Huckleberry, Ocean Spray, Bunchberry, Oxalis, Lantana, Fuchsia, Peony, Bearded or Wild Iris. Butterfly Bush is invasive and should only be used in a city setting if it cannot spread.  

Only cut brush from late August when the last baby Humming Birds leave the nest, until March when they return to nest again. Don't cut trees from April until August when other birds are nesting.