August 31-September 6, 2025
Closing out the summer with smoke
Between days with temperatures over 100 degrees and never-ending wildfire smoke, this hasn't been a great week for getting outdoors.
Week in Review
Summer appears to be fading into the haze of wildfire smoke that is blanketing the western United States and Canada. Fortunately, scattered rain is in the forecast for the next week, so maybe this will clear things up.
You may not have gotten out much in the heat and smoke, but there's been a significant movement of migrating birds. Last week, there were many groups of migrating songbirds, and it's clear that the movement has continued into this week.
For both of the last two days, I've noticed large kettles of migrating turkey vultures, as well as a huge group of migrating swallows. And today I encountered dozens of sparrows (mostly vesper sparrows?) flying ahead of me as I drove along a dirt road.
For most of the week, the only waterbirds on Twin Lakes have been a handful of coots and ruddy ducks, along with a few other scattered birds, then yesterday a group of American wigeon showed up. I'll be watching to see if this group was an anomaly or the beginning of a trend.
While checking out the lakes, I noticed the bright blooms of purple loosestrife around the shoreline. Once established, this highly invasive plant easily overcomes and eliminates native vegetation, so I hope WDFW is paying attention. If you see some getting established in an area you know, one strategy is to pull it while it's flowering.
Purple loosestrife may be pretty, but it's one of the most problematic invasive weeds in North America, so let's hope it doesn't take over in the Methow Valley. Photos by David Lukas
I also noticed a small gathering of common checkered skippers along the lakeshore. I'm familiar with orange-colored skippers, so it was a pleasant surprise to find a species that is mostly white. Apparently, these common and widespread butterflies lay their eggs on mallows.
Dragonflies continue to be the most obvious and numerous insects in many different habitats right now. Most are concentrated around the shorelines of lakes and marshes, but many other dragonflies wander far into forests or onto open dry hillsides. Based on all the chasing and breeding that is going on, this is probably the prime breeding season for many species.
Observation of the Week: Snowberry
I've always wondered what role snowberries play. If you cut open one of their pearly white "berries" (actually a drupe), you'll discover that there are only a couple of tiny seeds buried in a spongy white mass. Chipmunks, rodents, and a few birds might occasionally eat these fruits, but it'd be a lot of hassle for very little reward.
To my surprise, I just discovered a role that had never occurred to me. While on a two-hour walk around the beaver pond at Sun Mountain, there were very few insects other than the countless dragonflies swooping around the water. Then I walked past a large patch of snowberry that was absolutely swarming with pollinators attracted to the plant's inconspicuous pink flowers.
If it wasn't for the loud buzzing, I wouldn't have even noticed that the plant had flowers, but when I looked closer, I discovered many kinds of bees, wasps, and flies eagerly dashing from flower to flower.
Given the overall lack of flowers across the landscape right now, it seems like snowberry might fill a vital ecological niche by providing flowers when there aren't many other choices available. By filling in this critical gap, the overlooked snowberry might actually be one of our most important plants.
