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Living with Smoke

July 19-25, 2026

David Lukas

• 5 min read
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bear in water
What else is a bear going to do when it's 100 degrees outside?! Photo by David Lukas

A blistering combination of dense wildfire smoke and scorching temperatures made for a challenging week in the Methow Valley.

Week in Review

I appreciated having an opportunity to take a couple of weeks off for a fascinating road trip (which you can read about in my Lukas Guides newsletter), but when I returned home, the Methow Valley felt dry and dead because everything is so hot and smoky now.

smoky day
Not an inspiring day for going outside! Photo by David Lukas

The conditions were so dismal and discouraging that I didn't get outside all week, but when I finally managed to head out for a walk at the end of the week, I was astonished at how much is going on despite the heat and smoke.

butterfly at a flower
A sulphur butterfly and a wasp visiting a fireweed at the same time. Photo by David Lukas

In particular, I walked around the beaver pond at Sun Mountain and was overwhelmed by the number of birds, chipmunks, squirrels, butterflies, dragonflies, and damselflies that I saw.

mourning cloak
Mourning cloaks are among the first butterflies to appear as snow melts in the spring, but they are present all summer long as well. Photo by David Lukas

Because of the heat, many of the animals were hiding in the shade of leafy trees, which seems like an entirely reasonable thing to do on a hot summer day.

chipmunk
A yellow-pine chipmunk watching me from the shady side of a tree trunk. Photo by David Lukas

One of my favorite sightings was a pair of pileated woodpeckers (perhaps a pair of babies from this year?) feeding together on a stump while a red squirrel repeatedly tried to chase them off. Each time the squirrel got close, the woodpeckers would flash their wings to startle the squirrel, but they eventually got tired and flew away.

pileated woodpecker
A pileated woodpecker flashing its wings at a pesky squirrel. Photo by David Lukas

The beaver pond is an especially busy place in the summer, with the yellow flowers of carnivorous bladderworts emerging from the water as a dizzying number of damselflies and dragonflies zip back and forth.

bladderworts
Bladderworts are aquatic plants that trap small invertebrates with bladder-like traps on their underwater stems. In mid-summer, their yellow flowers emerge from the water to attract pollinators. Photo by David Lukas

dragonfly
Four-spotted skimmers are one of the many dragonflies found around the beaver pond. Photo by David Lukas

damselfly
Bluets are easily the most abundant damselflies found in the Methow Valley, but boreal and northern bluets are almost impossible to tell apart (see our damselfly guide for more details). Photo by David Lukas

Western wood-pewees are common birds around bodies of water, so they are easily found at the beaver pond. I always look forward to hearing them because their mournful calls are one of the diagnostic sounds of summer almost everywhere in the American West.

western wood-pewee
I have to admit that western wood-pewees are drab, but they make up for it with their lively energy and frequent vocalizations. Photo by David Lukas

While the most conspicuous flower at this time of year are fireweeds, buckwheats have also begun blooming and the advantage of blooming in the doldrums of mid-summer is that these flowers are guaranteed to get lots of visitors!

snow buckwheat
Snow buckwheats have just begun to bloom, and at their peak, they will carpet many dry hillsides around the Methow Valley. Photo by David Lukas

Tall buckwheats can reach five feet tall, and their abundant flowers are very popular with pollinators. Photos by David Lukas

Other notable changes in plants include Douglas-fir cones starting to ripen. Many of these still-green cones are snipped and dropped to the ground by red squirrels that begin stashing them away for their winter food supply. Sometimes you'll even find places where the ground is littered with cones that are being collected by a resident squirrel.

Douglas-fir cone
Green cones rarely drop on their own, so this is most likely a sign of a squirrel. Photo by David Lukas

This is also a great time to begin looking for wild berries on your hikes. For example, I noticed lots of ripe thimbleberries and wild raspberries around the beaver pond and I wonder if huckleberries have started ripening in the mountains too?

thimbleberries
Thimbleberries may be seedy, but they have an excellent flavor. Photo by David Lukas

So don't be discouraged by all this hot, smoky weather. Try to get out every chance you get because there's a lot to see right now!

Fritillary on flower
Fritillaries add a dash of bright color on summer days! Photo by David Lukas

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I attended a bumblebee survey training this morning, and it reminded me that citizen science and long-term observations are incredibly important tools. The Nature Notes newsletter is one way that we can share and track our observations over the years, and I hope you'll join me in supporting this effort. Every week for more than three years, the newsletter has been tracking the changing seasons, and this vital work is entirely supported by your paid subscriptions and one-time donations. Thank you, and please share the newsletter with friends and neighbors!