May 25-31, 2025
Hot days touching the edge of summer
As temperatures soared into the low and high 80s, we experienced our first truly hot days of the year, but one morning we also had a good, soaking rain.
Week in Review
This is that wonderful moment in the Methow Valley when lower portions of the valley floor are brimming over with flowers and butterflies, while portions of the higher mountains are just starting to open up!
One courageous outing to Harts Pass revealed that the road is now open for a significant distance and at the same time you'll likely see good numbers of early flowers along the way. (Be aware, however, that the road is still muddy and snowy at higher elevations.)
Mountain flowers along the Harts Pass Road. Photos by Tom Forker
There's still so much happening at lower elevations. Walking around this week, I was amazed at how many flowers and butterflies I found. In fact, there were stretches of trail where it felt like butterflies were flitting up and around my feet at every step.
This is also the season when there are countless types of insects all active at the same time, both on flowers and in every part of the landscape!
One sign of the changing seasons is that, along with the profusion of insects, this was the first week I've noticed annoying numbers of mosquitoes. It would be fascinating to know how many species live in the Methow Watershed because mosquitoes have a wide range of unique lifestyles and breeding cycles.
This is a great time to be on the lookout for colorful birds like western tanagers, northern orioles, and flashy warblers like yellow-breasted chats. There are also gray catbirds, veerys, American redstarts, and many other birds in the mix.
Northern oriole (left, by Brandon Pasley) and evening grosbeak (right, by Dawn Chapel)
Energetic bird activity at this time of year is almost entirely centered around breeding and territories, and one great example was an extended and playful (?) dogfight I watched between a golden eagle and a common raven. Both of these birds are long lived, alert, and intelligent, so these two individuals are probably long-term neighbors who know each other well and interact like this on a daily basis.
Some of the many photos in a long dynamic sequence of images. Photos by David Lukas
Observation of the Week: Mariposa Lily
On one hike I was astounded to notice how many mariposa lilies are blooming right now.
In some areas they formed large patches and in other areas they filled in the spaces between sagebrush and grasses across entire hillsides.
As members of the lily family, their flower parts occur in 3's (three petals and three sepals). You'll notice that the three petals of these Lyall's mariposa lilies (Calochortus lyallii) are bright white and covered in white "hairs," while the three smaller sepals are also white, creating a startling display of color that pops out amid the duller green shrubs around them.
Mariposa lilies are generalist flowers that welcome and provide nectar to a wide range of insects, including beetles, wasps, bees, and butterflies. Conveniently, the flowers boldly mark where nectar is located with dark purple bands so visitors know where to go inside the flower.
We have another mariposa lily in the Methow Valley called sagebrush mariposa lily (Calochortus macrocarpus), which can be recognized by its light purple to pinkish flowers. It's generally easy to tell these two species apart, so they are rewarding flowers to learn how to identify.
