Spring up close... and wild orchids

Spring this year looks pretty much as it did last year in Fairbanks. To avoid repeating photos of water fowl and sandhills at Creamer's Field, chokecherry trees, and the like I thought I would focus on more subtle details of Spring's awakening.

In Goldstream Valley the hills are now green, the willows a subtle lavender and the black spruce a green that from a distance appears black.

Much is budding right now...

I set off the other day on Calypso Trail -- a nature trail on the UAF campus. It is named for the Calypso Orchid (Calypso bulbosa). The orchid blooms only in May and I missed it last year as I didn't learn of it until it was too late to catch it. I set off on the trail last week not really expecting to see one, but to my great delight I came across a patch of them after about an hour's walk.

Calypso bulbosa

They are quite small and absolutely the only things flowering in the woods at this time of year. What a gift to be able to see them. Someone asked if I had dug them up and I could only respond with astonishment and laughter. Wild orchids are sacred and, in any case, do very poorly in cultivation.

The Green Bog Orchid (Limnorchis hyperborea)

These orchids are real members of the Orchidacea family and I saw a lot of them on Willow Run. As I remember, they are quite fragrant. These photos were taken later in the summer last year.

Spotted Lady's Slipped Orchid

This orchid also blooms on the Calypso Trail. I was fortunate to have seen rather large patches of them when I took this photo last summer.

The dawn sky viewed from my cabin window.

Tomorrow the sun will rise at 3:54 am and set at 11:45 pm. The day will be 19 hours, 51 minutes and 02 seconds long, but with Civil Twilight it is really light all the time. We will not see the night sky again until fall.

The moose have reappeared on Willow Run...

... and the Snowshoe Hares have now changed from pure white to their summer colors.

This guy was right outside the outhouse.

A Gray Jay at the suet feeder.

The new camera really makes a difference. They always came out blurred with my other one. The following photos are from a recent walk on another of UAF's nature trails. This one leaves from Ballaine Lake.

Paper Birch leaves in sunlight.

Everything is budding but I have no idea what most things are. Someone said Alaska has only 5 species of trees so you would think it would not be too difficult to identify them, but I can only reliably recognize paper birch and black spruce.

Another mystery...

Plants on the forest floor...

... and another.

These photos have been taken mainly to experiment with the new camera. I really wish I knew what these things are. I should probably pay a visit to the UAF Botanical Garden and become more educated.

USF eat your heart out. All of this is on the UAF campus.

... and finally, the Alaska Range from the top of Ballaine Hill. I think this is the best one so far. I know, I know.

This may be my last post for awhile. I leave June 3rd for training to become a Marine Mammal Observer this summer. The training will take approximately 3 weeks and includes Cold Water Survival and Helicopter Underwater Exit Training (HUET). Although it is not yet clear how many assignments there will be nor when they will take place, I am hoping to spend at least a good part of the summer on the Arctic Ocean watching for whales, walruses and polar bears -- doing my part to protect our environment.

Wishing all of you a wonderful summer ...

Spring Breakup in and around Fairbanks

Between pristine, and often brutal, winter and the seemingly endless days of summer comes "spring breakup". It has been a challenge to find enough of interest to share here given the relatively monochromatic tones the world around us takes on. Browns and grays dominate the landscape, the snow that stays around is dirty, and mud reigns.

Perhaps the most notable event, and the official designation of spring breakup, is the Nenana Ice Classic (www.nenanaakiceclassic.com). The ice on the Tanana River at Nenana officially moved at 9:06 am on April 29th. My guess (April 30 at 2:15 am) was off by 17 hours and 9 minutes). This event makes headlines in the Fairbanks News Miner. After that we just wait for a spring that is rather slow in coming to the Interior of Alaska. Light, however, is returning rapidly after the long dark winter. There will be 16 hours and 57 minutes of daylight today -- the sun rose at 5:22 am and will set at 10:19 pm.

Azaleas in my front yard in Florida.

After leaving the lush spring on the west coast of Florida, the contrast was sobering.

Rotting ice on the pond off Willow Run.

The melting ice is often as transparent as fine crystal.

Squirrels have reinvaded the yard, occupied the bird feeder, and create a racket running all over the cabin.

A darkeyed junco on the last patch of snow around the cabin.

Willow Run Road.

When it gets like this one becomes nostalgic for the snow road of winter.

Close-up of puddle on Willow Run.

(Experimenting with my new camera here.)

A well-camouflaged spruce grouse just outside my door.

Rotting ice on Goldstream Creek.

The only evidence of spring so far is the budding of willows.

More disappearing ice on the pond off Willow Run.

... and more ice.

One of two trumpeter swans that have arrived at Creamer's Field.

El Dorado Creek lies just northeast of our cabins.

... and more ice

(well this blog is called "Ice and Snow" after all).

Ballaine Lake is also beginning to thaw.

The two regal trumpeters at Creamer's Field.

The last of the ice on the Chena River that runs through downtown Fairbanks.

And... the Alaska Range viewed from Ballaine Hill.

(Even though it is not a very clear day my new camera does a much better job at capturing detail at a distance.)

I hope these random photos capture some of the subtle changes going on in nature here during spring breakup. Soon there will be fields full of wildflowers, a greater variety of birds, moose with their babies, and the ubiquitous mosquito -- oh well, I guess you can't have everything.

And now for something completely different... The Western Everglades and Big Cypress Swamp

The Western Everglades is about as far from the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge as you can get -- in distance and in character. Each is, however, unique as an example of a wilderness ecosystem. For those of you interested there is an excellent documentary DVD, Big Cypress Swamp: the Western Everglades, by filmmaker Elam Stoltzfus, produced in 2009.

Sunrise from our room at River Wilderness was mystical as morning sounds emerged from the surrounding landscape.

The Rod and Gun Club is the upper end of accommodations in Everglades City and has an excellent restaurant on a waterway. It is an historical landmark where Teddy Roosevelt among other dignitaries has stayed. At the River Wilderness, where we always stay, the units have screened porches right over the water.

Sunset from the porch of the Rod and Gun Club

Road kill on the way to Everglades City. These are Black Vultures tearing up an alligator.

The City Hall, Library, and most other government offices in Everglades City

February and March are great months for migrating birds.

Wood Storks, Roseate Spoonbills, and an assortment of egrets (probably).

A Snowy Egret. You can see his yellow feet in the water.

A pair of Roseate Spoonbills

There are huge numbers of alligators in the Everglades.

A Little Green Heron. I had never seen one before.

A rarely seen Purple Gallinule

A Great Blue Heron on her nest with two chicks. You may be able to see one of the chicks if you enlarge the photo.

Little Blue Heron

Anhinga

Entering Big Cypress Swamp

Completely different from the vast expanses of the "River of Grass".

A Snowy Egret in the swamp

Close-up

A pile of alligators

From the car window on the way out.

For me the Everglades are the most beautiful part of Florida. As with the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge they are always under threat. Although they are likely to remain during my lifetime, I am not so sure about future generations....

I will be back in Fairbanks April 14th and looking forward to spring and summer.

By the way, for those of you who do not know, Lance Mackey won the Iditarod for the 4th time in a row. Go Lance!!!