Red-tailed Hawks

I was up at Strathcona Provincial Park this weekend helping out with the Friends of Strathcona Park Wilderness Festival and had the good fortune to get a closer look at a Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis). Scarlet, Mountainaire Avian Rescue Society ambassador poses for photographs at the Friends of Strathcona Park Wilderness Festival. Scarlet is a Mountainaire Avian Rescue Society ambassador …

More Flowers in Paradise Meadows

While the Jeffrey’s Shootingstar display in Paradise Meadows, Strathcona Provincial Park, British Columbia is exceptional right now, so are many other flowers in the meadows. The late snow melt has compressed the wildflower bloom into a shorter time frame and as a result many early spring flowers are blooming at the same time as late summer flowers. Further into the …

Delightful Dodecatheons

Jeffrey’s Shootingstar (Dodecatheon jeffreyi) is out in full force in Paradise Meadows, Strathcona Provincial Park. The timing of this bloom couldn’t be more perfect, coinciding with the Perseids meteor shower. In the meadows, the downward pointing flowers might just be more spectacular than the display in the night sky in mid-August. Take a walk around the wheelchair accessible boardwalk and …

Kwai Lake Hike

It’s been a late year for hiking in the sub-alpine on Vancouver Island. I thought I’d check out the “back-country” of Paradise Meadows, Strathcona Provincial Park today before the rain moves in later in the week. My original plan was to complete the shortish (about 8 km) Lake Helen MacKenzie loop but trail conditions were fairly good up to the …

Angling in on an Anglewing

Finding dog excrement on a trail or a beach always disgusts me, especially in a provincial or national park. I have to wonder where the owner was or what he or she was thinking. I’ve heard the “organic” argument on many occasions, and true enough it is organic and does break down over time. However, what often isn’t factored into …

Gorgeous Gummy Gooseberry!

A number of years ago when I worked at Strathcona Provincial Park as a naturalist I was leading a guided walk around the Karst Creek Trail when a member of the group made a very interesting discovery. We had been poking along doing some bird watching and looking at all sorts of plants along the edge of the trail. At …

Buttle Lake Bluffs

It’s a spot where few people stop on their way to Ralph River Campground in Strathcona Provincial Park. There doesn’t look like there’s much to see and the road is so narrow, twisty and windy in this section that there aren’t many places to pull over safely as well, especially if you’ve got a Boliden-Westmin Mines ore truck on your …

Tiptoeing Past Fairyslippers

Looking down at a pair of Fairyslippers (Calypso bulbosa). The challenge was to get a composition with the flower and the leaf below. This is definitely the time of year to look for Fairyslippers (Calypso bulbosa) in the dark, damp forests of Vancouver Island, British Columbia. These beautiful orchids are often missed, so slow down and keep your eyes open …

A Sad Day for Strathcona Provincial Park

Bedwell Lake is accessible by fairly good trail from the Buttle Lake corridor of the park (if the suspension bridge at the trail head isn’t damaged). BC Parks turned 100 just over a month ago on March 1st, 2011. On March 11, 2010, the BC Liberal government quietly and radically amended the Master Plan of Strathcona Provincial Park, the first …

A Mountain Tree: Yellow-cedar

Guest Post by Jocie Brooks On a sunny Saturday during the recent cold-snap I took a morning off to do some cross-country skiing at Mt. Washington, gateway to Strathcona Provincial Park. The smooth, creamy-white snow glistened in the morning light, studded with troops of frosted trees. They call this “Paradise Meadows” for a reason; it’s a spectacular place and feels …