Tag Archives: askanaturalist

From Harry Jennings: “I easily recognize the sockeye salmon under the bridge, but what are the other grey plentiful fish appearing to be heading upstream as well?”Many people were excited to see the sockeye salmon swimming under the Nekw7usem bridge into Williams Lake this September. It has been several years since they have been seenContinue reading “Fish swimming with the salmon”

Long-billed curlews are North America’s largest shorebirds but they are often found away from shorelines. In our region, we usually associate them with dry open grasslands but this is only the breeding part of their life cycle. They breed on open grasslands in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and many northwest and north central U.S. StatesContinue reading “Are long-billed curlews really shorebirds?”

This a nice photo of a mariposa lily (Calochortus macrocarpus) flower.  It is common in our dry sagebrush and grassland ecosystems although livestock grazing has reduced its historic abundance considerably.  The thick, fleshy bulbs were eaten raw or cooked by indigenous people but due to current declining abundance, harvesting of plants is discouraged.  The leavesContinue reading “Can someone identify this plant which I saw on the grassland?”

Both tundra swans and trumpeter swans can be seen in most years on lakes and ponds in the Williams Lake area during their migrations northward.  Trumpeter swans are usually seen first, often while there is still ice on the lakes and ponds but some open water is present.  They are seldom seen in the springContinue reading “Are the swans we see at Scout Island mostly tundra swans or trumpeter swans?”