The natural environment and history of Kalispell’s West Valley area
by Pat Jaquith
pat@westvalleynaturalists.org
There’s a bite of cold in that wind and snow on the mountains. Back roads slip from ice to mud in a single step. Winter visitors wing over snow-bent grasses as if to say “Farewell!” and Pintails fill the open water still enclosed by ice. FOY (First-of-the-Year) birds, flowers, songs meet with excitement. In sheltered places, the sun warms the ground and our faces. Let’s check it out!
Continue Reading →by Skip Via
skip@westvalleynaturalists.org
Editor’s Note: This gallery of Dick’s extraordinary photography is a companion piece to Dick’s critically important post Bird Flu in West Valley. We are grateful to Dick for allowing us to publish these images on our site. You can find many more at walkerphotography.smugmug.com.
by Pat Jaquith
pat@westvalleynaturalists.org
Juniper is a woody plant that provides habitat and food for a number of bird species year ’round. For more information about local Juniper species and the birds that utilize them in all seasons…
Continue Reading →by Skip Via
skip@westvalleynaturalists.org
If you have driven down West Valley Drive this summer, you have probably noticed a new agricultural crop growing in a couple of the fields near Coclet. It’s hemp, and I wanted to know more about it.
Continue Reading →by Skip Via
skip@westvalleynaturalists.org
Last September I put together an article–West Valley Bee and Bee–about building a bee hotel and developing a native pollinator garden around it to encourage native bees. Here’s a quick update.
Continue Reading →by Pat Jaquith
pat@westvalleynaturalists.org
The Mountain Lady’s Slipper, aka White Lady’s Slipper, is a striking sight, whether as a single stalk like this one or a in big clump. Although their very existence requires an amazing amount of chance and even the support of a fungal partner, they find a niche that works for them in our area. I visited this solitary plant at least once every month from June to October, 2022. Read on to watch its progress.
Continue Reading →by Skip Via
skip@westvalleynaturalists.org
There are two common recommendations for maintaining and increasing the population of native bee species: plant native plants and provide a bee house of some kind so that the insects can overwinter or deposit their eggs and have a safe place for their larvae until the spring when they emerge. This article describes an attempt to do these as complementary processes.
by Pat Jaquith
pat@westvalleynaturalists.org
When I first heard the word “gentian”, it was in reference to a veterinary medicine that I needed to apply to a cow I was tending. It was called “Gentian Blue” and although I had little understanding of its role in healing my bovine, it was the most intense blue I had ever seen! Subsequently, my appreciation of the various hues of blue have been in reference to the blue of that medicine. It was many years before I moved to the west where I saw my first flower in the Gentian family, and I was amazed to learn that the green plant I saw was a Gentian! (Frasera speciosa). That one doesn’t grow in the West Valley, but here are some I have encountered here.
Continue Reading →by Skip Via
skip@westvalleynaturalists.org
This article has two purposes: to illustrate my July 2022 newsletter post about macro photography and to highlight one of the multitude of opportunities we have here in the valley to view nature’s wonders.
All of the photos in this post were taken during and just after a light rain in Happy Valley (see Locations) on June 21, 2022. For the photographically inclined, I was using the Halide app on an iPhone 12 Pro for the macro shots. Aside from cropping some shots, no additional editing or filters were used. What you see is exactly what came out of the camera. Please notice the minute detail that can be captured with macro photography–the raindrops on the mariposa lilies, the feathered edges of the tailed-blue butterfly’s wings, the fuzzy leaves and stem of the cinquefoil, the backlighting on the forget-me-nots, etc. It’s a whole new world down there at the macro level. Also notice that the backgrounds of most shots are blurred. This is called the “bokeh effect” and it’s a natural function of macro photography, which uses a shallow depth of field. It does make for some dramatic photos, calling attention to your subject matter.
by Pat Jaquith
pat@westvalleynaturalists.org
July is filled with awe-inspiring sights; it is hard to decide what is most representative of the month. Fields, forest, hilltops, and more. . .read on to see some of the things that I’ve observed in this busy month.
Continue Reading →by Skip Via
skip@westvalleynaturalists.org
Despite our fits-and-starts beginning to spring here in the valley, it looks like we’re in for another glorious season of wildflowers. I spent last week looking for emerging blossoms and this photo essay is reflective of what I encountered. It’s just another reminder of the beauty and complexity that lies beneath our feet in these parts.
All photos were taken in and around West Valley. Pairs of images were shot at the same location on the same day.
by Pat Jaquith
pat@westvalleynaturalists.org
Nothing shouts out, “It’s Spring! I’m back! quite as loudly as a Yellow-headed Blackbird. But so many things announce the season in their own style. Maybe you’ll find your favorite among the following selection.
Continue Reading →by Pat Jaquith
pat@westvalleynaturalists.org
Worldwide, there are about 100 species of Peltigera in the Foliose group of lichens; there are 23 species in the Rocky Mountains. But here in the West Valley, the number is much more manageable! In the following article, I will give some pointers I found helpful as my exploration has evolved.
Continue Reading →by Pat Jaquith
pat@westvalleynaturalists.org
by Skip Via
skip@westvalleynaturalists.org
In casual conversation about the living inhabitants of an ecosystem, especially among those of us who took high school biology in the 60s, we generally rely on “flora” and “fauna” to categorize and conceptualize the organisms living there. If something’s not a mineral, then it must be a plant or an animal.
But it could be something else.
Continue Reading →