The Kootenays - on vacation

Got some time off, and I am visiting my Mom and stepdad in Marysville, BC.  Here in this region, there is a beautiful mix of bio-geoclimatic zones, providing plenty of opportunities for some exhilarating experiences for all nature lovers.

I have been focused on photographing the forests, mountains, wildflowers and butterflies in this and surrounding areas.

I will follow up with more posts later.


Rocky mountains

Pine trees

Sunset on clouds

Crabapple blooms

Aspen

Yellow glacier lily

Tortoiseshell

Prairie Crocus

Western Spring Beauty

Aspen, larch and pines

Pines

Wolf Lichen

Yellow glacier lily, and azure butterfly

Larch

Bull mountain, Steeples range

Early blue violet

 Wild strawberry

Few-flowered shooting star

Sagebrush buttercup

Larch

Bull river valley

Bull mtn, Steeples range

Kootenay river

Prairie crocus

Wetland habitat, Bull river valley

Steeples range

Spring Forward

Spring is finally here!  It's time to get out there and take some pictures, I'd say.  The sun is out, it's getting warmer.  
And I just discovered Instagram...I can see myself getting totally addicted.  Very happy to find others who are as interested in photography as I am!

I plan to get lots of photos of flowers this season, and of course will be posting them here.  And I also want to add to my butterfly and dragonfly collections.  Tracking down butterflies is a great outdoor activity!  Patience is needed...

Stay tuned....

Newly spotted butterfly at the Great Blue Heron Nature Reserve

Visited the Great Blue Heron Nature Reserve today, hunting for butterflies to take photos of.   This nature reserve is located on the north side of the Vedder River, near Chilliwack, British Columbia.  It is accessible from the TransCanada trail, which follows the river.

Discovered a Tiger Swallowtail a couple of times, but couldn't get a shot of it.  Then, I found this one:

Identified this one as a Rocky Mountain Apollo.  I uploaded this find on eButterfly.org.