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This is Page 3 of 4 - the best of June 2020!
posted: June 30th, 2020
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This page begins with June 10th - the morning after our campout in Denali National Park at the Riley Creek Campground.  We had a full view of Denali, the mountain this morning.  We also saw a moose immediately, or at least very soon, after it calved, which was quite interesting.  We traveled home on this date, so there are photos which were taken along the highway as we traveled towards Fairbanks.  On June 13th a red fox came to visit us at home, that was cool.  We also went to Upper Grapefruit Rocks on this date and found two species of orchids.  In the evening we photographed some birds at home.  All in all June 13th proved to be quite an amazing day.  Click on any thumbnail to begin.

Begin June 10th
  It's another new day and as we drove from the Riley Creek Campground, into Denali National Park we were shown this incredible view of Denali - The Great One - in all its splendor. Keep in mind that this is the highest mountain on the North American continent (20,310 feet = 6,190 meters). There were several large forest fires going, so the sky was a bit smoky, but not terribly bad. We were fortunate.
June10_03Adj_Denali_DenaliNPRC
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  We had been told that there were some orchids growing along the trail in the Mountain Vista area of the park, so we stopped there and hiked the loop in search of them - we did not find any orchids, but we saw a moose some distance away which was acting very strangely, so we stopped to watch for a while. It soon became apparent that it was a cow moose and then we saw a tiny calf nearby. Then after more watching through binoculars, it became apparent that the moose had probably just calved within the past hour or less, as she was still licking the calf clean. Then she tried to entice the calf to cross the river, but the calf did not have the strength to try it, so the mother went back and nursed for a little while and then laid down with the calf after deciding that we were not a threat.

In the first photo the calf is on the extreme left side. In the second and third photos you can see that the calf is suckling. Why did the mother lift her leg in the third photo? Maybe to stimulate the flow of milk?
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  The first shot in this row shows that the mother moose still has her hind leg lifted, who knows why? In the second shot, the mother thinks the calf has had enough milk and she crosses the river and tells the calf to follow. The calf took one step out into the water and turned back to shore and laid down. The third shot shows that the mother came back and decided to lie down with the calf until it gains more strength.
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  The final moose shot - the mother does a bit more thorough job of cleaning the afterbirth from the calf. The second shot shows Denali - the mountain from this location. One hour after this shot was taken it was 100% covered by clouds again. The third shot is another scenic photo.
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June10_25_DenaliNP_SceneryRC
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  The first two shots in this row show the area we were in two days ago while we were climbing on the Savage Alpine Trail. The third shot is a scenic shot with the Savage River drainage out there. We're going to zoom-in to the general area shown in the outlined area for the next three photos to show you a Caribou which I found while glassing around the area.
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June10th_082_DenaliRC
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June10_48_DenaliNP_SceneryRC
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  Hopefully, you can recognize this area from the previous photo. Now we're going to zoom-in even more. WOW! This is Canon SX730 HS Camera.
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  And now we are on the way home. We stopped at this pond because Kazuya spotted the Great Yellow Pond-lily (Nuphar polysepala) and wanted to get some photos.
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June10th_107_MP294_NupharPolysepalaRC
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  These photos of Alaska Iris (Iris setosa) were taken near Nenana, Alaska - at what the Nenana folks call "Nenana Pond".
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June10th_127_Nenana_IrisSetosaRC
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  Here are two more shots of Alaska Iris (Iris setosa), the final photos from this wonderful adventure.
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June10th_142_Nenana_IrisSetosaRC
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End June 10th, Begin June 13th
  Now it's June 13th and we are at home. We had this Red Fox (Vulpes vulpes) visitor this morning - the second time we've seen it in this location out our west window. It likes the smell and taste of this very old and stale suet cake which I removed from the suet bird feeder because it was so old that the birds would no longer touch it! The fox also hears sounds of voles in the wood pile and it wants to hang out and catch one or two of them.
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  As you can see, this fox didn't mind relaxing here for a while. It did not leave until after it had licked the very last bit of suet from the bird bath stand.
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  On this same date we also went out to Upper Grapefruit Rocks in search of orchids. The first thing we found were these Smallflower Columbine (Aquilegia brevistyla). Then we found a couple of Northern Lady Slipper Orchids (Cypripedium passerinum), though they were not yet in bloom.
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June13th_004_GrapefruitRocks_CypripediumPasserinumRC
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  Here is a final shot (for today) of the Northern Lady Slipper Orchid (Cypripedium passerinum). The second and third photos show a beautiful example of Labrador Tea (Rhododendron groenlandicum).
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Jun13_04_GrapefruitRocks
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Jun13_06_GrapefruitRocks_LabradorTeaRC
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Rocks_LabradorTeaRC
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  Now we are climbing up towards Grapefruit Rocks and we have found an abundance of Spotted Lady Slipper Orchid (Cypripedium guttatum) in bloom. WOW!
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Jun13_14_GrapefruitRocks
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  Here are three more shots of the Spotted Lady Slipper Orchid (Cypripedium guttatum).
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Jun13_19_GrapefruitRocks
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June13th_020_GrapefruitRocks_CypripediumGuttatumRC
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Jun13_30_GrapefruitRocks_CypripediumGuttatumRC
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  And here are three additional shots of the Spotted Lady Slipper Orchid (Cypripedium guttatum).
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Jun13_39_GrapefruitRocks_CypripediumGuttatumRC
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  Here are the final three shots of the Spotted Lady Slipper Orchid (Cypripedium guttatum) for this year. We hope to visit them again next year.
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June13th_034_GrapefruitRocks
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Jun13_58_GrapefruitRocks_CypripediumGuttatumRC
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Jun13_57_GrapefruitRocks_CypripediumGuttatumRC
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  These two shots of Dwarf Mountain Fleabane (Erigeron compositus) are the final shots from this adventure.
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Rocks_ErigeronCompositusRC
June13th_048_GrapefruitRocks_ErigeronCompositusRC
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  We are at home again now and Kazuya spotted - and managed to shoot some photos of this Yellow-rumped Warbler (Setophaga coronata) as it bathed. Great entertainment.
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  And then after a little while, this Black-billed Magpie (Pica hudsonia) stopped by the suet feeder to grab a bite. Generally this bird stops here in the morning on its rounds, but for some reason, it stopped by in the evening on this date. What a day, eh - a fox, the bath of the Yellow-rumped Warbler, and now this.
June13th_067_MagpieRC
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End June 13th, End Page 3
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