posted: June 2nd, 2017 |
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May 21st is where this page starts - with a return trip to the UAF property where we had found the Calypso Orchids (Calypso bulbosa var. americana) to see if they were in bloom yet. They were! You may get bored with the number of photos of them, but they are so amazing. It's easy to see why their common name is the Fairy Slipper. We also found the White Violet (Viola renifolia) in bloom and got some shots of it. There is a photo of our garden near the bottom of this month's photos and then one shot of a Hairy Woodpecker (Leuconotopicus villosus) attempting to teach one of its young how to feed at the suet feeder. It did not succeed.   Click on any thumbnail to begin.
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Begin May 21st |
  You might recall, from the previous page, that we visited a piece of University of Alaska - Fairbanks (UAF) property to search for Calypso Orchids (Calypso bulbosa var. americana) on May 16th and found only buds. We returned to the same area on May 21st and they were very nicely in bloom. The first shot in this row shows a Red Squirrel in a small hole in a Birch tree as we hiked to the Calypso Orchid place. Of course the second and third shots are Calypso Orchids (Calypso bulbosa var. americana) in bloom.
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May21st_002_ UAF_SquirrelRC |
May21st_006_UAF_ CalypsoBulbosaVarAmericanaRC |
May21st_009_UAF_ CalypsoBulbosaVarAmericanaRC |
  Here are three more shots of Calypso Orchids (Calypso bulbosa var. americana). We also found this in Japan, but there, we found the (Calypso bulbosa var. speciosa), a tiny bit different. You can find some of our shots from 2010 on THIS page beginning in Row 2 and some of our shots from 2012 on THIS page beginning in Row 3. There have also been photos of the Japanese variety of Calypso Orchid included in a few of our publications.
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May21_01_Calypso_ bulbosa_var_americanaRC |
May21st_012_UAF_ CalypsoBulbosaVarAmericanaRC |
May21_02_Calypso_ bulbosa_var_americanaRC |
  Here are three more shots of Calypso Orchids (Calypso bulbosa var. americana). Note that one of the obvious differences in the Alaska variety and the Japanese variety is the leaf. |
May21_03_Calypso_ bulbosa_var_americanaRC |
May21st_013_UAF_ CalypsoBulbosaVarAmericanaRC |
May21_04_Calypso_ bulbosa_var_americanaRC |
  Here are three more shots of Calypso Orchids (Calypso bulbosa var. americana). The Japanese variety also did not flower as prolifically as this one seems to do. Or, maybe it has to do with the density of the plants in terms of number of plants per square meter. |
May21st_019_UAF_ CalypsoBulbosaVarAmericanaRC |
May21_05_Calypso_ bulbosa_var_americanaRC |
May21st_029_UAF_ CalypsoBulbosaVarAmericanaRC |
  Here are three more shots of Calypso Orchids (Calypso bulbosa var. americana). The third shot is me. |
May21st_034_UAF_ CalypsoBulbosaVarAmericanaRC |
May21st_036_UAF_ CalypsoBulbosaVarAmericanaRC |
May21st_037_UAF_ CalypsoBulbosaVarAmericanaRC |
  Here are three more shots of Calypso Orchids (Calypso bulbosa var. americana). |
May21_10_Calypso_ bulbosa_var_americanaRC |
May21_09_Calypso_ bulbosa_var_americanaRC |
May21_11_Calypso_ bulbosa_var_americanaRC |
  Here are three more shots of Calypso Orchids (Calypso bulbosa var. americana). In the third shot, note that there is another cluster of flowers near the right hand edge of the photo in the background. |
May21_13_Calypso_ bulbosa_var_americanaRC |
May21_12_Calypso_ bulbosa_var_americanaRC |
May21_14_Calypso_ bulbosa_var_americanaRC |
  Here are two more shots of Calypso Orchids (Calypso bulbosa var. americana). The third shot shows a White Violet (Viola renifolia). |
May21st_051_UAF_ CalypsoBulbosaVarAmericanaRC |
May21_17_Crop_Calypso _bulbosa_var_americanaRC |
May21_19_ Viola_renifoliaRC |
  Once again, here are two more shots of Calypso Orchids (Calypso bulbosa var. americana). The third shot again shows a White Violet (Viola renifolia). |
May21st_053_UAF_ CalypsoBulbosaVarAmericanaRC |
May21st_057_UAF_ CalypsoBulbosaVarAmericanaRC |
May21_20_Viola _renifoliaRC |
  Here are three more shots of the White Violet (Viola renifolia). |
May21st_064_UAF_ ViolaRenifoliaRC |
May21st_066_UAF_ ViolaRenifoliaRC |
May21st_067_UAF_ ViolaRenifoliaRC |
  Here are three final shots of Calypso Orchids (Calypso bulbosa var. americana) on this date. |
May21_28_Calypso_ bulbosa_var_americanaRC |
May21_27_Calypso_ bulbosa_var_americanaRC |
May21st_081_UAF_ CalypsoBulbosaVarAmericanaRC |
End May 21st, Begin May 22nd thru May 31st |
  You may remember from Page 3, Row 12, that we showed you some shots of a Hairy Woodpecker (Leuconotopicus villosus) on our suet feeder and that I mentioned that a friend informed me that woodpeckers like something to support their tails. So, I built a suet-feeder with a tail-support and - now they are on the suet feeder several times a day. There are a pair of them and we also have a pair of the smaller Downy Woodpecker (Picoides pubescens) which hang out here.
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May22_02_ WoodpeckerRC |
May22_04_ WoodpeckerRC |
May22_07AT _WoodpeckerRC |
  On May 23rd we returned to the UAF property where we found the Calypso Orchid (Calypso bulbosa var. americana) to see if they were finished or still blooming. Obviously, they were still blooming. |
May23_22_Calypso_ bulbosa_var_americanaRC |
May23rd_125_UAF_ CalypsoBulbosaVarAmericanaRC |
May23_29_Calypso_ bulbosa_var_americanaRC |
  You saw this first photo on Page 2, Row 11, where we used it for a comparison of green-up photos. It is included here to show you that we have a garden this year and also to give you an idea of the size of it. The center shot zooms in to the garden. Both of these shots were taken while standing on the porch. The garden is 16.5 feet x 24.5 feet or 404.25 sq. ft. (5.03 meters x 7.47 meters = 37.56 sq. m.) The third image is a schematic of what we have planted and also shows the seed planting dates. The schematic is NOT drawn to scale.
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May27_08_09_Cyl Pano_Garden_YardRC |
May31_Garden _PlantedRC |
May31_ GardenRC |
  On May 29th one of the Hairy Woodpeckers (Leuconotopicus villosus) brought its young to try and teach it to use the suet feeder with the tail support. This shot shows the adult male on the ground and the young one on the side of the tree, apparently looking directly at me. The adult would fly up to the suet feeder and eat for a while and then come down to the ground and try to convince the young to either climb the tree to get to the feeder, or to fly directly to it. This process went on for 20 or 30 minutes, during which Kazuya and I were laughing and taking photos. It was rather early in the day, so it was still very shady and we got very few usable shots, even this one is blurry. The yellow on the ground is suet that the woodpecker has knocked down from the feeder to show its young that it is delicious.
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May29_2_Home_ HairyWoodpeckerRC |
End May 31st, End May 2017's Photos, Begin Miscellaneous Links |