All My Blogs

Mountain Lady slipper - I photographed this with my iPhone at Mission Creek Park. I have seen lady slippers before, but never in Canada.  Imagine my surprise when I saw hundreds of them along the trail in Mission Creek Park in Kelowna.  The last lady slipper I photographed was when I was shooting slide film and my kids were in their early teens. The blooms of the plant last for a mere 7-14 days.  I saw them yesterday (May 11, 2026) in Kelowna and expect that most of them will be finished sometime next week.   Lady slippers are a type of orchid.  There are about 40 different species of native orchids in BC, the most of any province in Canada.  Although it is not illegal to pick them, it is strongly discouraged.  The plants are easily damaged.  Transplanting them typically fails.   I do very few blogs on plants as my main interest is in animal life of all types and of course all aspects of photography.  However, I make an excepti...

A very vocal marsh wren sings from a bull rush in the Swan Lake Bird Sanctuary near Vernon, BC. The first time I photographed a marsh wren, I thought it was a Bewick's wren.  The telltale tail identified it as a wren, and they both have a stripe above the eye.  Marsh wrens, however, have a checkered back pattern that Bewick's does not.  And then there is location. Marsh wrens - guess where they live?  In marshes.  I have only ever seen them around cattails, often lurking unseen inside some dense thicket of leaves and stems.  Their song ( click here for a video) is distinctive.  I photographed the above birds while kayaking at Swan Lake near Vernon, and as we paddled along the edge of the reed bed, we could hear their numerous calls.   Marsh wren males are aggressive nest builders.  Their nests are bulbous, covered structures with a hole in them ( click here for image) for the awaiting female.  And, as amazing as they are, they don...

Kathryn enjoying her new e-bike on the Okanagan Rail Trail near Vernon, BC. Kathryn wears many hats in her life, in all ways.  Physically, she has two in the photo and another three or four at home or in our trailer.  Metaphorically, she has many more. She is my wife, an amazing thing given who I am.  She could have married anyone, yet she chose me.  We will celebrate our 38th anniversary this year. Kathryn is the mother of my children.  Two kids, now both in their 30's, that we are very proud of and thankful for.  She helped shape their personalities and moral codes. She is well educated, a teacher, and an instructor for the blind.  She has made a huge difference in so many lives.  And her enthusiasm for helping others goes on despite her retirement. Kathryn is my friend; she was my friend first and then my wife.  We camp, play games, walk, ride bikes, watch shows, and eat together.   She loves God.  We go to church, attend a ...

Swan Lake near Vernon - it was a perfect evening for shooting a sunset. Whenever I shoot sunsets, I change my camera's metering system to spot.  There are three, sometimes four, different ways that your camera has to measure light.  The standard one involves the camera reading light from numerous places in the scene and determining an exposure value (EV) based on that information.  This is the Matrix, Multipattern, Multisegment, and Evaluative metering systems found in some of the different camera brands.  Spot metering is different and records the light coming in from one point in the scene and uses that to determine an EV. OK, what's an EV?  An EV (exposure value) is a number, usually expressed as an integer, and may go as low as -6 to +18 and is measured in stops.  A stop is a doubling or halving of light and is usually expressed in seconds (1/2 to 1/4 is a change in time by one stop) or aperture (f/5.6 to f/4 is a change in light coming through the lens...

Queen wasp sits atop her throne - a small open-faced nest that she has been building. It's spring, and nest building has begun in earnest, not just for birds, but for insects of all types.  Included in this throng are the Hymenoptera - and more specifically, the Vespids.  Vespidae are the paper-wasps, so called because they construct nests out of chewed-up wood pulp that they turn into "paper." The formulation of the substance nests are constructed of is simple.  Wood pulp, from dead trees or wood from boards (fence boards are a favourite), is created by using the hardened jaws to shred small amounts of fiber.  It is mixed with the wasps' saliva creating a fluid-like pulp akin to papier-mache.  It is then applied to a surface and shaped, where it will dry and harden. The thing that makes this work is the saliva.  It is rich in proteins, specifically proline, which acts as a binding agent.  The saliva/fiber mixture is applied in thin layers and dries qu...

Canadian geese hiding in long grass help them protect their nest. In order to successfully raise offspring, they have to be protected during all stages of their development.  From egg to hatchling to fledgling to flying, they are at risk of predation.  There are other dangers too, but the largest comes from animals that would fill their stomachs with defenceless creatures under the care of doting adults. We walked through Vernon's downtown park along the improved pathway that allows pedestrians and cyclists to get from there to the Okanagan Rail Trail by Kalamalka Lake.  The town recently improved the meandering stream with rock, grass, and deadwood.  The gravel banks were a perfect place for killdeer to nest and raise their young.  I must have seen 12 or more breeding pairs, their nests cleverly hidden in the low berms.  It also happened to be a place the crows had discovered as they swarmed the killdeer in the attempt to drive them off their nests and to ...