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Author Archives: Teri J Pieper

Twisp Fourth of July Parade

Yesterday Twisp celebrated Independence Day with a homegrown parade. Participants gathered at Twisp Works to prepare for the four block march down Glover Street. There were lots of dogs, bicycles, some horses, Roller Derby Girls, polticians, old cars and firefighters. It was a perfect day for a parade.

His parade face

It’s an election year

Vote with your feet

Not sure what they are voting for

Appropriately dressed spectators

Derby Girls don’t like candy under their skates

There goes the winner of the Doggie Dash!

Cast members from The Music Man hamming it up

The theme of the day was Superheroes

Why is this man smiling? He is running for office.

Firefighters – true Superheroes!

Otto

Chorus Frog

We often find these tiny chorus or tree frogs on our deck, in the potted plants, even in the bbq – we need to open the grill before lighting it – and also in the garage. I don’t know why they think that these places are good frog habitat but here they are. There is no open water for them and we never hear a ‘chorus’ of them, just lone frogs here and there. Once, in the fall, when I was bringing plants back in the house before cold weather set in, a frog came in and its calls of protest were so loud, we were encouraged to find the animal and return it outside, to its ‘natural’ habitat!

 

 

 

 

Here is some information about these wide-spread frogs.

Out of the Ashes

Back in April, there was a fire on our hillside – you can see the images from that day here. Our neighbor’s place suffered a lot of damage and he asked me to document the recovery over the course of the growing seasons with my camera. He set up a photo point for me to visit on a regular basis and after 2 1/2 months, it’s easy to see that recovery is well on its way. So far, there has not been a big influx of weeds in most places. In fact, the native wildflowers are doing well – even more abundant than in the areas that were not burned! The bitterbrush, a favorite food for the local mule deer, does not seem to be sprouting back. This will be a major change in the habitat. Grasses and forbs are doing well.

 

April 20, three days following the fire. The yellow rebar marks the photo point.

 

May 1. The burned pine tree on the right and bent over to the left burned bitterbrush show up in all the images in this series.

 

May 13

 

May 22

 

May 30

 

June 14

 

June 28

 

Balsamroot bloomed very well in the burned area.

 

Lupine is blooming more abundantly and for a longer season in the burned area compared to the non-burned area.

 

Douglas sunflowers are also more abundant.

 

Lush growth

 

The day of the fire.

 

 

Six Years Later

In 2006, the Tripod wildfire raged through Okanogan County. Between late July and snowfall, it burned more than 175,000 acres of forest lands. Unlike the fires currently burning in Colorado and Montana, it did not burn any homes. Six years later, regeneration is producing a new kind of forest with wildlife friendly snags, wildflowers and new growth of willows and aspens. I spent part of Monday afternoon walking through a tiny bit of the old burn listening to birds and small mammals and admiring the flowers.

 

Burnt snags reflected in a small pond

 

 

Roger Lake – some trees survived in the boggy edges of this lake and it continues to be a great place for birds and other wildlife

 

 

Snags criss cross on the trail

 

Bog orchid grows in a wet spot

 

lupine

 

Spent flowers remind me of the fire

 

Lupine bud

 

Lupine from above

 

Scarlet gilia

 

Wild rose

 

Penstemon

 

Here is an article about the fire. And here is an article about a study on the effects of the fire.

 

 

Just a Few Bird Photos

Last week we identified 114 bird species. It seems like a lot but we missed an awful lot of so-called ‘common’ birds – all the owls, all the grouse, Downy and Hairy Woodpeckers and the list goes on. And we saw no real rarities. It was pretty fun birding with lots of birds singing and we worked on learning and re-learning the bird songs and calls. It’s a challenge from year to year to keep them in my head. Some stick with me; for instance Rock Wren and Willow Flycatcher. Others – well let’s just say, it’s going to take many years for me to learn the few warblers we have in our region and remember them.

I managed to get a few photographs of birds. I didn’t really try too much bird photography. It is time consuming and we were really focusing on seeing and hearing a good variety of birds.

 

Hooded Merganser female at Lost Lake

 

 

 American Coot adult and chick

 

 

 

 

 

Spotted Sandpiper chick along Maryanne Creek Road

 

 

Spotted Sandpiper adult