Unexpected treasure

I was driving along the shore of the Courtenay River estuary in Comox and passed this brand-new mini-park. qapoje Park. (The name is not capitalized; it's from the Island Comox dialect, meaning "spring salmon in Coho Creek" or "a creek flowing south".) Did a U-turn and went in.

It's a tiny park, only 125 metres from end to end. So new and shiny; it has been open only since July. There are new plantings of native species, a picnic table, a few interpretive signs, a boardwalk going towards the creek mouth. And a covered viewing platform, looking over the estuary and harbour. It will be an excellent spot for watching wintering birds, maybe even Trumpeter Swans.

Looking downstream, towards Comox Harbour. Shallow water, mostly under 3 m. deep.

Canada geese, from the viewing platform at the north end of the park.

There were large flocks of the geese, a few mallards and gulls.

Sky scratcher.

Roaring beast?

Sky over Courtenay and points South.

A few of the plants, next.

Another Skywatch post.

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Pasaba por el estuario del rio Courtenay en el pueblo de Comox, y vi este parquecito nuevo. qapoje Park. (El nombre no lleva mayúscula; viene del dialecto de los Comox Isleños, y quiere decir "salmón Chinook en el riachuelo Coho", también conocido como "riachuelo que va hacia el sur". Hice una vuelta en U y me estacioné.

Es un parquecito miniaturo, midiendo apenas 125 metros desde un extremo al otro. Muy nuevo, reluciente; apenas lo abrieron en julio. Han sembrado plantas nativas; hay unos pocos letreros informativvos, una pasarela elevada sobre el agua, y una plataforma cubierta, con vistas hacia el estuario y la bahía. Este será un sitio ideal para mirar los miles de pájaros que invernan en este estuario; tal vez incluyendo los cisnes trompeteros desde diciembre hasta febrero.

1. Mirando rio abajo, hacia la Bahía Comox. El agua es de poca profundidad, por la mayor parte, de menos de 3 metros.
2. Gansos canadienses, vistas desde la pasarela.
3. Más gansos. Había grandes bandadas de estos, además de algunos patos reales y gaviotas.
4. ¿Un rascacielos?
5. ¿Una bestia bramadora?
6. El cielo sobre el pueblo de Courtenay y los cerros al sur.

Mañana; algunas de las plantas nativas.

Leftover Claytonias

Over two months ago, at the end of May, I went down to Comox, looking for Claytonia plants for seed, and posted a few photos here and here. There were more, but I learned that I had misidentified some of the plants, and left the rest aside until I could sort them out.

A mistake. I'm still confused, and the photos of these beautiful plants have been languishing on my hard drive. So here they are; Claytonias all, but different species.

At the base of a log. The stem leaves are in pairs, joined like a collar around the seed clusters.

On Twitter, a botanist and Claytonia lover, Tommy Stoughton, was very helpful. There are two different shapes of the stem leaves, he said: linear or spatulate (spoon-like). The basal leaves may be linear or egg-shaped (this is from E-Flora).

In different species of Claytonia, the stem leaves may be paired and fused along both margins (e.g. C. perfiolata), paired and half-fused (C. exigua), or completely separate (C. sibirica, aka Siberian miner's lettuce).

These basal leaves are egg-shaped. The stem leaves underneath the seed clusters seem to be paired, but separate.

A tiny plant, definitely identified as C. exigua. The leaves are more elongated, and separate.

The common C. perfiolata? I don't see basal leaves, but the stem leaves are round, and joined to form a cup around the seeds.

So very pink! Round stem leaves, separate. Egg-shaped basal leaves.

Now, I just have to wait until next spring to find some more, earlier so that I find flowers. And then, look more closely.

For the birds

Snag, Kin Beach

I love dead trees.

7 year old pond

At the Little River restoration project in Comox, two small ponds have been dug out in what 7 years ago used to be an old gravel pit. Volunteers from the Naturalist Society cleared out invasive Scotch broom and replaced it with native species, including the trees. Now the new park includes a small wetland, a dry meadow, bits of forest, a stretch of river, and a path to the beach.

I passed the wetland on my way to the beach, looking for Claytonia, but returned to inspect the ponds more closely later.

Coho salmon and cutthroat trout fry spend a year or more in these ponds before moving on to the ocean, eating and sometimes being eaten by assorted insects. Signs around the pond remind us to look predacious diving beetles, back swimmers, water scorpions, and more. An "extraordinary diversity of dragonfly species" (TideChange) makes their home here.

I didn't see any of these on my first visit; there were a few bees prospecting for pollen in the Indian plum bushes, no dragonflies. It's early in the season. I'll go back later. For now, there are waterlilies.

Variegated yellow pond lilies, according to the sign.

One lily, standing proud.

Crayon colours

At Kin Park, between the sandy beach with its log barrier and the mowed grass, lies a sandy meadow, dry and hot under the spring sun, wearing a patchwork cloak of yellow, purple, peach, pink and green. With red and black ants.

Indian consumption plant, Lomatium nudicale (yellow), and Sea blush, Plectritis congesta (pink). With three ants.

Sea blush.

Menzies' Larkspur, Delphinium menziesii.

More larkspur, with Indian consumption plant and red sorrel.

The Claytonia growing here is tiny, most under a couple of inches tall.

Claytonia with running ant, and seed pods.

Ant-level miniature, with additional pink flowers, unidentified. This is, at the most, an inch tall.

There were more flowers in that bit of meadow; I'll post them tomorrow.

The mission: Claytonia

Comox is a beautiful little (pop. 13,000) coastal town half an hour's drive south from Campbell River. I got lost there twice in two days, and enjoyed every minute of it.

I had been asked if I could collect seeds of the Pale Spring Beauty I had found years ago on the Boundary Bay dunes. Not likely, I said, unless I can find the plants here on the Island. And then a friend showed photos of the flowers, taken in Comox. I asked her for the location - Kin Park, just above the shoreline - and planned a trip when they would have gone to seed.

Claytonia exigua, Boundary Bay, April, 2011. Under two inches tall.

The roads in and around Comox wind around, uphill and down, through forests, past open marsh, farm land, residential areas, never keeping to the same direction for five minutes at a time. At this time of year, especially, with the sunlight glowing through new leaves and the signs warning us to watch for deer, it's easy to get distracted.

Friday morning, I mapped out my route carefully, as usual. But I missed my turn and ended up at a dead end, at the Little River restoration project. No sign of Kin Park, but I had to be close; I left the car and walked through wetlands and a housing development to reach the shore. In less than an hour of searching, I found my Claytonia. Two large plants, the largest almost 6 inches across, and gone to seed!

Home again, hot and tired, still dizzy from the heat, and with a camera full of photos, I checked Google maps again, found my missed turn, looked at Kin Park, and decided to go back the next day.

This time, I turned too soon, drove around in circles until I ended up at a dead end in Kye Bay. Retraced my route twice, found the road I needed, and finally, found Kin Park, and three large patches of Claytonia. Mission accomplished!

The largest of the plants, about 6 inches across, growing near the base of a stump buried in sand. Little River area.

Seed pods, almost ripe.

Claytonia grows, according to E-Flora, in "Moist, open vernal sites,"; where I have found them, each time, has been just at the intersection of dunes and open meadow. The tiniest were in dry spots; the larger ones were sheltering at the base of logs and a stump, where a bit of moisture still remains even on sunny days.

More photos of Claytonias and other shore and wetland plants next.

(And now I have to go back to Kye Bay; chocolate lilies grow there!)