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Beyond the Lone Islands

http://dawntreader-island2.blogspot.com

Thursday 4 March 2010

Wildlife, Birds and Flowers

I got some "complaints" [hi, Ginny ;)] about yesterday's tourist advice. Seems I forgot to mention that we also have wildlife, birds and flowers! One reason for leaving those out was of course that the Tourist-to-be did not ask about them (only about biking, swimming and dancing). Another reason is that wildlife, birds and flowers can be found all over the country; so without narrowing it down a bit it's rather hard to recommend exactly where to go to find them!

But if you're looking for elks, for example, a deep forest would be a much better choice than a seaside resort. Myself, I prefer the zoo. Saves you a lot of trouble and monotonous tree-watching!


I'm afraid I'm not much of a bird-watcher either, and neither is my camera. I think I made some guess about what kind of bird this was when I took the photo, but by now I've forgotten!



Do butterflies in a town park count as wildlife?

Peacock butterfly (Inachis io) on Black-Eyed Susan (Rudbeckia)




Chamerion angustifolium grows wild all over the country in the summer. From ever-obliging Wikipedia I learn that in English it's called Fireweed or Rosebay Willowherb. One of its names in Swedish would translate "navvy rose" because they are very common along the railways.

(Without the blessings of Wikipedia, by the way, I would not know much about anything.)

4 comments:

Ginny Hartzler said...

Thank you for this post. I love it! The willowherb is lovely and has such a romantic name, but of course that butterfly is my favorite. What a great picture you got, and it does look just like peacock feathers! I have not been able to get a picture of a butterfly at all yet! But I'm hoping with the coming of spring, and my zoom lens, there's still hope.

MadSnapper said...

OOPS, i thought it was a moose, I love the elk

DawnTreader said...

Sandra - What we Europeans call "elk", you Americans call "moose". What you call "elk", we call... I'm not sure what, but some kind of deer. Here's a link that goes into it a bit further. :)

GB said...

Yes. What would we do without Wikipedia?

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