Caribou!

There are times when I feel privileged to live in the North. On Friday night, we went to our local drive-in theatre. In addition to the vulgar (yet laughable) hijinks of Horrible Bosses, we were also treated to the Northern Lights. Bonus!

On Sunday, I went on a hike with some friends to Mount Murray, in the Pine Pass. It was a long-ish drive, but worth it. The hike consists of a relatively short grunt (~ 1 hour) to reach the alpine, after which there are several options to ramble to some small alpine lakes and peaks.



The were some great alpine flowers in bloom. Especially pretty were the paintbrush, in many shades of cream, peach, yellow, orange, and red.



The monkshood were also out. I love these blossoms; the shade of purple and the shape of the petals are incomparable to anything else. Plus they are deadly poisonous, which gives them a bit of an edge.



The highlight of the day was when we spotted this guy (click on the photo for a larger image):



I assumed it was a guy (both male and female caribou have antlers) because it was solitary. I unfortunately wasn't quite close enough to look under its proverbial skirt. We were able to spot him a second time. We kept our distance. Woodland caribou are a threatened species, so minimizing any stress to the animal is important when you encounter these creatures.


I apologize, this last photo is kind of crappy, but it was exciting to see, so I decided to included it.
So, where else can you take in an old-skool drive in movie, see the Aurora Borealis, and encounter a threatened woodland caribou all in a single weekend? Super-fantastic-awesome Northern BC, that's where!

Carnivorous Plants!

There really is something a bit spooky about plants that eat something other than sunlight. Plants that jump up the food chain seem sort of science-fictiony.

Fantastic costume and performance art routine by the Queen of Sass, Crystal Precious. Photo courtesy of Your Minds Eye photography.


There is probably no better known carnivorous plant than Audrey II (of Little Shop of Horrors fame), who needs human blood to survive.



Of course man-eating plants don't actually exist, but other carnivorous plants fond of smaller prey do. I'm sure everyone is familiar with the venus flytrap, which is only found naturally in small area of the Southeastern USA. But did you know there are several species of carnivorous plants (OK, insectivorous, to be more accurate) living in Northern BC?
The sundew (Drosera species) is a large genus of carnivorous plants, and has species distributed more or less worldwide (with the exception of Antarctica). Despite the wide distribution they are not exactly a common sight, and as a plant-nerd I have always been on the lookout for the some-what evasive sundew and a few weeks ago, finally found some!


This is Drosera rotundifolia, round-leaved sundew, with prey. I found it on the edge of Tasse Lake, which is East of Williams Lake, BC. These plants typically grow in nutrient poor, acidic, wet soils, and like full sunlight. They evolved their insectivorous tendencies to compensate for a lack of nutrients in the soils. According to SARA no sundews in BC are threatened or endangered, although there is a species in Nova Scotia that is endangered as a result of peat mining and cranberry farming.

Besides being a great inspiration for performance arts (as mentioned above), carnivorous plants have been muse to the visual arts as well:

A sundew inspired print from Naomi Mayhue.



This beautiful print by nouvellegamine.


And how about this ink by Coniah Timm?


Next time you are out tromping around in your favorite swamp, keep your eyes peeled; you may find some carnivorous plants too!