First week of the Native Orchid Season
 

We found our first native orchids, the Fairy Slippers, the week of April 7th. The season is early here, so we were a bit surprised to find them. These are the Western Fairy Slippers, Calypso bulbosa var. occidentalis.

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8100/8...1ec06137_t.jpg http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8110/8...5d2f5866_t.jpg http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8274/8...57f47c39_t.jpg

More photos here:
Native Orchids of the Pacific Northwest and the Canadian Rockies: First Week of the Native Orchid Season - Fairy Slippers

And some other pictures from the same week:

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7049/8...bcc89a48_t.jpg http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8546/8...40df1a80_t.jpg http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8401/8...5bf4f1ec_t.jpg http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8538/8...c0c201a0_t.jpg http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8114/8...9b1a14f3_t.jpg http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8407/8...048bdc66_t.jpg http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8273/8...430574a7_t.jpg http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8556/8...96047369_t.jpg

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8405/8...f9d3a275_t.jpg http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8559/8...dd5df301_t.jpg

And another link:
Serendipity and Orchids: Spring Wildflowers at Washington Park

My apologies for not being on much. We've been too busy hiking and orchid hunting.

Very pretty Ron - nice find



My apologies for not being on much. We've been too busy hiking and orchid hunting.[/QUOTE]


I missed your Pictures-but hiking and orchid hunting sounds like way more fun then sitting on the Computer :)

Some of our Society members are doing some big orchid hunting -they are going to Equador ( hope i spelled it right) for almost 3 Weeks-I would love to go BUT -it's $8000.00 each. Unless i win in the Lotto,i will never be able to go.I thought i let you know-in case you like to go-there is still room left. :)

Thanks for commenting, Monika. $8000 is quite a bit more than I can afford, too. I'm satisfied, however, seeing more of our great Pacific Northwest. There's so much I haven't seen and only one lifetime in which to see it!

Beautiful!

Thanks, Sonya.

Great. Gorgeous pics as always.

Thanks, friend. The pictures only begin to show all the beauty.

Getting out and into the wild is a pretty good excuse for not hanging out on the Internet :) Great photos as always, Ron, thanks for sharing!

Thanks, Discus. Just wish I could actually show everyone what we are able to see.

I know what you mean. Photography is a poor proxy for the human eye. I've seen so many remarkable things that I can't fully share. And even more when I didn't even have a camera to hand!