O Canada! Churchill, Manitoba — Day 5 — 2014-07-07

Day 5 – Orchids galore! Today’s field trips would take us to back to the Twin Lakes area as well as to the “Tank Farm” in the town of Churchill, Manitoba. Shortly after arising for the day, there was a knock on the door with the news that there was a Lagopus lagopus or Willow Ptarmigan behind the Churchill Northern Studies Centre. We had been looking for one of these since we arrived, so I grabbed my camera and ran out onto the balcony at the end of the building.

Lorne had mentioned on our previous visit to the Twin Lakes area that there was an additional wildflower location he had visited on a previous trip to Churchill. He had gotten permission from the property owner to take groups in to see the boggy areas between the cabin and the lake, so that’s where we were heading. Here we go down that bumpy road again, but this time we knew what we were in for.

Upon arriving at the site, we retrieved our gear and listened to Lorne as he told us about the cabin site and the bogs behind it. Soon, we were all heading to the bogs. We split up into several groups and went off in different directions. Joan (Lorne’s wife and trip co-leader) spent time looking for orchids in the moss on the hillside, flagging the ones she found with brightly colored tape so that we wouldn’t inadvertently trample them.

On our way down to the bogs, Lorne pointed out an area which contained Pinguicula villosa or Hairy Butterwort. This is a dwarf version of the Common Butterwort that we had seen at many other locations in the Churchill area. The entire plant was only about 1 inch (2.5 cm) tall!

We travelled on down the narrow path, and a few of us ended up in a small bog at the back of the property, near the lake. Here we found Menyanthes trifoliata or Buck-bean sometimes called Bog-bean growing directly in the center of the bog:

What a pretty flower! I had seen images of this species from some of my Flickr friends, but this was the first time I had seen it “in person”.

Next to the bog were numerous Rubus chamaemorus or Bake-Apple plants in bloom. The plants are dioecious, meaning that male and female flowers are borne on separate plants. Both of these images show only the male flowers. The left image shows a flower which has shed its petals:

Nearer the pond, but still in the boggy area were many small, shrubby plants with bright pink flowers. This was Kalmia polifolia or Bog Laurel. These bubble-gum-pink flowers were very colorful and seemed to sparkle against the green and brown boggy cushion. The flowers looked very much like the Kalmia latifolia or Mountain Laurel we have in the mountains of the Carolinas, except these bog plants were at most, only 2 feet (60 cm) tall.

After checking out this bog at the far end of the property, I began to make my way back up the hill to where Joan had found some small orchids. But I saw something moving at my feet. I thought it was a green grass-hopper, but it turned out to be a tiny, emerald-green frog. It is Pseudacris maculata or the Boreal Chorus Frog:

Quite a beautiful critter! It was no more than an 1 inch (2.5 cm) or so long, and it literally sparkled in the sunlight.

When I arrived at the spot where Joan had marked a couple of Neottia cordata or Heart-leaf Twayblade orchids, I took my time to look around for more of them. There were at least eight blooming plants in a 3-foot (1-meter) circular area. Here area a few images of these tiny orchids:

These tiny flowers are only about 1/4 inch (6 mm) wide.

This was a very good location for tiny orchids. Nearby, I found a very small Platanthera obtusata or Blunt-leaf orchid in bloom:

After an hour or so, we finished photographing the plants in the bog and were making our way back to the van. I decided to check out the shoreline of the lake and found a large population of Pinguicula vulgaris or Common Butterwort. This little, 2-inch (5 cm) beauty really pops with its yellow-green leaves and bright purple flowers:

Close inspection will show tiny insects adhering to the sticky leaves of this carnivorous plant species.

We all piled back into the van and headed back down that bumpy road toward the town of Churchill. About half way back, I asked Lorne to stop the van so I could get a panorama shot of the reflections of the Spruce trees on the water of a roadside pond. Here is what I was able to photograph:

We continued our way toward Churchill. Lorne had previously mentioned the “Tank Farm”, and I had no idea what he was referring to. Well, on the north side of town, here was indeed a tank farm. More precisely, there was an area where there were numbers of large, petroleum tanks near the port of Churchill. It was fenced in, but next to it was a large, meadow-like boggy area where we could already see many dozens of Cypripedium passerinum or Sparrow’s-egg Lady’s-slipper orchids even before Lorne stopped the van. On the first or second day of the trip, when we had seen this species in bud, I remember Lorne telling us not to bother with photographing those, since we would be seeing thousands of them “growing like weeds”. Well, I’m old enough to know that I should take some things with a large “grain of salt”, but in this case, he was right! As far as the eye could see, there were huge clumps of this orchid. Here are some images that might give you a sense of this fantastic display:

There was even a rare, double-flowered one in the bunch, just a day or so away from being in full bloom:

Only a few feet away were many dozens of Amerorchis rotundifolia or Round-leaf orchid:

Lorne pointed out a few Platanthera aquilonis or Northern Green orchid just across the railroad tracks:

After we had our fill of these, we headed in toward the center of town where we would lunch at Gypsy’s Bakery and Restaurant. Fine food and fine bakery products! I just had to try one of their chocolate eclairs and one of their layered cake confections while I was waiting for my grilled ham and cheese sandwich. Hey, I had to keep up my strength! Yuuuuuuuuum! 😉

Finished with lunch and chit-chat, we piled back into the van and headed back to the CNSC area where we would make our daily trek around the shore road looking for bears and other critters. But, just as we were leaving Churchill, Lorne pointed out a strange sight on the side of the main road — a Sterna paradisaea or Arctic tern on its roadside nest.

I believe Lorne said that he had seen the same bird in the same spot last year. Seems a bit dangerous, but I guess the birds know what they are doing…

We finally arrived at the end of the shore road in an area which was now becoming a familiar spot. I had seen the lichen-covered rocks on our other visits to this spot, and since the light was good for capturing the colors, I decided to ask Lorne to stop the van so that I could do some photography:

This bright orange Lichen was new to me, and it was all over the rocks in this area.

We drove around for a while and didn’t see any bears, but we did come across a pair of Grus canadensis or Sandhill Cranes. I don’t know if they had a brood of chicks at this spot, but they did exhibit some odd behavior, running off in different directions and crossing the road ahead of us several times. Here is the best shot I could get of them from so far away:

These were redder than those I had seen in the Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge, New Mexico a few years ago, but I understand that this is just a normal variation in the species.

We ended our last field trip of the day and headed back to the CNSC for one of our delicious suppers. Another great day out in the field with new and old friends.

Let me finish this post by showing you a late-eveing shot taken around midnight from the Plexiglass dome atop the Centre. Every evening gave us a display like this, which lasted several hours unlike the sunsets we get in the Carolinas that last only minutes. I don’t think I could ever tire of seeing such a sight…

–Jim