A few favorite things...
July 2, 2026
Male Northern Flicker, feeding the kids at the nest cavity (mid-June)
…to photograph
From the large…
Young bull moose in a thicket west of Palisades Park in Spokane
..to the considerably smaller
Calliope hummingbird, tail-flexing at its perch, not far from the moose…
Is it just me or did July arrive too quickly?
Not that I’m complaining. Over the past twenty years the river and a half dozen lakes have been a welcome refuge from the afternoon heat. I come from a swimming family. It’s a natural solution and became a passage to swimming with, and learning to photograph, redband trout. It’s also a welcome escape from cheatgrass, which—with its needle-like burrs—is despicable.
I can’t fit in even half the plants, animals, and bugs (i.e. the River Jewelwing) that warrant my attention in the spring, but here’s a decent sampling, on the verge of summer.—tjc
Mentzelia laevicaulis, better known as “blazing star” presently in bloom, photographed near the Centennial Trail in West Spokane
Today’s feature is free to all, but please support this and other hand-made content with a paid subscription to The Daily Rhubarb at the link below…tjc
Male yellow warbler, at perch on basalt and taking flight near the Devil’s Toenail in Riverside State Park
Late-spring, early summer bloomers: Skyrocket, Green-banded Mariposa Lilly, Showy milkweed beneath a feeding Tiger Swallowtail butterfly
Black-headed grosbeak (male) at a brief perch amid Mock Orange blossoms along the river
Western bluebird taking off from a small pine yesterday afternoon in Riverside State Park yesterday
The ever vigilant, and comical, red squirrel, monitoring me in the woods yesterday
A feathered musical instrument, the Rock Wren singing its medley, (recording below)
