Another fun visit to a National Wildlife Refuge in the Willamette Valley it was. This time the destination was the Baskett Slough NWR west of Salem. This was a fun location to hike with a combination of wetlands and uplands with Oregon white oak.
Butterflies were seemingly everywhere, mainly silvery-blues. It seemed like every camas lily bloom had a blue, thumbnail-sized butterfly enjoying its pollen. White and golden-crested sparrows were singing from the fence posts. And, a three-foot long brown gopher snake made its appearance along the trail.
I hiked to the top of Baskett Butte and did a little off-trail wandering to the north. For an outing of less than two miles, it was a rare treat.
Pacific Gopher Snake with forked tongue
Silvery-blue Butterfly in a Mariposa Lily
Trail leading through the Oregon Oak trees
White-crowned Sparrow
Silvery-blue Butterfly on a Camas Lily
Prairie Star
View from top of Baskett Butte
Pacific Gopher Snake
Beautiful photographs! It was such a gorgeous Saturday. My wife and I went to the Finley Wildlife Refuge outside of Corvallis. We saw so much wildlife and I took some scenic shots of oaks with lichen streamers, celebrating a symbiosis of fungus and alga. Our next visit will be Baskett Slough. Your photos have inspired me and piqued my curiosity. Thank you! Cheers,
Tyler 🙂
Thanks for the nice feedback. If you go to Baskett Slough soon, you might have a chance to see a Fender-blue Butterfly, a rare sight indeed.
Yes, we’ll try to head over there next weekend. Thank you for the info. Just saw a gopher snake on my run today as well. Beautiful creatures 🙂
Cheers,
Tyler
RE: the Mariposa Lily – have never seen a fuzzy flower (inside) before. Very cool! What are the hairs for? The upside-down butterfly on Camas Lily photo is cool too!
Cat’s-ear lilies also are fuzzy inside. I suppose that’s where they got their name. I’ve seen many in bloom in the last few days on Mt. Hood at higher elevations.