dustin777's Favorites

Very fortunate to have had this amazing encounter! I saw something slink into the roadside brush, so we stopped the car and I got out. I was about 15' from from him at this point, and my presence made him slowly make his way to the forest edge. At that point I started talking to him, and he stopped dead in his tracks. (The four zoomed photos were taken at this point... all other photos are non-zoomed.) He stood there and listened to me for what seemed like a long time (but the whole encounter took less than a minute). Ultimately my wife became skittish and called me back to the car; our friend the lynx was still wanting to continue the conversation, however...

This record represents the third record of this species from SK, but it has not been reported since at least 1992 from the province and was thought to be extirpated. Effectively this is a confirmation that this orchid species still persists in SK.

A member of the nominate and northern most subspecies. Characterized by broad white supercillium and thinner, lighter ventral streaking (compared to the more southern breeders). Largely resident from Alaska east through central Canada, into northern Quebec, the Maritimes, and the eastern US. South to the southwestern US (up to southern Arizona). I found this immature individual after it had captured a grey partridge (better seen in the second photo, looks to be still alive). I didn't want to scare it off a potential kill so I didn't stick around to see the fate of the partridge.

On the Blue-Diamond trail at Distant Hill Nature Trail next to the tower on the power-line ROW. There are dozens of specimens of the common orange spotted form of L. philadelphicum next to the tower, but only one yellow flower variant.

Here is my observation of the common orange form of L. philadelphicum that this yellow variant is growing among.
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/173314868

My guess that this is a specimen of the very rare spotless yellow variant of Wood lily - Lilium philadelphicum

Here is a link to photos of both the yellow spotted variant found in North Dakota, and the very uncommon yellow unspotted variant found in Alberta, Canada.

https://www.bdlilies.com/ls28.html

When on the linked page click on "READ MORE" below the text to see more about the spotless yellow variant of L. philadelphicum discovered in Alberta, Canada.

FYI- The Saskatchewan Conservation Data Centers (SKCDC) logo is the Yellow Immaculate Lily, (Lilium philadelphicum var. andinum forma immaculata). This is a very rare form of the provincial emblem characterized by lemon-yellow flowers, devoid of the usual dark spots. It is known to occur at only a few locations in Manitoba and Alberta each and about 20 locations in Saskatchewan. There is some evidence that this form exists through some of the Plains and Midwest states as well.

http://biodiversity.sk.ca/organization.htm

Yellow Rail. Photographed at Ashbridges Bay Park, Toronto, Ontario on 11 May 2022. A super find by local birder Monica Hofmann who did a great job alerting other birders to its presence. Thanks also to Bob Cumming, Glenn Coady and the city workers who monitored the scene so the bird was not disturbed by its many admirers and the public in general.