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Pictures of Southeast Alaska

  • Thread starter Dexenthes
  • Start date
  • #41
The best berries in the world almost ripe. Cloud berries.

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Close up of a bog orchid.

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Some D. rotundifolia

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A immature Bufo boreas

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A little island of muskeg that somehow formed in a piece of plywood.

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It's got everything you'd need! Including more D. rotundifolia. ;)

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A bloom of the delicious and elusive bog blueberry.

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Muskeg

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A juvenile eagle.

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Picturesque

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With prey.

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A mature Bufo boreas

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  • #42
Awesome photos, so very jealous. I've always wanted to live in AK.
 
  • #43
Thanks Brie! I'm glad you enjoy them. :)

You know, Washington isn't that far from Alaska.

Here is a video of Bufo boreas. I thought it particularly interesting because the toad produced its call while it was in my hand. It's just a short clip, but you can hear the sound this creature makes, and also you can see the frothy white toxin being excreted from its hind legs.

 
  • #44
Ohhhh man, it's just breathtakingly beautiful out there....
 
  • #45
Sort of random, but some clubmosses from a previous trip.

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And some P. vulgaris (which is hard to photograph in situ by the way!)

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A 5 am sunrise.

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An Alaskan Sunrise

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I just got a new car! I'm really excited. It's a 1992 VW jetta diesel that has a vegetable oil system installed. Anyway, I decided to head on over to Nowhere and take the new baby for a spin. :)

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I call it Nowhere because if any of you remember hearing about the alleged "Bridge to Nowhere" fiasco that made national Television, well this is where the bridge would have led to. And this, this is the Road to Nowhere that did get built, for reasons unknown.

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Either side of the road is surrounded by wetlands and old-growth forest, or like here, a little patch of wild columbine.

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Driving is fun, but the car is a slow car and I really was here for different reasons.

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D. rotundifolia

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D. anglica

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With prey

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I'm pretty sure that this is a hybrid between the two species, the first that I have seen.

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Lots of seedling Utricularia

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U. minor, maybe?

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Big daddy anglica!

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Utricularia

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Cotton grass

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  • #46
It's pretty quiet and I am pretty sure I was the only on the seven mile road that day. I also didn't have any weapons with me so the feeling of solitude was pretty immense, enough so that when these ducks got startled I just about had a bowel movement.

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Interesting foliage

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More Utricularia

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Deer Mountain

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Nuff said

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D. rotundifolia will grow anywhere

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This very deep grass surrounded a very deep little stream.

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I could hear a babbling brook somewhere in there, but I didn't have the nerve to risk finding it.

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Packed full of Utricularia!

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I can't put my finger on it... What doesn't fit here?

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Back on my way over to Somewhere, Alaska

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  • #47
More pictures, my friends.

Utricularia sp.

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Jellyfish

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The economy

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The sun

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Can you spot the tadpole of Ambystoma macrodactylum?

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My beach.

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A mountain hike.

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Superior air quality.

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A home

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Monkshood

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This is the only spot where I have found Rubus arcticus to grow on the island.

I found only one plant. No berries...

Was it worth the search? Yes.

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The snow doesn't totally melt.

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And the Marsh Marigold don't totally care.

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  • #48
Shooting star flowers

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So refreshing.

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Alpine splendor

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The view is impeccable.

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The alpine understory - thick and arduous.

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The lichen - phenomenal.

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The climb - treacherous.

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The Pinguicula vulgaris - plentiful.

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But we made it down.

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Some made it up.

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Never gets old.

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Our sites were set here.

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And it was worth it.

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  • #49
The Pinguicula thought so too.

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Chocolate lilies

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The Sun was leaving us and we had a very arduous climb to make it back to the road.

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Pollinators.

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That's all for now. :)
 
  • #50
Oh man cloud berries O.O
Your photos are really beautiful!
 
  • #51
I was in alaska! toobad there were no plants near denali or anchorage, ketchikan, seward, jeneu, that i knew of :(
 
  • #52
Thanks Quinn.

Halt- It sounds like you went on a cruise? If so, it would have been a little more tricky to find the time to find plants, but really, there are at least sundews you could have found in all those places. Very nearby those places, too.
 
  • #53
Simply gorgeous!
 
  • #54
Amazing photos! The D. anglica looks amazing!
Can you collect any one the sphagnum? I absolutely love the way these two look.
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and the one on the terraces in your first post. I'd love to get some.
 
  • #55
Thank you guys!

In regards to the sphagnum:

The red sphagnum I have collected and used for my Nepenthes. The thing is, that since it originates from here, it really will only be that great red dense moss if it is grown as if it were growing in Alaska year round. That would mean, keeping the moss at about 50 degrees or less most of spring, most of fall, most of Summer, and then below freezing all Winter.

So it's temperate moss, and it etiolates quickly in low-light and becomes green. It sure looks nice for a while though.

The moss on the terraces is really awesome I love that stuff. I had never seen pure grey moss before and it certainly intrigued me. However, since that is an alpine moss, my guess is that it would grow even less well then the red sphagnum, seeing as it is below ice and snow pack 7 months of the year.
 
  • #56
Thanks Quinn.

Halt- It sounds like you went on a cruise? If so, it would have been a little more tricky to find the time to find plants, but really, there are at least sundews you could have found in all those places. Very nearby those places, too.

I did! but then after we went around for about 3 days from anchorage -> denali in our own car... When we were driving i kept imagining that every pond was a home to some sundews. :blush:
 
  • #57
That's frustrating to know. Looks like my hunt for more species of sphagnum continues. I've never seen sphag that red, ever. Any idea what species it is?
 
  • #58
I did! but then after we went around for about 3 days from anchorage -> denali in our own car... When we were driving i kept imagining that every pond was a home to some sundews. :blush:

The thing is, many of those ponds probably were home to at least D. rotundifolia. Should have stopped to check!

That's frustrating to know. Looks like my hunt for more species of sphagnum continues. I've never seen sphag that red, ever. Any idea what species it is?

My guess is that it is Midway Peat Moss, or Sphagnum magellanicum, but I am not totally sure - I haven't done a thorough examination of the structure.
 
  • #59
Those 'dews are really something, and your photos are too.

I want 'dews from Alaska. :awesome:
 
  • #60
That looks a lot like it. USDA won't display distribution maps for mosses, which makes me angry. We're trying to build up a Sphagnum collection at Meadowview. It looks like we'll be able to offer about 5 species soon.
 
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