Setting: Around my neighborhood in Kirkland last week.
A multi-kingdom set this week:
1. What species of bird?
This is a spotted towhee (Pipilo maculatus) - a bird that likes to hang out under brush. Its song is a fast trill and often makes a call (around here anyway) that reminds me of a squeaky door.
As in the comments, the tree it is sitting in is a douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii)
2. When in bloom, this plant is one of the showier natives of the Pacific Northwest. What species is it?
This is fireweed. I learned its scientific name as (Epilobium angustifolium). Apparently its currently accepted scientific name is (Chamerion angustifolium) though (thanks Kitty).
It has a pretty spike of pink flowers at the top when blooming. At this young stage, the leaves have a bit of a mustardy flavor when nibbled raw. The leaves can be made into a mild tea and the flowers are sometimes used for honey. After working on dandelion wine this past week I am interested in seeing how a fireweed wine might turn out. Hopefully I will remember to try when they start to bloom.
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6 comments:
I can't figure out what kind of tree the Rufus-sided Towhee is sitting in.
The lower photo is young fireweed, Epilobium angustifolium. If you enlarge the photo you can see the distinctive curved secondary veins. Its presence is a sign that the site was disturbed, by fire or otherwise.
The Towhee was one of the first "new" birds I learned when I moved here about 2 1/2 years ago. Took me forever to get the call down, but once I saw the bird make the sound, I understood how you can hear it call, "Towhee, Towhee". I think my lack of musical ablity keeps me from being able t oID birds by sound.
Yeah, Towhee's are a cool bird to learn. I always think of the call as kind of a squeeky door sound. I have a harder time remembering their song and easily confuse it with a junko's song.
Nice job on the fireweed - does anyone like to use it for edible/medicinal purposes?
Anybody got an idea of what tree the towhee is sitting in? I believe it is one of the common ones in this region.
I should be afraid to name a tree again, but I'll go with Douglas fir, I can see what looks like pointy buds and the needle arangement looks good.
Thought I'd share that there has been a name change; Fireweed is now known as Chamerion angustifolium. River Beauty also switched over.
Towhees are birds that I still miss seeing. Thanks for including it
were was it .how close did you get to it .
It was in the park near my house. I was probably 15 feet away from it.
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