#mima mounds

[frommylimitedtravels]

~ lavender daydream ~

[oddman-the-oldman]

Mima Mounds

I think it is a Pacific Digger Bee and that the bottom picture is a member of the same genus and species in it’s nest. 

If you walk down the gravel trail ( South bound ) from the paved trail and main parking area when you get to the Y where the loop begins stay left / east and begin watching the east trail margin just where the gravel ends and dirt / native soils begin. You are looking for a group of holes about the size of an old style school pencil before you get to the net Y where the short loop takes off to the right. If you plan on watching for a while, take a chair along & some drinking water.

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[lowquality-buffet]

“Come wander with me through the lavender hills. We’ll find a place to forget all our ills”

[elizabethpatricianart]

Gouache study from a photo I took at the Mima Mounds in Washington, featuring...none of the actual Mima Mounds. In my defense, I thought the trees were very pretty. 

[oddman-the-oldman]

Mima Mounds

[oddman-the-oldman]

Fritillaria affinis aka Chocolate Lilly

Mima Mounds

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[oddman-the-oldman]

Rainbow over Mima Mounds

It was looking sunny a little while ago, we get bored with walking circles in the neighborhood we live in. That pretty rainbow is coming right at us at about 15 to 20 miles an hour.

The low mounds under the rainbow are the Mima Mounds. This Prarie and the other prairies in western Washington, Oregon and British Columbia are not natural areas. Coniferous forests and other woodlands are the natural state here. The native people maintained these areas for agricultural purposes. This was one of the Chehalis tribal Cama farms. Lots of other flowers, birds and mammals used these areas too. Hunting was good here.

We walk here in the spring to watch the wild flowers. The Camas here is a few weeks ahead of the Camas in my flower bed, but nothing showie is happening yet. The rain in the rainbow got us before we could get back to our truck to leave and we didn't have far to go to get there.

[oddman-the-oldman]

Camas quamash and buttercups