Whistler Flora and Fauna

 My last post about the trip to Whistler contains a compilation of several of the photos I took of flora and fauna in the area.

With a few exceptions, most of the flora is similar to what you would find in the Yellowstone area. One notable difference is the height of the plants! The Whistler area receives a lot more rainfall in a year than does this area so everything is very green and lush.

To the left is a shot of Bladder Campion.

 The daisies were everywhere.

To the right is Hardhack or Steeple Bush. It is one of the few prevalent plants with which I was not familiar.

 This flower has a great name: Pipsissewa. I have seen them in Wyoming in the Jackson area but not up our way.

Ken took a photo of me standing by a Fireweed to show how huge they were!

 On the waterfall hike we watched a family of Mergansers feeding in the river.

 This Tiger Swallowtail was considerate enough to land on the Firecracker Lilies in the hotel garden.

The Whistler area is notorious for its black bears. They are plentiful and much too habituated to humans. This fellow was munching on plants below us as we traveled the chair lift but we saw others in parking lots around the hotel and one that took over a bus stop one evening as we were headed home from dinner!