Everybody loves national parks with big mountains, but I've found large expanses of well-preserved grasslands to be equally beautiful. I appreciated this post a lot.

NO, Uncle Harry, NO! My grandfather took my brothers and me brook trout fishing in Michigan's Upper Peninsula when I was a kid, but I don't recall him ever harvesting roadkill of his own creation. EEEW!

Truly weird and definitely annoying, since there’s no legal definition of glass or sleeve. The problem stemmed from the intersection of federal law stating that a pint in Canada means an Imperial (20-ounce) pint, while BC legislation limited the largest volume of an alcoholic drink to 500 ml, which converts to just under 17 oz. Thankfully, that law was changed after an exposé in the Vancouver Sun. https://vancouversun.com/news/staff-blogs/do-you-know-how-much-beer-is-in-your-glass-bet-you-dont

That’s actually on the way up Anarchist Pass; the actual Crowsnest Pass is in the Rockies, on the BC-Alberta border.

Photos would seem to confirm... You are getting really good at nature IDs!

https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/82043-Monochamus-scutellatus

What a wonderful moment. You just have to remember.

I think I missed this journal. If we’re ever in the country in early fall I’d love to come back up then. It looks like a really spectacular time to visit.

Aren’t they though? This was really a lucky shot seeing them posed side by side like this.

Good assumption that they weren’t Mountain bluebirds. They would have been eastern bluebirds, which are more or less identical to the western bluebirds we see on this side of the country.

It’s not DDT (which mostly affected birds at the top of the pyramid like bald eagles and osprey because it concentrated there and affected their calcium metabolism, resulting in brittle eggshells)

The problem with bluebirds is habitat loss and species competition. They nest in cavities, such as holes drilled out of snags by woodpeckers. There are fewer nesting sites, and they tend to lose out to more assertive species. They’re definitely making a comeback though, because of campaigns to erect birdhouses with the right size holes that larger birds can’t fit into. The bird here was nesting in one. Once you start watching for them in the right type of country, they’re getting fairly common.

You could see them yourself if you took a jaunt up to Bickleton this summer before they fly south. The village bills itself as the Bluebird Capitol of the World: https://www.cycleblaze.com/journals/pdxbriefbreaks/the-bickleton-loop/#2772_326c0193a47b3f98f2ea58c9fbf79ac6

They are really beautifully designed birds!

When I was a kid I saw bluebirds in Minnesota but then, later, I never saw them again. I guess they were not mountain bluebirds in MN. I don't know if DDT did them in or what happened and I have not kept up on whether there are more of them now or not. Such a beautiful blue.

North of White Lake is Black Cow. At least that's what I've herd.

You definitely caught the highlights of one of my two favourite routes from Penticton! Here's a longer version: https://www.cycleblaze.com/journals/cabinfever/the-colours-loop/ followed in that journal by my other fave.

My thoughts too...

Possibly a disused and abandoned feed or manure spreader?