Swallowtail butterfly and Kelleys Lily, Sierra Vista Scenic Byway, California

 On Sunday,June 13, 2021 we drove the Sierra Vista Scenic Byway out of the town of North Fork, California.  It's in the Sierra National Forest.  We wanted to do the loop, but a bridge had collapsed because it burned during a forest fire, so we had to turn around and go out the way we came in.  By this happy accident, we saw this patch of Kelleys Lilies, which we had missed on our way in.

This photo is a still from video Bob shot of this swallowtail butterfly visiting this lily blossom.

Remember, it's not just a picture, it's a story.

Kelley's lily in bloom along the Sierra Vista Scenic Byway

 

While driving along the Sierra Vista Scenic Byway in the Sierra National Forst on June 13, 2021. We came across several spots with blooming flowers along the road. Much of this area was burned last year, so it was nice to see some still lush and green spots. This flower is called Kelley's lily (Lilium kelleyanum)and is related to the tiger lily or leopard lily. It was growing tall out of a seep that flowed into a small creek. It was taller than we were, more than 6 feet or 2 meters in height.

ISO 25, f1.8, 24mm equivalent, 1/685 sec.

Remember, it's not just a picture, it's a story!

Upper Yosemite Falls, moonbow, and Half Dome, Yosemite National Park, California, April 24, 2021

 Bob was looking through his photos from April 24, 2021 and realized that he captured a moonbow in this photo.  He was trying to capture a moonbow from this perspective, but thought that clouds from a passing storm wouldn't allow enough moonlight through to create a moonbow or that the angle from this perspective was wrong for seeing one.  See our other postings on moonbows for a description of what they are.

In this photo, which he shot from the Yosemite Falls Trail, is Upper Yosemite Falls, the moonbow hovering over the Middle Cascade, and Half Dome.

Moonbow in Upper Yosemite Falls as seen from Glacier Point, Yosemite National Park

 This is a moonbow shot that Bob took on the night of May 24, 2021 from Glacier Point in Yosemite National Park.  Looking like some kind of frozen confection, Upper Yosemite Falls shows a moonbow in its mist.  Focusing in the dark is difficult, so Bob didn't get the sharpest focus on this shot, but it showed the most color of all the photos he took that night.

According to Brian Hawkins of Yosemite Moonbow Predicitions (yosemitemoonbow.com) the appearance of the moonbow in Yosemite Falls as seen from Glacier Point only happens for about 15 minutes and is a broader arc thanks to the fact that you're viewing it from so much farther away than the other vantage points that he does predictions for.

The park was conducting prescribed burns the week Bob was there and Yosemite Valley and Half Dome were almost completely obscured by the smoke from Glacier Point, but, fortunately for him, the smoke cleared out just in time for the predicted appearance of the moonbow.

See our previous post for more information about moon bows.

Oh yeah, and while Bob was at Glacier Point, he met Brian Hawkins who predicts the occurrence of moon bows in Yosemite Falls from various vantage points on his website Yosemite Moonbow Predictions (yosemitemoonbow.com).

Remember, it's not just a picture, it's a story.