Chehalis Wildlife Area

From Mima Mounds I drove the back way to the Chehalis Wildlife Area, another area covered in my birding book. My first impression was anything but positive, as I parked a few yards off the highway across from a concrete plant. After walking a quarter mile I was greeted by two bullet-riddled signs. The entrance to the park was littered with plastic pop bottles, styrofoam cups, shot shell casings, and an old car seat apparently used as a place to sit while fishing or duck hunting.

Bullet-Riddled Sign

To make matters worse, though I heard several birds, I didn’t manage to get a single picture of one for the first hour and a half.

So, naturally, I turned to taking pictures of flowers. I don’t remember ever seeing a daisy quite like this Fleabane Daisy before, though they’re widespread enough that some farmers see them as weeds:

Fleabane Daisy

I was also intrigued by this Poison Hemlock, which seemed at first like an unusual variation of the more common Queen Anne’s Lace:

Poison Hemlock

I was equally impressed by this delicate white flower, known as arrowhead, wapato, duck potato, as Mike pointed out.

White Flower

My favorite flower of the day, though, was this yellow water lily, possibly because it was so inaccessible.

Yellow Water Lily

3 thoughts on “Chehalis Wildlife Area”

  1. Now that I’ve noticed them, I love them too, kenju.

    According to an article I read online, while looking for their official name, they seem to be a primitive flower which given clues to the rapid spread of flowers.

  2. My favorite is the fleabane- such an ugly name for such a pretty flower!

    (It’s considered a weed here, too. The problem with it is that if you let it grow all summer the stems get thick and woody, and that ruins the quality of the hay.)

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