I hiked through the middle grasslands zone, above the sagebrush, and wound around ponds, lakes, and hills, stopping to enjoy what nature had to offer.

Lemonweed (lithospermum ruderale)w as in flower, with some growth still unfurling and some flourishing.

Few-flowered shooting stars (dodedcatheon pulchellum) were spotted in clusters on wet hillsides.

Small-flowered woodland stars (lithophragma parviflorum) were numerous where the grasses were sparse.

Two types of desert parsley were in bloom, mostly on barren drier ground.   This is large-fruited desert parsley (lomatium macrocarpum).

A few upland larkspur were starting to flower on south-facing slopes, this one on the largest esker in the grasslands.  

Death camas (zigazenus venenosus)  had many stalks and lanceolate leaves showing, but only a small number were in bloom.

Old man’s whiskers (geum triflorum) were just emerging, with its pinkish urn-shaped flowerheads.

Saskatoon shrubs were flowering in gullies and on north-aspect slopes.  

There were American coots, barrow’s golden eyes, muskrats, a hawk, blackbirds, geese, killdeer, bluebirds, meadowlarks, and a number of smaller birds spotted on the route, another rewarding day in the Lac du Bois Grasslands.