Leighton Photography & Imaging

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  • Perhaps the most common and recognizable native hardwood tree in the Pacific Northwest, the bigleaf maple is the largest maple in the area, and the leaves are a prized food source for deer and elk. Pictured here are the winged seeds so commonly and widely recognized by most people. Called samaras, these twin seeds when dried and mature, will split and "whirlybird"  down to the forest floor, and with any luck will sprout. This one was found growing near the edge of Deep Lake, near Enumclaw, WA.
    Bigleaf Maple with Samaras (Seedpods)
  • The familiar winged seedpods (or samaras) of the bigleaf maple, ripened and dries, ready to split and helicopter off into the wind. Unlike other maples, the fuzzy coating covering the main part of the seed is actually quite spiky and burr-like. I found that out the hard way. This one was photographed in the riparian forest near the Nisqually River Delta near Olympia, WA.
    Bigleaf Maple Samaras
  • This is how it all starts: tiny bright yellow-green flowers show before even the first hint of leaves in the massive bigleaf maples. As the spring progresses into summer, the seed pods begin to form, and as fall approaches, we see the first of the falling "whirlie-birds" we all know and love!
    Bigleaf Maple Flower Bud
  • A bushtit pauses for a second on a bigleaf maple tree in Western Washington in the late afternoon as it hunts for spiders, aphids and other small insects.
    Bushtit
  • This small variety of chickadee is a very common springtime visitor to the maple tree in my backyard. Extremely bold for even other usually curious chickadees, this one will often land within arm's reach from me if I'm just minding my own business, reading a book on my own back porch.
    Chestnut-Backed Chickadee
  • A female dark-eyed junco perches in a maple tree just south of Seattle Washington with the typical well-defined "hood" found in individuals in the Pacific Northwest.
    Dark-eyed Junco
  • This pale male dark-eyed junco (Junco hyemalis oreganus) is one of six subspecies of this relative of New World sparrows found throughout the Pacific Northwest. Sometimes referred to as the Oregon Junco, these birds have a noticeably dark "hood" or head compared to others of the same species found across North America. This one was photographed<br />
 just south of Seattle, Washington.
    Dark-Eyed Junco
  • This chestnut-backed chickadee shares much of the same range as its cousin, the black-capped chickadee. Interestingly, they may share the same resources, but they don't share the same feeding habits. Chestnut-backed chickadees like to feed near the top of conifers and other deciduous trees, while black-capped chickadees prefer the lower half of these same trees. Therefore, they don't compete for resources.
    Chestnut-Backed Chickadee
  • A pale male dark-eyed junco perches in a tree between Seattle and Tacoma, WA.
    Dark-eyed Junco
  • One of the New World's smallest songbirds, the bushtit is a voracious feeder  of insects in the western United States, Mexico and the extreme southwestern corner of British Columbia in Canada.
    Bushtit
  • This subspecies of the chestnut-backed chickadee (Poecile rufescens rufescens) has very clearly marked reddish-brown coloring on its flanks, just under the wings. This Pacific Northwest subspecies is found from Northern California all the way to Alaska.
    Chestnut-Backed Chickadee
  • Many of the trees and rocks in the Pacific Northwest are literally covered and draped in communities of lichen and mosses. This photographs illustrates a common sight, such as this community growing and thriving on a large bigleaf maple tree just east of Olympia, Washington. Pictured here is yellow moss (a type of tree moss) and antlered perfume (a type of tree lichen).
    Lichen and Moss Community
  • Cat-tail moss is a very attractive true moss most often associated with in wet forests. This one was photographed on an ancient bigleaf maple in the Olympic National Park in the Hoh Rain Forest.
    Cat-tail Moss
  • Deep into the Hoh Rain Forest, ancient trees - Sitka spruce, Douglas fir, western hemlock, bigleaf maple, red alder and western red cedar stand tall and solemn. Many of them 500 years old or more!
    Hoh Rain Forest
  • Step moss is a very distinctive and attractive moss found throughout most of the Pacific Northwest. This lush soft moss grows in carpets on rocks, logs, and trees, such as this growth on the side of a bigleaf maple in the Hoh Rain Forest.
    Step Moss
  • Licorice ferns growing high up in a huge bigleaf maple in an ancient old-growth section of the Hoh Rain Forest on Washington's Olympic Peninsula. Found primarily in the Pacific Northwest, the roots of these evergreen ferns have been used medicinally for millennia by local native tribes, and can be found from Southern Alaska to parts of Arizona.
    Licorice Fern