Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Spring Trip 2010 – Day 39 – Kettle River Provincial Park

Sunday, May 30th we woke up to sunshine.  Spent the day just wandering and looking for birds and anything else of interest.  Birds were obviously in the middle of nesting, so quiet and secretive, but even so, by the end of the day we’d complied a pretty good list….so in no greatly organize order, here we go…

Spring Trip 2010 2237

Here is a section of the trail that runs along the river….this section would be directly behind the spot we were camped in…

Spring Trip 2010 2239

there is a Spotted Sandpiper on that log….there were a number of Spotted Sandpiper all along the river…

Spring Trip 2010 2240

here is another section of the trail….this is closer to the bridge…you can see that a section of it has collapsed into the river…

Spring Trip 2010 2244

Some more of those ‘Canada Violets’…

Spring Trip 2010 2246

and in more forested areas….Early Blue Violets….

Spring Trip 2010 2247

also in the more forested areas, this white wild flower is Baneberry ~ this plant will sport bright red berries later in the summer ~ not to be eaten though as they are extremely poisonous!

Spring Trip 2010 2248

Growing in the same damp, forested area is this green flower, known as Black Sanicle – don’t ask me why!

Spring Trip 2010 1894

Apart from a couple of junco, this area had been very ‘bird less’, hence the flower pictures….and this little guy….a one eared Chipmunk.  If you’ve ever watched these cute little critters interact at times, it isn’t surprising that occasionally someone looses an ear!

DSLR Spring Trip 759

another walk took us down to the south side of the bridge…

DSLR Spring Trip 760

this picture is looking down the river from the day use picnic site….

DSLR Spring Trip 762

found some Red Columbine in flower in the picnic area….

DSLR Spring Trip 764

Sometimes this is a very ‘birdy’ area, but not on this particular day.  Did spot this little guy that I think is a ‘Hammond’s Flycatcher’ ~ came to that conclusion after pouring over ‘flycatchers’ in my ‘Sibleys’

DSLR Spring Trip 765

some Red-breasted Nuthatch too, this one was looking for creepy crawlies on the undersides of the leaves….no doubt taking them back to a nest of youngsters….

DSLR Spring Trip 772

Most of the bird activity was concentrated right around the campground side of the bridge….here a pair of Violet Green Swallows (male on left, female on right) were perched on part of the bridge itself….these swallows nest on the bridge…

DSLR Spring Trip 776

this robin obviously had a hungry brood somewhere close by as well….

DSLR Spring Trip 780

and here we go, another Swainson’s Thrush….the ones here were acting a bit more like I expect Swainson’s Thrush to behave….sneaking about in the denser parts of the forest….

DSLR Spring Trip 782

hard to see, both here and then, is this hummingbird.  I have no idea what kind…I suspect it is a young one….

DSLR Spring Trip 797

a flash of red and yellow….again, right by the bridge….led us to spotting this male Western Tanager….

DSLR Spring Trip 799

he was heading down to this sheltered back eddy in the river, to have a bath.

DSLR Spring Trip 812

a Warbling Vireo in the choke cherry bushes….

DSLR Spring Trip 792

and remember that pair of Red breasted Nuthatch we saw nest excavating, when we were here a month or so ago?  well they were now busy feeding fledglings….here is one of them at the nest hole (not the one on the right, the occupied hole is behind the bird…

DSLR Spring Trip 795

there was it’s mate, coming home with a mouthful of food…..

DSLR Spring Trip 817

Out on the river, if you look really closely at a branch coming up from that log pile….

DSLR Spring Trip 788

You’ll see a pair of Belted Kingfisher.  I wish I could have got a better picture because I have never seen a pair of Kingfisher together before.  The male is on the left, while it is the female with the rust coloured ‘belt’ that gives these birds their name, on the right.

DSLR Spring Trip 819

another species, busy at it’s nest, was this Mountain Chickadee…in this case, doing a bit of house cleaning….kids' are messy you know! and not house broken.

Spring Trip 2010 1896

One final evening walk….

Spring Trip 2010 1897

with the shadows lengthening but the sun still shining on the hill across the river….

Spring Trip 2010 1899

and one final bird glimpsed….in this case, a Pileated Woodpecker, working away up in one of the massive Poplar trees.

So would this be the last day of our trip?  Would we be home tomorrow?  stay tuned!

No comments:

Post a Comment