Easter 2011

In real time, although it is now the 4th official day of summer, it is another cool, wet day….so seems a good time to finish my catching up by reporting on our first trip of the season, which, as usual, was at Easter.

Traditionally, we like to head to Tunkwa Lake P.P. on this weekend even though it isn’t ‘officially’ open, but given the long colder and wetter than normal winter we suspected that the campground at Tunkwa was probably still snow bound.  So, we decided to head over the Hope Princeton Hwy. towards the Okanagan….as we went through Manning Park…3 feet of snow still covered the campgrounds there..

 

So continued on, decided to check out the provincial park campground on Vaseux Lake and were very lucky to get the last unoccupied spot on the lake….

Not only that, but it was actually sunny and warm enough to sit outside!! What a treat!!!

Just spent the afternoon sitting in the sun and soaking up the vitamin D!  and of course taking pictures of any birds that wandered by….like this White Crowned Sparrow – one of several…

or this male California Quail…

the pair of Black-capped Chickadees that were busy inspecting nesting cavities…

or one of a number of Red-breasted Nuthatch…this one all fluffed up and air drying after a bath…

there was a large raft of American Coots out on the lake…

and this pair of Mallards which hung about just off shore – talk about the height of laziness as this female stretched her neck for a drink…they must have been enjoying the warmth as much as we were!

here is a peaceful evening scene of the lake, looking south.

Next morning we set off up the McIntyre Creek road, just opposite the campground…this is a view from part way up the hillside – another sunny warm day.

a female Mountain Bluebird was spotted…

there were a few of the very early wildflowers, like this Sagebrush Buttercup

and these Shooting Stars….both of these pictures taken by Ernie.

 

heading back down towards the campground…

we were amazed to spot these Big Horn Sheep – this area is a preserve for Big Horn Sheep but we’ve never actually seen any here before…

it was astounding how they moved up the cliff face…

and onto the top….

this small herd remained up on the hillside all afternoon…here Ernie is looking at them with the spotting scope…

using a tripod for support I zoomed in from the same location using both the digital as well as the optical zoom on my Canon Power shot camera to get this shot….

The next day, being Easter Sunday, we moved on to the campground at Okanagan Falls Provincial Park as we were invited for Easter dinner at nearby relatives….this is the Okanagan River as it runs behind the campground. 

Lac la Jeune – May long weekend, 2011

Since in real time it is another cool, gray, showery day, decided I should do some more ‘catch up’ so back we go to our trip to Lac la Jeune Provincial Park, on the May long weekend.

We hadn’t been to Lac la Jeune for probably at least 12 years.  Last time we’d camped there it had still been a forested campground…but that was before the pine beetle and the subsequent ‘clear cutting’ of the park…

We arrived there about 8:30 in the evening and this is what it now looks like.  The Aspens are taking over and when they leaf out it would look a lot greener than it did that day.  It was barely spring up there at this elevation – at least this year of never ending winter!

Fishing is the primary reason people go to this lake.  This picture was taken from the boat launch area..

for those without a boat, this long float has been built so people can get out into the lake to fish, or take pictures or just look for wildlife..

there is a path that runs along the lakeshore, this picture is taken from that path, looking back…these pictures were taken at different times, with different cameras…which is why the weather is better in some than in others!

This one should probably have gone before the above…this is the view from the end of the float…there is a grassy picnic area, and then the lakeshore path starts…(no dogs in the picnic area)

this is pretty much where the path ends…there are private cabins from this area onward. 

Several pairs of Barrow’s Goldeneye were along the shoreline….and a number of Common Loons out on the lake..

Some more of those Barrow’s Goldeneye.

The Saturday afternoon was quite pleasant…as I recall a Canuck’s hockey game was on and cheers could be heard throughout the campground whenever a goal was scored….our campsite was up on the back row…this Mule Deer ventured out on the hillside on the opposite side of the road…I put the 36 x optical zoom on my new Nikon Coolpix camera, to good use…

other critters seen from the campsite were Yellow rump Warbler….this one being a female..

Chipping Sparrow – you can see the vegetation is just beginning….my bets were that the snow hadn’t melted that long ago..

Mountain Chickadee…

and, every afternoon a flock of a dozen or so Western Tanagers would move through the area.

I watched this American Crow gathering nesting material…

and the day ended with an impressive, although not very scenic, sunset (you can see the road right there behind the campground).

Next day we ventured up the trails to ‘Stake Lake’ – that isn’t Stake Lake, that is Lac la Jeune as seen from the access road…

this is the road that breaks into all sorts of cross country ski trails so you can walk as far as you care to go up in this area…

More birds up here…this Dark Eyed Junco…those bare Aspen trees had been full of Tree Sparrows – looked for Mountain Bluebirds but didn’t see any which seemed strange…

Red-naped Sapsucker and lot’s of Flickers, Townsend’s Solitaire, Robin, Swainson’s Thrush, etc. that we didn’t get pictures of.

and here is Stake Lake….could see a pair of loons in the distance, as well as a number of unidentified ducks..

down closer to the lake there were all sorts of Marsh Wren and various Warblers, especially Common Yellowthroat – none of which were going to co-operate for pictures…

on the return trip, took pictures of the only ‘wildflower’ that was actually in flower…

this Coltsfoot.

and one last look at the lake itself from a hill over looking the road…the dots on the lake, closest to the shore, are a pair of loons, those further out are boats full of patient fishermen.

In the afternoon I took another walk along the lake shore and have to show this serious of photos…

This Yellow rump warbler was on the ground…at first I thought it was sick or injured…but no, look closely and there is a pretty big bug there as well…

here it has one of the bugs wings in it’s mouth…

and finally, the whole darn thing!! 

Tunkwa Lake Trip – June 11, 2011 – Part 2

Ok, so when the rain was over I set out by myself to see if I could find the Great Gray Owl.  The evening before, while I had been watching the one in the campground, Ernie had been walking Shantz and had seen one in a forested area behind the park caretakers compound…whether we’d both seen the same owl, or if there was a pair…we’re really not sure…

anyway, with clear skies once again, I set off in the direction of the forested area…

on the way, passed a Chipmunk having a snack…

and one of the many resident Yellow-bellied Marmots..

Finally swinging up to the forested area (you’ll note that this ‘forest’ consists mainly of dead trees – that is because this area was ravished by the pine beetle)….there, though, right ahead and in the middle, I immediately spotted the Great Gray Owl…

 

 

 

 

 

He/she watched me arrive, but wasn’t terribly alarmed by my presence.  I could hear it’s very low call on occasion and also another, unfamiliar sound which leads me to believe there was a nest somewhere in the immediate area.

 

 

 

 

 

 

after spending a fair bit of time here, just watching, and of course, snapping pictures…I decided I had disturbed the bird enough and headed over towards a little pond up at the back of the campground…

Passed some Savannah Sparrows on the way, including this singing one…

and there is the little pond…there were a number of Canada Geese on it and a few Warblers…

like this male Yellow Rumped…. 

was just heading back towards the camper when I spotted – right in the middle of the picture – a Great Gray Owl!  The same one I’d seen up back? or a different one?  I don’t know….

but there it was…intently studying the ground….

more views of it…

and another…

and in flight…

I do know, that when it caught something, like it had here…it didn’t stop and eat it, but headed back in the direction of the forested area….leading me to believe there were some hungry little mouths to feed somewhere back there.

In the evening, the hunting continued…

Posing nicely in the evening sunshine, while thunder rumbled in the distance! 

At this point, landing on a pitiful little twig of a pine tree….you can see how the bird was right in the campground, yet one of the most amazing and kind of upsetting things, was that I don’t think anyone but myself and my husband even noticed it.  Several people walked within a few feet of it as it went about it’s business…totally oblivious to it’s presence.  Kind of sad.

But as I mentioned before, the bird was not concerned with people…for this picture, the bird had actually flown towards where I was standing and landed not 8 feet away from me…

here it is perched on a broken tree….the tail light of our camper is just visible on the other side of those trees…

I was standing in the door of our camper when I took this shot – wide angle, not zoomed at all…

now it is zoomed from the same spot (that is what a Nikon Coolpix with 36x digital zoom can do for you)…

and then the bird flew even closer….Shantz’ was on her tie out which reached to within about 6 feet of where this bird perched….  Absolutely amazing!  The plan now is to return to Tunkwa on the July 1st long weekend to see if the bird is still there or if there are some youngsters around.

So just a few more pictures to finish up this very successful trip – Killdeer had been running around in the evening, creating a racket which they continue to do, well after dark.

Before we left on the Sunday morning, we walked over to Bluff Lake…..notice the Cut-leaf Anemone’s in flower….they were just really starting to bloom.  There is the Aspen Grove or ‘bird nursery’ way off in the distance, never did get there…

Wouldn’t be a trip to Tunkwa if I didn’t throw in a picture of the many Canada Geese….we saw goslings as well from freshly hatched to much older…all in all, counted over 50 species of birds this trip….the Great Gray Owl, by far the most exciting.