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!!
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