Spring Trip 2012 – Tunkwa Lake P.P. – Part 4

Now the 25th of May and a Friday, we decided to head out for a morning walk over to the Aspen Grove

it was another nice day….fisheries had been in the previous afternoon and removed their nets from the top of the spillway – the ones at the bottom were still in place…

as soon as the nets had been removed, a pair of Common Loon moved into the area, one wouldn’t venture right into the tight little bay, but the other one had no concerns about doing so, nor was it at all concerned about me sitting only a few feet away…

a pair of American Wigeon were also hanging about that area.

heading toward the bluff….spotted…

a Mountain Bluebird on that one lone dead pine tree…

onto the bluff and looking down into the marsh…could hear Marsh Wren all over the place, as well as Yellow-headed Blackbirds..

Besides the inevitable Scaup, there were several pairs of Red Head Ducks (above), a pair of Canvas Back and some Ruddy Ducks as well as American Coot.  A Sora was spooked as we walked along but missed getting a picture.

and finally, into the Aspen Grove, or as I prefer to call it, the ‘bird nursery’…

should show though that what appears to just be dead grass on the way to the grove, is actually a carpet of Early Blue Violets…

and, as usual, the aspens were alive with nesting Tree Swallows, like the female above,

European Starlings…

Northern Flicker…

Mountain Bluebird….and who knows what else….not wanting to alarm the nursery any more than necessary we then headed back to the campground.

In the afternoon I wandered off by myself…

headed over to Leighton because it doesn’t matter how many times you visit the same area, there is always something different to see – this picture really shows the dead falls….but then I spotted not one but two families of Canada Geese..

I stood very quietly and this family very cautiously approached…

and then, deciding that I wasn’t a threat, came ashore only a few feet in front of me.

on the way back from the aspen grove, I had noticed this tree and thought their had to be something nesting in there…

so, being by myself, I cautiously approached it and sure enough….another Northern Flicker nest….and now I’ll break off with the rest of the days events in Part 5.