Spring Trip 2010 - Day 3 - Kettle River Provincial Park

Saturday, the 24th day of April we left our relatives and headed back down the Okanagan Highway to the town of Osoyoo's where we topped up the fuel tank before turning eastward. The first obstacle to be encountered was the very long, winding, steep 'Anarchist hill'. This was a hill I dreaded when we had the truck/trailer combination.....I swear I held my breath every trip until we were safely at the top. No such fears now as the 3500 sailed up it, causing my dear husband to remark 'I love this truck!'

Part way up we stopped at the look out - something we'd have never dared do with the old truck as we needed the momentum....
I attempted a series of panorama shots. This one is looking southwards towards the B.C./U.S.A. border. That is Osoyoos Lake down there.

now we are looking pretty much westward, part of the town of Osoyoos down there and the coast mountains in the background.

This is looking northwest, the green spit of land on the left of the picture is Greenpoint Provincial Park - a campsite we have never actually stayed at....the narrow strip of land across the lake is the highway we have just come across and that is, of course, the town of Osoysoos down there, bisecting the lake. This area is one of the hottest and driest in British Columbia.

This final shot i took to try and give an idea of the winding road that we had negotiated so far....this is only part way up...perhaps a third negotiated with two thirds to come.... Once the top is reached, you are now in 'Boundary Country' - one of my favorite areas of the province, the 'boundary' or happy medium between the sagebrush country of the Okanagan and the mountainous terrain of the Kootneys.

Our goal today was to Kettle River Provincial Park, which is just north of the town of Rock Creek.

We arrived about noon, and despite the fact that the campground wasn't 'officially open' ie. no water but therefore no fees......it was actually quite busy. Our favorite site was occupied but we found one close by. You can see from the vegetation that spring was barely started at this elevation. This is one of our favorite campgrounds, the park contains a number of eco systems so attracts a wide range of birds....

Here is a look at the river itself. This area was just behind our site...there is a path that runs all along the side of the river. The Kettle River, which is quite wide and 'tame' is a favorite for floating down on tubes or other inflatables. Something we have yet to try.

The Columbian Ground Squirrels were awake and active, and didn't sound at all happy to have their little bit of paradise invaded once again.

It took only moments for Shantz to find the second ball of the trip (she'd found one at Vaseux Lake). We don't know how she does it. It is a rare campsite that she doesn't come up with a ball of some description. This one was really special, it was soft and it squeaked ~ a real treasure! IF we went to a pet store and bought her one it would be ignored....only found balls are of interest.

I put this picture in because we were amazed to see these little flowers. I am sure they are Chinadoxis (sp.?), an early spring bulb that we grow in our gardens. As far as I know they are not native. These must have somehow grown from seed from somewhere???? There were only these few in one small patch...

The Yellow-rump Warblers were there, in vast numbers! I imagine some of them were still 'en route' while others would stay and nest. This is a male, with the yellow on the throat is of the Audubon variety which is what we expect to see on the west side of the Rockies....ones we will see later, on the east side, will be 'Myrtles' with white under the bill.

The wild rose bushes were just starting to leaf out and I guess they newly emerged leaf buds were sticky and had attracted little bugs, because the birds were sure going over them....here a Black Cap Chickadee......

had to throw in another picture of the antics the Chickadees were going through......

and Nashville Warblers! Saw a number of these guys.....

This is probably the best picture of a Nashville Warbler I've managed so far. You can almost see the bit of red on the top of the head.......

there were a pair of Song Sparrows in the same general area as the Warblers, so threw this picture in.

We will be doing more birding in this area tomorrow but I'll throw in the list of what we saw this day for anyone who might be interested.

Bird List: Ruffed Grouse (could hear several 'drumming'); Robins; Red Breasted Nuthatch - lots; Mountain Chickadees (could hear them calling); Violet Green Swallows - 8; Yellow-rump Warblers - at least 14; Ruby crowned Kinglets - 3; Black Cap Chickadee - 5; Canada Geese - 2 - that made enough noise for a dozen as they constantly flew up and down the river; Northern Flicker (Red Shaft) - 1; Common Merganser - 1 pair on the river; Sharp Shin Hawk -1; Raven - 2; Nashville Warbler - 2; Song Sparrow - 2; Dark Eyed Junco (Oregon) - 4; Wood Duck - a pair on the river which surprised me as it didn't seem the sort of place I'd expect Wood Ducks to be; Red Naped Sapsucker - 1; Pileated Woodpecker - 1; Hooded Merganser - 2.

Spring Trip 2010 - Day 2 - Okanagan, B.C.

April 23rd dawned bright and sunny. The plan for today was to visit with relatives not too far up the road, but we'd take a sort of 'round about' route to get there, in order to get in a bit of birding..... This was the scene out of the campers door that morning......yesterday's wind had disappeared, the lake was like glass. You can see one of the over friendly Mallard ducks sitting out there at the edge.

There were a number of these Red Head Ducks out on the lake. Red Head's aren't seen as frequently as a lot of duck species - at least in the places we frequent - so took advantage of a chance to get some photos.....

Looking towards the northern end of the lake, you can see a fairly large raft of American Coots. By the way, you can click on these pictures to enlarge them, then use your 'back' button to return to normal size

When I took the garbage to the containers, this Black-billed Magpie was perched just at the entrance to the campground. Even though these are big birds, they are difficult to get decent pictures of. I think this is one of the best I have.

Once we'd packed up we drove the short distance up the highway to the parking lot for the boardwalk trail. There wasn't a lot of bird activity along it that morning. Quite a few Black Cap Chickadees, a few Yellow Rump Warblers......

but the most active were this pair of Song Sparrows. I thought this a kind of neat picture with the one in front and the blurred partner in the background.

The Mahonia Shrub was in full flower.....

as were the Arrow leafed Balsam Root. We'll be seeing this plant off and on for the next 6 weeks - I never tire of it, it's bright sunny flowers are a most welcome spring sight.

Next we turned back and headed up McIntyre Creek Road, the same one we had walked part way up the night before. We had just passed the spot where all the White Crowned Sparrows were when I shouted Stop! Stop!

There, right beside the road, was a Chukar! The first I'd ever seen. Chukar aren't a native species, but they are a naturalized species and quite common in the Okanagan - at least they are supposed to be quite common - but like I said - these (there turned out to be 3 of them) were the first I'd ever seen.....

They ended up crossing the road and wandering off into the bush where we lost sight of them.

Continued on a bit further where we could stop and look out over the lake.....there were these interesting little wildflowers growing there, I'm afraid I have no idea what they were.....

and lots more of this Creeping Phlox (yesterday I said it was a Dianthus and not a Phlox - wrong - it is a Phlox)

Here is a view of Vaseux Lake from the spot we were parked. This is looking south towards Oliver, B.C., I had just taken this shot when I turned around and there, on a fence post......

was a Western Bluebird!!! I have seen Western Bluebirds before but not for a number of years.

There were, in fact a pair of them, busy gathering nesting materials as this was right at the edge of ranch.....The male deserves another look. It is too bad the sun wasn't positioned quite right in the sky so his head is in shadow....

Then, as if the Western Bluebirds weren't enough, there was .......

a Lewis's Woodpecker! Now I've seen Lewis's Woodpecker up this road before, in fact the last few years they seem to be popping up all over. We even had one here in the neighbourhood for a few days last fall - but they aren't a common sighting as woodpeckers go.

After all that excitement, we drove the rest of the road which twists and climbs up through a ranch, only to dead end with a bunch of Private property signs at the end, so turned around and back to the highway. Down to the town of Oliver and then back northwards via White Lake Road.

The B.C. Naturetrust (whom we are supporters of) own a large piece of property up this road, so we stopped there for lunch and then took a walk....

There were lots of Western Bluebird here (this is the only place I had ever seen them before). There is a male.....you can see they like perching on fence posts....they nest in the nesting boxes that you can see in the photo prior to this one.

Here is a female, a 'softer' coloured version of the male....

The only other critter of note, that day, were these Yellow-bellied Marmots.

Here is a closer look at one of them. I think, if memory serves, that these were the only Marmots we saw on this particular trip - there fore deserving of mention.

So we leave the arid Okanagan - I threw this photo in because of the yellow flowers of the Western Wild Parsley - we'll be running into this flower, and some of it's cousin's over the next while.

Spring Trip 2010 - Day 1 - Vaseux Lake, B.C.

It seemed like a logical plan for a trip. Leave early in the season, travel across the southernmost parts of the provinces, heading east, see how far you get, and then, at some point swing north and come home across the northern parts of the provinces. The objective was to have a sort of perpetual spring. We wanted to visit some of our favourite places, such as Writing on Stone, to see what sort of wildflowers were out, but also to check out some new places, Cypress Hills and Grasslands National Park, both in Saskatchewan being the prime objectives.

We accomplished some of our aims - I'd wanted to see Prairie Crocus in flower and boy! did I see Prairie Crocus!!! but Mother Nature grabbed hold of this trip and so all didn't go exactly as planned!
So lets get started.....

We pulled out of our gates just before 9 am on April 22nd, heading through the lush upper Fraser Valley where the Dogwoods and Thimbleberry Shrubs were in full flower. A quick stop in Hope B.C., for fuel for both the truck and us (Tim Horton's Coffee)....and onto #3 - the Crowsnest Highway, heading east. A stop at the lodge in Manning Park where the snow was gone, the grass just showing the slightest hint of green......

There were Robin's galore, and the ground squirrels were out and active. Now Ground Squirrels are going to play a large part in this blog in the future so I need to identify them. I think this is a 'Columbian' Ground squirrel but I will have to verify that in the future.

On the road again, a stop at the Subway in Princeton for lunch and on to Vaseux Lake Provincial Park Campground in the sunny Okanagan. We chose this particular campground only because we had never stayed there before. It is a tiny campground, only 12 sites, squeezed in between Vaseux Lake and the highway and is usually full. Being so early in the season, we found it to only be half full, so were able to find a nice spot on the lake (most of the sites are on the lake). Fee was $16.

This was the view from our campsite, looking north towards Okanagan Falls. There is a board walk and viewing tower situated at the north end of the lake. It was a beautiful sunny day, although with a brisk wind blowing.

From the same spot, this is looking south towards Oliver, B.C.

and here is camp. It was certainly warm enough to sit outside, in fact one of those days where it is a little too hot in the sun but a little on the cool side, thanks to the wind, in the shade. You can see that even April was out there enjoying the sunshine.

Vaseux Lake is an important bird area or IBA and so, of course there were birds. I will do a list at the end of the posting so that you who aren't all that interested can just ignore... The above shows a Magpie nest that was situated in trees at the entrance to our site. I don't think it was occupied yet, but it was being checked out. Magpie nests have at least two openings so that there is an escape out the 'back door' if needed.

Being the Okanagan, there were, of course, a few California Quail wandering about. This is the only Quail picture I got the whole trip.....it is a female....

After supper we wanted to go for a walk. We had thought we could go to the boardwalk, but it was a bit further away than we'd thought and the only route was along the very narrow shoulder of the very busy highway, so instead we elected to walk up McIntyre Creek Road which took off to the right just past the most northern entrance to the campground.

Just at the start of the road there was a brushy area that was absolutely alive with White Crowned Sparrows......

Here is a closer look at one of them.

and here is the first of many wildflower pictures to come....I think this is a type of Dianthus rather than a Phlox.....

This is the terrain they are found in, growing amongst the sagebrush.....

the sun was getting low in the sky at this point, so we started back down the hill (which was steeper than this picture suggests).

we even had a sunset.... to bring the first night on the road to a close.

Bird List: Am. Coots - 200+ on the lake; Brewer's Blackbirds - 6; Meadowlark - at least 3 on the hillside; Swallows or Swifts - lots but couldn't make out the type; Mallard - 1 pair of 'moochers'; Red Head Ducks - at least 30 on the lake; Lesser Scaup - 20 or so; Ring Neck Ducks - 10 or so; Northern Flicker - 1; Canada Geese - 4; Trumpeter Swans - 2; Magpie - 2; Red Breasted Merganser -1 - think this might be unusual; California Quail - 3; Black Cap Chickadee - 2; Starling - 3; Red Breasted Nuthatch - 2; Yellow Rump Warbler - 1; White Crowned Sparrow - 18 at least; White Gyrfalcon - 1; Bald Eagle - 1; Rock Pigeon - 2; and some gulls or terns so far off we couldn't tell for sure.