Spring Trip 2010 - Day 5 - Kettle River Provincial Park

We don't know if it was all the fresh air and exercise of the day before, or the fact that we were just starting to settle into this relaxin' vacation thing.....but this day, Monday, April 26th, none of us - even the dogs - woke up until 9:30 in the morning!
Due to the fact that the next leg of this journey would be a fairly long one, but also due to the fact that it was another beautiful day in the weather department - we elected to spend one more day here at Kettle River. This despite the fact that we were out of bread, on the second of our two tanks of propane, and our water supply was so low we had added the contents of the 'emergency' jug to the tank. During the course of the day they did turn the water on in the park for a few hours so we were able to add a few more jugs.....

The rest of the day we spent much like the day before.....wandering and taking pictures.
Yesterday I said that the Sagebrush Buttercups were pretty much the only actual flowers out. Well that wasn't quite accurate. The Wild Blue Clematis were also in flower....

as was the Jacob's Ladder.

I've been mentioning the pair of Canada Geese that kept flying up and down the river. This particular morning, one of the pair landed on the top of this snag and kept up a ruckus while the partner continued the flying up and down the river....

We set out, all together (well except for April who doesn't 'do' walks anymore), along this riverside path.....from the point where that tree leans out over the river, to the bridge, there was a lot of bird activity.....

American Robins......

Nashville Warblers.......

Yellow-rump Warblers - of course! This one being a female.

Red-breasted Nuthatch......

and Mountain Chickadee (just love these evil looking little fellows!) We even got 'hummed' by a Hummingbird but couldn't spot it well enough to see what type.

Here is the bridge.....this picture being taken from the east side, looking back at the campground. The day use area is on the left beside the river...

it is a wide smooth level path.....great for biking....ATV's are NOT allowed! Thank Goodness although there are plenty of side roads running adjacent to the path where they do are allowed so on the weekend there was a constant hum as they went about their environmentally destructive activities....

We're getting towards the end of the park property now, looking southwards towards Rock Creek.

Ernie and Shantz crossing the boundary line....there was the option of branching off onto those side roads at this point....which we did for a short way before crossing back onto park property

This is looking back toward the campground, the bridge being out of sight around a bend in the river.

I've thrown this picture in only because it shows a pair of Wood Ducks. I was amazed to see Wood Ducks here. I always associate them with quiet woodland ponds, not fairly large rivers. They were in a quiet back eddy, but still.....

Common Merganser, which is what this pair are, do nest in rivers, so not unexpected.

As we were crossing the bridge, heading back to the campground, one of the Violet Green Swallows co-operated very nicely for picture taking.....this is a female...

since you don't get such co-operation very often - you get two pictures of her.

This Song Sparrow doesn't have a punk hair cut, the wind had picked up a bit and was blowing the feathers on the top of it's head.

More Yellow-rump Warblers pictures....they are just so colourful and co-operative...not to mention plentiful!

this is the last Yellow-rump Warbler picture for a little while - promise!

and those Nashville Warblers - we won't be seeing them anymore on this trip....so you get a couple more....

the final Nashville Warbler picture....

When the park is very quiet with only a few sites occupied, if you listen, it is amazing what you hear. With all the nuthatches, flickers, sapsuckers, chickadees and woodpeckers in the place, there was 'tapping' coming from all sorts of places.....

I followed one soft tapping sound to this tree.....

there I found a pair of Red-breasted Nuthatch busy excavating a nesting cavity.....

they would work away inside, then come to the entrance with a mouth full of 'bits'......

here is another look at one of the birds with it's mouthful...

and then 'Phfft'....spit it all out and go back to work inside!

I returned several times over the course of a few hours and they were still working away. Thus ends another day, with the resolve that tomorrow we will be up bright and early and on the road!

Bird List: Mountain Chickadee - 11; Canada Goose - 3 (a 3rd joined in which really created havoc!); Stellers Jay - 1; Red-breasted Nuthatch - at least 10; Northern Flicker - 6; Common Merganser - 8; Mallard - 2; Song Sparrow - 2; Robins - 10; White Crowned Sparrows - 2; Nashville Warblers - 3; Lincoln Sparrow - 1; Yellow Rump Warblers - at least a dozen; Violet Green Swallows - at least 16; Hummingbird - 1 but don't know type; Spotted Towhee - 2; Bald Eagle - 1; White-breasted Nuthatch - 2; Mourning Dove - at least 2; Raven - 3; Tree Swallows - 6; Ruffed Grouse - at least 1 drumming; Junco - 1; Ruby Crowned Kinglet - 2; Black Capped Chickadee - 4; Red-Nap Sapsucker - 2; Wood Duck - 2.