Seems I’ve been very remiss about posting anything to this site lately. We’ve already been for 3 trips (very short trips) this year….and not one report! By rights I should have started at the beginning – which was Easter in the Okanagan, and then the May long weekend at Lac la Jeune ~ but instead I’m going to start with the trip we took to Tunkwa Provincial Park last weekend….
Got away by about 3:30 on the Friday afternoon…
The first matter of interest was this very small brown coloured Black Bear at the side of the Coquilla Highway, just as we pulled out of the Britton Creek rest area…it must have been a cub….
Arrived at Tunkwa about 7 pm….was standing listening to the final minutes of the hockey game and idly gazing up towards the back of the campsite…when I noticed a large bird fly down and land in the grass…grabbed my binoculars and was amazed to see….
a Great Gray Owl!!! They’ll be lots more pictures of this guy to come….
Since it was evening, I’ll just throw in this one right now as an evening silhouette.
Saturday, June 11th we woke to sunny skies so after a leisurely breakfast, set off for a walk…
It was obvious that spring had been as slow to arrive here as it has been anywhere in the southern portion of the province this year. The grass was very green and not all that long….water levels of the lake were the highest we’d ever seen and there were many wet spots and a few flooded campsites…
Lot’s of Killdeer of course…this one I’m pretty sure on a nest while her partner was attempting to get me to follow him in a different direction.
Yellow-headed Blackbirds too – this was the only picture I managed of one…just didn’t get down near the lakeside….
Set out in the direction of Leighton Lake – the wildflowers were really just starting…here the Alum Root was in flower on the cliff side…
In most areas the Cut-leaf Daisies had already turned into their little ‘buttons’, but these ones were still in flower….interesting to see these ones with a pink hue as most are just white.
The Early Blue Violets were still in flower, and the Field Chickweed was in prime condition.
In some areas the Dandelions had finished flowering and gone to seed, but in others, like here, they were in full flower…
Made our way up to June Lake – again, more water in it than we’ve ever seen….
Up here, Shooting Stars combined with the Dandelions to give a colourful display!
More Killdeer up here as this is a favorite nesting spot for them….thought this ‘head on view’ was kind of interesting…
Spotted Sandpiper here as well….
as we had been walking the weather had changed quite dramatically, so instead of doing our usual loop back to the Aspen Grove and around, we decided to retrace our steps and return to the campsite – as it turned out a wise decision as we had just reached the camper when the skies opened and it poured for a couple of hours.
This now seems a good time to end this part of the posting – watch for part two.
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