Spring Trip 2012 – Manning Park part 2

We spent 3 days at Manning Park, the weather cooperated, a little on the cool side, but pleasant enough to sit outside during the day as long as you were dressed for it.

Here is the whole family enjoying the great outdoors – including the 16 year old Shih Tzu!

it wasn’t long though, until we had company….

This pair of Common Raven moved in and appeared to adopt us as their own!!!

even attempting to come right inside…

and trying to share our dogs dinner – as you can tell she is used to birds!

Not to be out done…the Gray Jay’s joined us too…

Shy they aren’t!!!

a Gold-crowned Kinglet even joined in the fun…running around right at my feet gathering up our dogs fur as fast as she was loosing it!  I was so shocked didn’t have time to focus the camera properly – hence the fuzzy shot!

Of course one of the things we look for when we are traveling are the wild flowers…this early in the season with the snow barely having melted in spots, one really had to look – but they were there…

The Utah Honeysuckle was just coming into bloom in the sunniest areas – but there were enough of them that the Rufous Hummingbirds had arrived – this being a favorite early food source.  (wasn’t able to get a hummingbird picture here)

Spring Gold was just starting to flower, again in the sunniest locations.  The creeping phlox wasn’t quite in bloom yet..

I found these Pussy Willows most attractive though….

as did the Chipmunks!  By the time our 3 day visit was over, chipmunks had pretty much eaten every pussy willow off of the bushes!  and I think that is probably enough for this posting….we’ll cover the rest of the ‘critters’ and birds in part 3

Thanksgiving at Tunkwa 2011

In real time I am sitting here watching the snow pile up outside….so seems like the ideal time to go back to last Thanksgiving and post some random pictures we took at Tunkwa. 

I think this pretty much summed up Tunkwa in mid October – this view was out of the back door of the camper…

We woke to frost one morning….at least we weren’t  tenting like some people!

and I love this picture of the bluff with fall colour….do you think it is time for them to remove the rest of the dead trees and let the live ones take over?….can’t decide…we’re so used to seeing dead trees here!

the end of a hot dry summer is evident in this picture…

and at the Aspen grove….

Mountain Bluebirds were still there – they are like us – they arrive about Easter time and leave about Thanksgiving….unlike us they get to stay there the whole time in between!

Yellow-rump Warblers were still there too – they arrive a little later than the bluebirds

still some shorebirds around ….like this Wilson’s Snipe

and these which I’m pretty sure were young Long-billed Dowitcher – they showed up the morning we were leaving…when the weather had turned and it was raining…

Muskrats are there year round…

and the chipmunks were very busy….got some adorable pictures of the little guys…

stretching to get grass seed heads – see that grass is good for something other than getting stuck between dog’s toes…

Love this picture….

and this one where they seem to be sharing a kiss…

So that will bring our camping year to a close….but not to worry….spring is coming (although you’d never know it today!) and we’ll be back on the road soon!

N. W. T. Trip 2005 – Tunkwa – the last night

From rainy Jasper, we decided to make the long run to Tunkwa Lake, B.C., which as any of you know who have followed this blog, or know us, is our favourite ‘home away from home’…..

the quickest route is down the Yellowhead Highway, to Kamloops, then south on the Coquilla, following the directions to the town of Logan Lake, and ultimately to Tunkwa Lake Provincial Park.  It doesn’t matter what time you arrive, there is always room at Tunkwa (well maybe not on the May 24th weekend!!!!) and it is just a good place to unwind.

and here we are at beautiful, peaceful, Tunkwa Lake..looking very ‘green’ – this was mid June and it had been a wetter than usual spring.  That is our canoe tucked in the reeds at the edge of the lake.

 There goes Ernie and April for a canoe ride, no doubt Willie was in there somewhere.  WE used to do a lot of canoeing, back when we had two small dogs….we’ve only tried it once since Shantz joined the family – everybody got wet! and we haven’t tried it since.

here is one of the Chipmunks that are always found here, especially near the campsites.

and one of the Yellow Bellied Marmots that live throughout the park…on the bluffs, in the culverts, under the pit toilets…

There were a pair of Cinnamon Teal (this is the male), that appeared to be nesting in this sheltered location. 

of course there were Red Necked Grebe as there are always quite a few pairs nesting on Tunkwa…

believe it or not, this is also a Red Necked Grebe – this particular bird(we’re not sure if it is a male or a female because Red Necked Grebes share in the raising of a family) was found at Tunkwa Lake for a number of years, paired up with one of normal coloration, they raised a number of families, always nesting in the same location just at the end of the ‘spit’.

speaking of families….here are a bunch of Yellow Bellied Marmot youngsters…

and another one of the adults…

the spillway from Tunkwa to the slightly lower Leighton Lake, had a lot of water in it….often this spillway is virtually dry.

I’m just going to run through the rest of the bird pictures I took that particular visit…this is a female Brewer’s Blackbird..

and here a male.  Brewer’s Blackbird population has been increasing in the area as the habitat changed from pine forest to grasslands, thanks to the removal of the pine beetle killed trees.

a mother Barrow’s Goldeneye and her family…swimming through a patch of Smartweed.

a close up of a Barrow’s Goldeneye duckling.  All ducklings are cute, but in my opinion, these guys head to the top of the list.

speaking of babies….here is a pair of Common Loon with a very young chick.  Despite popularity of this lake for fishing, canoeing and kayaking, there are usually a couple of Loon pairs that manage to raise a family each year.

Yellow headed Blackbirds, one of my favourite birds….are always abundant at Tunkwa…..

and we’ll leave this trip with these half grown Canada Geese…sort of at the ‘ugly duckling’ stage.

Next day it was down to Merritt, over the Coquilla and so to home.  Another trip over and done with.