Spring Trip 2010 – Day 39 – Kettle River Provincial Park

Sunday, May 30th we woke up to sunshine.  Spent the day just wandering and looking for birds and anything else of interest.  Birds were obviously in the middle of nesting, so quiet and secretive, but even so, by the end of the day we’d complied a pretty good list….so in no greatly organize order, here we go…

Here is a section of the trail that runs along the river….this section would be directly behind the spot we were camped in…

there is a Spotted Sandpiper on that log….there were a number of Spotted Sandpiper all along the river…

here is another section of the trail….this is closer to the bridge…you can see that a section of it has collapsed into the river…

Some more of those ‘Canada Violets’…

and in more forested areas….Early Blue Violets….

also in the more forested areas, this white wild flower is Baneberry ~ this plant will sport bright red berries later in the summer ~ not to be eaten though as they are extremely poisonous!

Growing in the same damp, forested area is this green flower, known as Black Sanicle – don’t ask me why!

Apart from a couple of junco, this area had been very ‘bird less’, hence the flower pictures….and this little guy….a one eared Chipmunk.  If you’ve ever watched these cute little critters interact at times, it isn’t surprising that occasionally someone looses an ear!

another walk took us down to the south side of the bridge…

this picture is looking down the river from the day use picnic site….

found some Red Columbine in flower in the picnic area….

Sometimes this is a very ‘birdy’ area, but not on this particular day.  Did spot this little guy that I think is a ‘Hammond’s Flycatcher’ ~ came to that conclusion after pouring over ‘flycatchers’ in my ‘Sibleys’

some Red-breasted Nuthatch too, this one was looking for creepy crawlies on the undersides of the leaves….no doubt taking them back to a nest of youngsters….

Most of the bird activity was concentrated right around the campground side of the bridge….here a pair of Violet Green Swallows (male on left, female on right) were perched on part of the bridge itself….these swallows nest on the bridge…

this robin obviously had a hungry brood somewhere close by as well….

and here we go, another Swainson’s Thrush….the ones here were acting a bit more like I expect Swainson’s Thrush to behave….sneaking about in the denser parts of the forest….

hard to see, both here and then, is this hummingbird.  I have no idea what kind…I suspect it is a young one….

a flash of red and yellow….again, right by the bridge….led us to spotting this male Western Tanager….

he was heading down to this sheltered back eddy in the river, to have a bath.

a Warbling Vireo in the choke cherry bushes….

and remember that pair of Red breasted Nuthatch we saw nest excavating, when we were here a month or so ago?  well they were now busy feeding fledglings….here is one of them at the nest hole (not the one on the right, the occupied hole is behind the bird…

there was it’s mate, coming home with a mouthful of food…..

Out on the river, if you look really closely at a branch coming up from that log pile….

You’ll see a pair of Belted Kingfisher.  I wish I could have got a better picture because I have never seen a pair of Kingfisher together before.  The male is on the left, while it is the female with the rust coloured ‘belt’ that gives these birds their name, on the right.

another species, busy at it’s nest, was this Mountain Chickadee…in this case, doing a bit of house cleaning….kids' are messy you know! and not house broken.

One final evening walk….

with the shadows lengthening but the sun still shining on the hill across the river….

and one final bird glimpsed….in this case, a Pileated Woodpecker, working away up in one of the massive Poplar trees.

So would this be the last day of our trip?  Would we be home tomorrow?  stay tuned!

Spring Trip 2010 – Day 38 – Kettle River Provincial Park

Ended this day, back where we’d started, over a month ago…. backing up to Yahk though, it started raining sometime during the night and was still raining when we hit the road.  The continuing lousy weather put any lingering thoughts about ‘doing the Kootneys’ to rest….

It was a long….up one side of a pass….here heading for the Salmo Creston summit

up and up….saw the first and only bear of the trip along here….but no way to get a picture….

a brief stop at the rest area at the summit….the little lake there just starting to thaw out (it was the 29th day of May).

then an area of dense fog or cloud as we descended the other side….

the fog didn’t last long and soon we were in the clear….weather still dreary and drizzly

just east of the town of Salmo, we’d spotted….

Wild Turkeys!  a first….of course another case of driving by, turning around, going back…and by then the skitterish birds were moving off ….

but a thrill to see none the less.  There was a flock of 6 or 8 in total…

one last look as they disappear into the forest.

In Castlegar we drove around, searching for a pet food store, and finally found one as Aprils supply of ‘Nutro Senior’ was down to the crumbs in the bottom of the tin stage ~ found a nice big, new pet store there, so April could eat again, and then continued on.

The next climb brought us to Nancy Greene Provincial Park.  The campground here is just a large parking lot, but we had thought we might spend the night there anyway as the alpine habitat would be different than anywhere else we’d been this trip….

BUT the gate to the campground was still locked.  Why pray tell?  There was no snow, the ice was off the lake, there were wildflowers and the trees were leafed out – there were even people camped in the large parking lot at the turnoff into the campground….so why couldn’t the gate be open!!!!

Those plans thwarted, there was no choice but to continue on to Kettle River and hope, being it was now a weekend again, that there would be a spot available….although, at this stage, if we had to, we could have just made a run for home.

Kettle River was pretty full, but there were spots available, so we grabbed one, just down the road from the spot we’d stayed at the beginning of the trip…..you can see everything is a lot more green than it had been then!

The river itself was a lot fuller too….

Some lupine in flower on the bank of the river.  These look like a domestic garden variety that probably seeded here, rather than our native variety.

another look at the swollen river….

Those Columbian Ground Squirrels were still there….

and Mule Deer were back (we hadn’t seen them on our way which was unusual)

Yellow rump Warblers were still here too…now back to the Audubon variety with the yellow, rather than white, under the bill….

and saw the first white ‘Canada Violet’ of the trip.  That evening when the park staff came to collect their fee, they said that someone had just pulled in who had driven straight through from Pincher Creek in Alberta (a long haul!) and it had been ‘snowing like crazy!’  So we were right to have made a run for it when we did!

Tomorrow, we’ll spend a bit more time exploring this park again.

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.