Tunkwa Lake trip – June 11, 2011 – Part 1

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.

Tunkwa Lake Provincial Park – July 1st to 4th 2010

Wandering Willie – this is for you – before getting on with the spring trip postings….thought I’d post some of the pictures from our long weekend trip to Tunkwa Lake….they won’t be in any particular order….but I will put all the bird ones at the end so anyone who really couldn’t care less about the birds won’t have to suffer through them….

The best way to describe Tunkwa that weekend was ‘green’ – I don’t know that I’ve ever seen Tunkwa so ‘green’  especially by July!

The level of the water in the lake was also the highest I’ve seen it for a long time….in fact all of the lakes along the route (up Mamet Lake Road) were full to the brim and even over flowing….which is a very good thing because for too many years they have been getting dryer and dryer….

The pond at the top of the spillway down into Leighton….

Canada Geese in the spillway pond….

Green over at Leighton too….when I get to the pictures from my other camera there will be some more of the area behind Leighton.

The cool wet weather that led to all the ‘green’ has also produced an incredible array of wildflowers….some of which I don’t ever recall seeing here before….of course the landscape here is changing constantly as it reverts back to grasslands from forest….courtesy of the pine beetle… the above picture was taken from the top row of the campground…

Got down to ground level to get these pictures….I think these yellow daisies must be ‘Meadow Arnica’ and I really don’t recall seeing them here before….maybe I’ve just never been at the right time for them to be in flower, because there are sure lots of them now!.

The area up along the back fence was all wildflowers as well….more of the Arnica, the cream colored ‘Death Camas’, Goats beard, Field Chickweed, and Larkspur to name just a few…

Wild Roses are really liking this more ‘open’ Tunkwa and were just coming into full flower….of course their perfume is heavenly!

 

Here is a wild rose close up….

Here is a view of the campground over at Leighton, through wildflowers that I don’t know the name of and have yet to look up…   Leighton was very busy over that weekend, while Tunkwa was just pleasantly occupied but not over run…

String of Canada Geese on the lake….most of them ‘teenagers’ and all the geese seemed to be in their flightless molt stage so being quiet and staying out of trouble until they can fly again….

Here is just some more ‘green’ – very, very, ‘green’ – that is now probably changing, we were there from the 1st to the 4th and it was pretty much sweatshirts and fleece weather, but by the 6th summer decided to arrive in British Columbia with a vengeance, so now, with temperatures no doubt in the mid to high 30’s the area will be drying out and turning it’s usual golden colour pretty quickly!

Looking at the bluff and the spit – the spit appears deserted but it wasn’t…by evening of the 1st it was pretty well occupied ~ but the surprising thing was that several of them left again on the 3rd which was a Saturday…

I’m told the Marmot population increased dramatically with this years crop of youngsters…if you look at the base of this pit toilet there are 2 youngsters, a 3rd had dived underneath…

This pair were taking it easy down on the bluff….

Now we’ll get into bird pictures…

Savannah Sparrows were everywhere, lot’s of youngsters as well.  We happened to be camped by one of the few groves of green trees left and there was constant bird activity in there….my favorite site was occupied and they stayed the whole weekend, in fact appeared to be there for even longer….so we settled for the same site we had stayed at, at Easter….

Lot’s of Killdeer constantly carrying on trying to lead everyone away from either nests or youngsters – this pair were set up down at the turn around by the spill way.  I caught sight of fledglings a number of times but they always ‘obeyed’ mom and hid in the reeds…

From the racket coming from the reeds there were obviously lots of nests with young Yellow headed Blackbirds in them….saw quite a few females, like this one, busy packing food….

Speaking of packing food to kids….this Savannah Sparrow has a mouthful…

There were a number of families of Barrow’s Goldeneye’s on both Tunkwa and Leighton…these little guys were in the inlet between the bluff and the spit….

This male Barrow’s Goldeneye was on Leighton….he still retains some of his breeding colour but it was going fast….

While I was taking pictures of the Goldeneye…an Osprey landed in this dead pine over the spillway from Tunkwa to Leighton….there was lots of water coming down and fish were obviously attracted to the area because this Osprey perched here quite often….unfortunately this picture really emphasis’s the difference between the vibrant ‘green’ and the poor dead pines….those of us who love the place have learned to look past the ‘dead’…

 

There is a close up of that Osprey on his perch…

had to throw in a picture of a couple of the Canada Geese, they are just so photogenic…

There were a number of Mallard families too, these ones are pretty young and were down by the boat launch…

this female was in the same spot….obviously hoping for a handout…

  

I was standing on the bluff looking down when I took this picture….there is a female Barrow’s Goldeneye on the right (in fact I think the ‘mom’ of those babies) and the guy standing is a male Lesser Scaup.  Scaup were the most numerous species of duck we saw.  These guys totally confuse me.  This male is no longer in breeding colour…..yet they were still all ‘paired up’ and I’ve never seen Scaup ducklings here until late July or early August…

Not a bird….but the end of this entry….we never really got a sunset that trip….this was the best that happened and it was on the Saturday night….Sunday morning we woke up to rain and that was what it was doing when we left.

Tunkwa P.P. – Easter 2010 – April 2

For most people the camping season starts with the May long weekend – for us, it starts at Easter – and as you no doubt know by now, Tunkwa Provincial Park is our place of choice.  Despite the fact that is ‘is still winter up there’, with this being at least our 3rd Easter trip, we know that really isn’t the case, besides, in just 3 weeks we’ll be setting out to parts unknown and want to make sure that everything in the camper is working as it should.

To that end we pulled out of here at 9 am on the 2nd of April, heading to Hope for fuel and coffee.  With the mountaintops disappearing in a haze of snow, we elected to take the longer, but lower route, #1 through the Fraser Canyon to Spences Bridge then highway 8 to Mamette Lake Road.  Weather was cloudy most of the route with light snow starting part way up Mamette Lake.  We were surprised to see the lake itself (Mamette Lake that is) to be completely ice free.

By the time we reached Logan Lake, we were talking more like blizzard conditions, although the roads were fine with the temperature hovering at about 2 above.  Pulled into Tunkwa at 1:30 in the afternoon, to find ourselves completely alone in the campground.

While Ernie got us set up in this most coveted spot – with a view of the lake but sheltered by trees and a bluff from the incessant winds, Shantz was so excited she was beside herself!  Here she was at Tunkwa and it was snowing!!!

I took April and wandered down to get this shot of the rapidly turning white ground….with the snow coming in sideways April was soon plastered along one side and decided she’d had enough of that nonsense!  By now the camper was set up and the furnace was on.

There were lots of geese wandering about grazing on the shoots of new green grass that really was there under the snow….

here is a more distant shot….those black dots are geese…While we sat in the warmth of the camper, a Travel Trailer pulled in…stopped in shock and looked at ‘our spot’, went and sat across the road for a bit and then left.  I said we had the ‘coveted’ spot, but there are over 200 others….maybe they went over to the campsite at Leighton as we could see several units over there…as it was, we remained the only campers the entire weekend although a number of people drove in and went for walks and had picnics…. 

by late afternoon the snow had let up and quickly started to disappear.  We ventured out for a walk….

there were a number of Dark-eyed Junco in the bushes around the spill way between Tunkwa Lake and Leighton Lake.

and here is a look at Leighton Lake….both lakes were still ice covered although thawing a bit around the edges.

here is the view from the spillway….

there were a few Killdeer running around, this was one of a pair at the edge of the lake…

More geese on the ice…

 by evening the sky had cleared and the sun came out…here is the bluff just across from our campsite…

and with the sunshine came Robins….lots and lots of Robins….some Junco’s as well…

and the Killdeer were wandering all over in the evening sunshine…

another look at the little bay…you can see the thawed out sections along the shore..

and to finish the evening, this adult Bald Eagle landed in the tree in the middle of the picture just above…you can just see the dot…

At this point it was time to retire to the camper and fire up the generator as the temperature was dipping below the freezing mark.