Tunkwa Lake PP – July 3rd

In real time it is the 27th of October and it is an absolutely beautiful day.  I’ve walked and walked because it just seems too nice to be inside….but I guess I’m pretty much ‘walked out’ so will finish up our Canada Day long weekend to Tunkwa Lake.

I feel that I have to reiterate – this was a long weekend!  Yet look at how quiet the campground is!  Not that I’m complaining – that is just the way we like it!!  What had surprised us was how many people left on the Saturday of the long weekend…instead of getting busier like one would expect, it actually got quieter.

This would be our last full day here as well…not by choice…but ‘work’ beckoned…  This last day was spent just wandering around and getting bird shots….so if birds aren’t your thing, you probably won’t be too interested in the rest of this posting.

Here is one of the families of Barrow’s Goldeneye

an American Coot…

a Marsh Wren, heading home with a mouthful of dinner for some hungry fledglings…

fluffed up Killdeer….probably had just finished a dust bath..

a female Yellow Headed Blackbird…

another busy parent….this one a Savannah Sparrow

More Goldeneye ducklings….can’t help it, I love those little guys!

Can’t forget the Yellow bellied Marmots!

 we’ll throw in a bit of scenery….this being the small bay at the north end of the lake…

and the spillway that leads from it down to Leighton Lake.

back in the campground a hungry fledgling Brewer’s Blackbird being fed by mom…

 

back to that spillway where it falls into Leighton Lake, this male Barrow’s Goldeneye was lingering…he is just starting to molt out of his breeding plumage…

Golden eye's are diving ducks….first you see him….then you don’t!

and speaking of seeing….notice the Osprey perched up in the dead pine tree over the spillway…

Here is a better look…

and another.

let us not forget the Mallard ducklings…not quite the same level of ‘cute’ ~ but close.

So let’s take a final look at ‘green’ Tunkwa…..

and then late evening …..we will be back here a couple more times before the year is over.

Cheam Wetlands Regional Park

We don’t often go over to Cheam Wetlands for the simple reason that although it is quite near to where we live, dogs aren’t allowed.  There is a reason for this of course as it is a preserve for birds but when you have dogs that like to go for walks too, you tend to find other places where dogs and birds can co-mingle.

However, last Sunday we decided to walk the dogs elsewhere first and then go to the wetlands to see what was happening.  This area must be a little higher in elevation as it always seems to be just a little behind the general area in terms of leafing out.

Here is the first view you get from the parking lot, of the lake area. 

walking along the shoreline, heading towards the viewing platform…

and here is the view, looking out from the viewing platform, with the snow capped mountains forming a backdrop.  One of those waterfalls would be Bridal Falls.

There were a couple of Tree Swallows flying around one of the nesting boxes….very shortly their numbers will increase dramatically…

there were also a number of Canada Geese, most of which were paired up but not quite at the nesting stage yet, although definitely staking out territory!  We could spot a lock raft of ducks at the far end of the lake but couldn’t ID them.

this sleepy pair of Hooded Mergansers, a skittish pair of Wood Ducks and about a dozen Ring Neck Ducks were the only other waterfowl we saw.

as we headed back and down towards the ‘Loop Trail’

I could hear, coming from this reed bed, the unmistakable ‘buzzy’ call of the Marsh Wren…

and there he was!  In fact there were a number of them calling from various spots in the reeds.  These guys are one of the earliest returning ‘migrants’.  The rest of the walk was fairly uneventful apart from what seemed like dozens of Black Cap Chickadees that all seemed to be paired up.

this quiet pond located along the walk had a pair of Canada Geese at the far end, along with a pair of Mallards.  Not quite the hot bed of bird activity there will be as spring progress’s.  Perhaps we’ll have to try to make another visit in a few weeks time.