Back to the Dempster, 2011 – Part 2

In real time it is a pretty wet, miserable day, so might as well continue on with the telling of this trip…although as I recall the weather at this point wasn’t a whole lot better!  We left Beaumont P.P. in the morning and headed west, our destination being Terrace B.C. where we planned to visit friends…rain or drizzle most of the way. 

Stopped at Seely Lake P.P. to give the dogs, and us, a chance to stretch our legs….this is such a nice little campground, although tiny, squeezed between the highway and I guess, Seely Lake.  It had been extremely ‘birdy’ when we had stayed here in late May, 2 years before, and was just as ‘birdy’ on this day, the 11th of August…also there wasn’t a soul camped here…

This is one of a family of Northern Flicker that were in the campground…you can see from the mark on the nape of the neck that this family was mixed – Red-shafted and Yellow-shafted.

Continued on to Terrace where we spent the night, leaving in the morning, in the rain….headed back to the Stewart Cassiar Highway…

This is the Skeena River as it runs along the highway…Terrace would be back there as we are looking west in this picture…

Rained the whole day and was still raining when we reached Meziadan Provincial Park in afternoon…after a drive around the fairly large campground, we headed back up into the same campsite we had stayed in 2 years before (yes, we are creatures of habit)

By the time we were set up the rain had slowed enough for me to get out for a wander….there were lots of Robins here….including lots of young ones like the guy above…

This Downy Woodpecker was really working on this tree trunk…

I had wandered down to the lake side and found this spot that was just full of Warblers…

Looked down at my feet and there was a Wilson’s Snipe standing there! 

by this point the rain had stopped and I decided to go back to the camper to get the DSLR camera in hopes of getting photos of what I was pretty sure was a Magnolia Warbler….on the way…saw this Downy Woodpecker and Red-breasted Sapsucker sharing the same tree….I was actually surprised to see the Sapsucker but after checking the field guide, they are expected to be here.

another thing that surprised me were the berries.  I had expected, in fact hoped to find lots of different berries…but the lushness of these Thimbleberries really surprised me.  Back at home Thimbleberries never look like this come berry time.

Red Elderberries were in good supply too – all these berries were at least one of the reasons for all the birds…

Back at the campsite we found these fungi interesting….in fact this was just the start of something we hadn’t expected….we’d hoped for Fall Colours, Berries, and Wildlife (except for squirrels, non existent to this point)…we’d never thought about Fungi but as it turned out that would prove to be one of the most interesting aspects of this trip!  Since returning from this trip we’ve bought ourselves a book on Mushrooms…but I still don’t know what kind this one was….

another matter of interest were the numbers of Rufous Hummingbirds in the Fireweed….before this trip I never would have associated the two together….this was now the 12th of August…I’m giving dates just so you get a sense of when  birds can be expected, even this far north.

This was a young Warbler of some sort…I never did get photos of the Magnolia Warbler…by the time I returned, an RV had pulled into the spot that backed onto this area (the campground was over half full) and since I resent people invading my space when camped…I certainly wasn’t about to do the same…even for a bird I’d never seen before!

That evening Ernie decided to make use of his fishing license since it was the first time he’d bought one in several years….it didn’t do any good…he didn’t catch anything.  Shantz found the whole thing rather amusing anyway…

Should include this…one of a number of young Northwestern Crows in the park…. and just for interest sake, when we had been here in I think late May…there had been lots of Flycatchers of a number of varieties….they obviously arrive early and leave early as there were no flycatchers to be seen this trip…but certainly lots of other species!

Might as well throw this picture in…Ernie testing out his new combination stove and grill and Shantz helping…or something…

Tulips Galore!

Thought I’d take a break from packing the camper in preparation for the next big adventure – to post some pictures from the ‘Seabird Island Tulip Festival’ that we visited this past Saturday.  This is the 5th year of the festival but I could never figure out exactly where it was until this year when the local newspaper did an excellent job of describing exactly where it was located.  The weather could have been better, the day had started out quite nice and sunny but rapidly deteriorated to the point that the odd drop of rain was felt as we were heading back to our car.

I actually took this picture as we were leaving, but this is also the view you see after you have parked your car in the large lot at the Seabird Island Gas Bar.  The parking fee includes a shuttle bus service to and from the tulip fields.  We made use of the service to go, but walked back.

and here we are – rows upon rows of colour!

some brilliant red ones….

these were one of my favourites – it looks like there isn’t anybody else here but that most definitely was not the case!  This festival is obviously very popular – at least judging by the number of tour buses that arrived in a steady stream.

This pink ‘peony’ type was very attractive…

and then there were these yellow ‘peony’ types as well.

Most people seem to prefer the reds….

at this point we were still walking along the bottom of the field…

now we had started up the side….

these Grape Hyacinth or ‘Muscari’ were the only bulbs, other than tulips….

looking across the rows….

and now we are walking along the back of the field…

some purple and white striped ones…

I like this picture of the pink ones….I was trying to get Mount Cheam in the background…

there it is…would have been more effective on a brighter day.

we are almost at the far corner now – there is Mount Cheam again.  You can see these tulip fields grow under power lines….obviously with no adverse effects!

I thought I’d try one more shot with the mountain…

and just to prove you can find birds anywhere – we had been hearing what I was pretty sure were Savannah Sparrows all around the growing fields….sure enough…this one nicely posed on some of the tulip flowers….

this shot shows what the fields look like after the blooms are spent.  Once the blooms are past their prime, a large lawnmower type machine, runs down the rows and lops off the flower heads.  This prevents the plant putting energy into forming seeds, instead the energy goes into the bulb, which is harvested and sold.

In keeping with the tulip theme I just want to throw a few more pictures in.  These were all taken at home before we headed out to the Festival.  These red and white tulips have done better in my little yard than any tulips I’ve ever grown.

This Rhododendron that I inherited when we bought is in full bloom at the moment.  It sits out beside the road in full sun, baking all summer long, rarely getting watered, and each spring it is a sea of flowers….so much for me thinking Rhodo’s have to be in the shade!

and one last picture – this Red-breasted Sapsucker was in my neighbours Lilac bush….and now I’ll say goodbye until some time in June….see you then!