Spring Trip 2010 – Day 20 – Sir Winston Churchill Provincial Park

May 11th was another beautiful day….in fact it was so nice we actually broke out the shorts!

There are number of trails in Sir Winston Churchill Park, and that morning we set out, prepared to walk some of them…we were just about to set out when I spotted….

a Boreal Chickadee…..this is a species I’ve only seen very rarely and had yet to get a picture of….

there was a puddle of water here and he was intent upon a bath….actually there were several birds using this bathing spot….

We had just set off down the trail when Shantz spotted a couple of critters ahead….

Some more of those Snow Shoe Hare…..we saw so many of these guys that day we gave up keeping track!

here is another section of the well defined trail…

In a clear area we came across this White – throated sparrow….this picture clearly shows the ‘white throat’…

Red Squirrels here as well…

and ahead on the trail….Swainson’s Thrush…now on the coast where I come from, we often hear Swainson’s Thrush, but seeing them is another matter…..so I found this very exciting…however as the trip progress’s you’ll find, as we did, that seeing Swainson’s Thrush in these parts is a very common occurrence!

at one point, an Osprey with a fish flew over head…

On the far side of the park, we came across a large flock of mixed Warblers….this is a Palm Warbler…

and this a Yellow rump….Myrtle variety….we also saw Blackpoll and Orange crowned but were unable to get pictures…or at least any that turned out…

This is a view of Lac la Biche from the north side of the park…way out there, that white on the water is a rock that, when we were here before, was covered in Pelicans, Cormorant and nesting Gulls….this time, there was still ice at the far end of it….

this is from the same spot, looking eastward…there is a viewing platform just visible in the trees …

and from the same spot, looking west.  It is possible to walk out right to the tip of the land…..we didn’t make it that far this trip….it was getting hot and we were getting hungry….

In the afternoon I wandered back to the beach area that I had visited the day before….this view is looking directly across to where the town of Lac la Biche is situated…

This pair of Common Merganser were always hanging around in this particular spot….the male on the left and the female on the right ~ unfortunately the sun was definitely in the wrong position….

I found Common Merganser to be quite spooky so it isn’t too often you can get close pictures of them.

A Spotted Sandpiper showed up as well….the first we’d seen on this trip.  Since this is a species that you see absolutely anywhere that there is water….I assume they were just arriving….

Looking east along the beach towards the campground….we figure that it must be the action of the ice that builds up the sand in the way shown here….

looking back the other way….the big black clouds never really amounted to anything….

This Song Sparrow posed nicely for a picture….

There were actually a lot of different Butterflies fluttering around that day….this one is a Mourning Cloak…

saw more of those Franklin Ground Squirrels too…..

and of course those Snow shoe Hare….

this poor guy is really infested with ticks….  What we didn’t get a picture of was the trio of Moose that went crashing right through the campsite while Ernie was sitting outside reading in the sunshine!

During the course of the day, a number of large flocks of geese had flown over, heading north….this was another one that flew over during the evening.

Thus another day drew to a close….now out of water….we’d be moving on tomorrow.

Bird List: Swainson’s Thrush – 5; Yellow rump Warbler – 25; Palm Warbler – 2; Blackpoll Warbler – 1; Orange crowned Warbler – 6; Spotted Sandpiper – 1; Common Merganser – 10; Red Breasted Merganser – 6; Common Goldeneye – 12; Canada Geese – 100; Northern Flicker – 2; Hairy Woodpecker – 2; Magpie – 1; Song Sparrow – 5; Red Breasted Nuthatch – 3; White throated Sparrow – 20; Boreal Chickadee – 5; Tree Swallow – 1; Black Cap Chickadee – 3; Green Wing Teal – 2; Mallard – 6; Downy Woodpecker – 1; Osprey – 2; Common Loon – 1; Ring bill Gulls – 12.

Spring Trip 2010 – Day 17 – Elk Island National Park

In real time, I’m about to head out for a short 4 day trip to our ‘home away from home’ ~ Tunkwa Lake, but thought I’d try to get another posting done before we leave….I told you posting this trip was going to be a slow process!…..

Now, since we found ourselves at Elk Island, we decided we might as well stay for the weekend….

Waking up to weather like this only helped with the decision!  This was the view that greeted us that morning, May 8th, just a few feet from where we were parked.  We decided to ‘stay put’ for the day and just take the various walks in the immediate area….

This path leads from the boat launch parking walk where we were camped…along the lake front, past the beach and day use area (in the middle of the picture) and on to a floating boardwalk….

 This is one of the viewing points along the trail.  You’ll note that cloud did move in, but it never amounted to much and by afternoon the skies were clear once more.  The name of this lake is ‘Astotin’ Lake.

Water levels in the lake were actually very low….this is just past the beach area….you can see there were lots of birds in the area….

Lot’s of these Horned Grebe….

Lesser Yellowlegs along the shoreline…

Here a Solitary Sandpiper with a pair of Blue wing Teal ducks.

 

the path ends at the board walk….here Ernie and Shantz are out on a section that projects right out into the lake…

There were American White Pelicans feeding in the little bay beside the board walk….

Here is a closer look at one of those Pelican…

While I was taking the Pelican pictures, I looked down and there was a Beaver coming right at me!

He then veered to the side, but it was obvious he wanted to go under the portion of the floating walk that I was standing on.

There were also large numbers of these Red-neck Grebe….we’ll come back to them in a bit….this guy is just barely into his breeding colours.

A number of Song Sparrows in the reeds as well….

Walking back, I heard a familiar and unmistakable sound….the calls of Sandhill Cranes!  Looking up we spotted this flock of them flying over head…

and here another one…..another species of birds that must have been held up a bit by the weather…

Circling around and walking back past some picnic shelters….we first heard, and then saw…these Northern Phoebe ~ it is easy to tell how they got their name as their call is ‘Phee –bee’.  We have seen them before in the N.W.T. and Northern Alberta….they are always found hanging about man made structures where they build their nests…..

Which is exactly what these ones were doing.  There is the nest.

back at our end…there were now Pelicans in this bay as well…

never get tired of looking at (or taking pictures of…) these guys!

In the afternoon I went out wandering again, going back over some of the areas we’d done in the morning….

There were quite a few pairs of Common Goldeneye on the lake, and the males didn’t tolerate another one getting too close to ‘his’ female.

A few Ring bill Gull – you can see the black ‘ring’ on the bill…

Back at the floating boardwalk, the Red neck Grebes were busy doing nest construction….here with a mouthful of nesting material…

Add it to the nest….

and go back for more.

Some tapping sounds led me to this Yellow bellied Sapsucker that was busy working on a nesting hole…

and a Black capped Chickadee doing the same..

Here is just a peaceful picture of the lake….you can see the deciduous trees are just barely leafing out..

and I’ll toss in a few more Pelicans…

including this one coming in for a landing….

After supper we did yet another walk, this one the 3 1/2 km ‘Lakeview’ walk at the northern end of the lake…

It goes by this marsh area where there really wasn’t much activity…

here is a view of the lake….

and another, this taken from the area of a viewing platform situated at the furthest point of the trail

part of the trail back wound through this Aspen forest….

here is another viewing platform, this time at the marsh… where we happened to meet another couple, armed with binoculars, cameras AND a Siberian Husky!  Theirs was a gray, blue eyed male.

You’ll note, up to now I haven’t mentioned a flower ~ that is, because until this point I hadn’t seen a flower ~ this Coltsfoot, growing beside the marsh in the above picture…was the first flower seen.

So ended a long but delightful day….and it ended in spectacular fashion as I’ll share these sunset shots with you.

Nice – note the Pelicans…

Nicer…

Spectacular!  This one is now my desktop!

Bird List:  White Throated Sparrow – 1; American White Pelican – 11; Red neck Grebe – 12; Common Loon – 1; Northern Phoebe – 6; Horned Grebe – 7; Canada Geese – 12; Common Goldeneye – 6; Mallard – 16; Lesser Yellowlegs Sandpiper – 1; Blue Jay – 1; American Crow – 14; Robin – 2; Blue Wing Teal – 4; Ring bill Gull – 4; Solitary Sandpiper – 2; American Coot – 8; Sandhill Crane – 60; Song Sparrows – 3; Red wing Blackbird – 10; Bufflehead – 2; Yellow bellied Sapsucker – 3; Yellow rump Warbler – 6; Great Blue Heron – 3; Black Cap Chickadee – 3; Killdeer – 1; Merlin – 1; Barrows’ Goldeneye – 2; Hairy Woodpecker – 1; Ruffed Grouse – 1; Double crested Cormorant – 5; Tree swallow – 1.