Easter 2011

In real time, although it is now the 4th official day of summer, it is another cool, wet day….so seems a good time to finish my catching up by reporting on our first trip of the season, which, as usual, was at Easter.

Traditionally, we like to head to Tunkwa Lake P.P. on this weekend even though it isn’t ‘officially’ open, but given the long colder and wetter than normal winter we suspected that the campground at Tunkwa was probably still snow bound.  So, we decided to head over the Hope Princeton Hwy. towards the Okanagan….as we went through Manning Park…3 feet of snow still covered the campgrounds there..

 

So continued on, decided to check out the provincial park campground on Vaseux Lake and were very lucky to get the last unoccupied spot on the lake….

Not only that, but it was actually sunny and warm enough to sit outside!! What a treat!!!

Just spent the afternoon sitting in the sun and soaking up the vitamin D!  and of course taking pictures of any birds that wandered by….like this White Crowned Sparrow – one of several…

or this male California Quail…

the pair of Black-capped Chickadees that were busy inspecting nesting cavities…

or one of a number of Red-breasted Nuthatch…this one all fluffed up and air drying after a bath…

there was a large raft of American Coots out on the lake…

and this pair of Mallards which hung about just off shore – talk about the height of laziness as this female stretched her neck for a drink…they must have been enjoying the warmth as much as we were!

here is a peaceful evening scene of the lake, looking south.

Next morning we set off up the McIntyre Creek road, just opposite the campground…this is a view from part way up the hillside – another sunny warm day.

a female Mountain Bluebird was spotted…

there were a few of the very early wildflowers, like this Sagebrush Buttercup

and these Shooting Stars….both of these pictures taken by Ernie.

 

heading back down towards the campground…

we were amazed to spot these Big Horn Sheep – this area is a preserve for Big Horn Sheep but we’ve never actually seen any here before…

it was astounding how they moved up the cliff face…

and onto the top….

this small herd remained up on the hillside all afternoon…here Ernie is looking at them with the spotting scope…

using a tripod for support I zoomed in from the same location using both the digital as well as the optical zoom on my Canon Power shot camera to get this shot….

The next day, being Easter Sunday, we moved on to the campground at Okanagan Falls Provincial Park as we were invited for Easter dinner at nearby relatives….this is the Okanagan River as it runs behind the campground. 

Spring Trip 2010 - Day 2 - Okanagan, B.C.

April 23rd dawned bright and sunny. The plan for today was to visit with relatives not too far up the road, but we'd take a sort of 'round about' route to get there, in order to get in a bit of birding..... This was the scene out of the campers door that morning......yesterday's wind had disappeared, the lake was like glass. You can see one of the over friendly Mallard ducks sitting out there at the edge.

There were a number of these Red Head Ducks out on the lake. Red Head's aren't seen as frequently as a lot of duck species - at least in the places we frequent - so took advantage of a chance to get some photos.....

Looking towards the northern end of the lake, you can see a fairly large raft of American Coots. By the way, you can click on these pictures to enlarge them, then use your 'back' button to return to normal size

When I took the garbage to the containers, this Black-billed Magpie was perched just at the entrance to the campground. Even though these are big birds, they are difficult to get decent pictures of. I think this is one of the best I have.

Once we'd packed up we drove the short distance up the highway to the parking lot for the boardwalk trail. There wasn't a lot of bird activity along it that morning. Quite a few Black Cap Chickadees, a few Yellow Rump Warblers......

but the most active were this pair of Song Sparrows. I thought this a kind of neat picture with the one in front and the blurred partner in the background.

The Mahonia Shrub was in full flower.....

as were the Arrow leafed Balsam Root. We'll be seeing this plant off and on for the next 6 weeks - I never tire of it, it's bright sunny flowers are a most welcome spring sight.

Next we turned back and headed up McIntyre Creek Road, the same one we had walked part way up the night before. We had just passed the spot where all the White Crowned Sparrows were when I shouted Stop! Stop!

There, right beside the road, was a Chukar! The first I'd ever seen. Chukar aren't a native species, but they are a naturalized species and quite common in the Okanagan - at least they are supposed to be quite common - but like I said - these (there turned out to be 3 of them) were the first I'd ever seen.....

They ended up crossing the road and wandering off into the bush where we lost sight of them.

Continued on a bit further where we could stop and look out over the lake.....there were these interesting little wildflowers growing there, I'm afraid I have no idea what they were.....

and lots more of this Creeping Phlox (yesterday I said it was a Dianthus and not a Phlox - wrong - it is a Phlox)

Here is a view of Vaseux Lake from the spot we were parked. This is looking south towards Oliver, B.C., I had just taken this shot when I turned around and there, on a fence post......

was a Western Bluebird!!! I have seen Western Bluebirds before but not for a number of years.

There were, in fact a pair of them, busy gathering nesting materials as this was right at the edge of ranch.....The male deserves another look. It is too bad the sun wasn't positioned quite right in the sky so his head is in shadow....

Then, as if the Western Bluebirds weren't enough, there was .......

a Lewis's Woodpecker! Now I've seen Lewis's Woodpecker up this road before, in fact the last few years they seem to be popping up all over. We even had one here in the neighbourhood for a few days last fall - but they aren't a common sighting as woodpeckers go.

After all that excitement, we drove the rest of the road which twists and climbs up through a ranch, only to dead end with a bunch of Private property signs at the end, so turned around and back to the highway. Down to the town of Oliver and then back northwards via White Lake Road.

The B.C. Naturetrust (whom we are supporters of) own a large piece of property up this road, so we stopped there for lunch and then took a walk....

There were lots of Western Bluebird here (this is the only place I had ever seen them before). There is a male.....you can see they like perching on fence posts....they nest in the nesting boxes that you can see in the photo prior to this one.

Here is a female, a 'softer' coloured version of the male....

The only other critter of note, that day, were these Yellow-bellied Marmots.

Here is a closer look at one of them. I think, if memory serves, that these were the only Marmots we saw on this particular trip - there fore deserving of mention.

So we leave the arid Okanagan - I threw this photo in because of the yellow flowers of the Western Wild Parsley - we'll be running into this flower, and some of it's cousin's over the next while.

Spring Trip 2010 - Day 1 - Vaseux Lake, B.C.

It seemed like a logical plan for a trip. Leave early in the season, travel across the southernmost parts of the provinces, heading east, see how far you get, and then, at some point swing north and come home across the northern parts of the provinces. The objective was to have a sort of perpetual spring. We wanted to visit some of our favourite places, such as Writing on Stone, to see what sort of wildflowers were out, but also to check out some new places, Cypress Hills and Grasslands National Park, both in Saskatchewan being the prime objectives.

We accomplished some of our aims - I'd wanted to see Prairie Crocus in flower and boy! did I see Prairie Crocus!!! but Mother Nature grabbed hold of this trip and so all didn't go exactly as planned!
So lets get started.....

We pulled out of our gates just before 9 am on April 22nd, heading through the lush upper Fraser Valley where the Dogwoods and Thimbleberry Shrubs were in full flower. A quick stop in Hope B.C., for fuel for both the truck and us (Tim Horton's Coffee)....and onto #3 - the Crowsnest Highway, heading east. A stop at the lodge in Manning Park where the snow was gone, the grass just showing the slightest hint of green......

There were Robin's galore, and the ground squirrels were out and active. Now Ground Squirrels are going to play a large part in this blog in the future so I need to identify them. I think this is a 'Columbian' Ground squirrel but I will have to verify that in the future.

On the road again, a stop at the Subway in Princeton for lunch and on to Vaseux Lake Provincial Park Campground in the sunny Okanagan. We chose this particular campground only because we had never stayed there before. It is a tiny campground, only 12 sites, squeezed in between Vaseux Lake and the highway and is usually full. Being so early in the season, we found it to only be half full, so were able to find a nice spot on the lake (most of the sites are on the lake). Fee was $16.

This was the view from our campsite, looking north towards Okanagan Falls. There is a board walk and viewing tower situated at the north end of the lake. It was a beautiful sunny day, although with a brisk wind blowing.

From the same spot, this is looking south towards Oliver, B.C.

and here is camp. It was certainly warm enough to sit outside, in fact one of those days where it is a little too hot in the sun but a little on the cool side, thanks to the wind, in the shade. You can see that even April was out there enjoying the sunshine.

Vaseux Lake is an important bird area or IBA and so, of course there were birds. I will do a list at the end of the posting so that you who aren't all that interested can just ignore... The above shows a Magpie nest that was situated in trees at the entrance to our site. I don't think it was occupied yet, but it was being checked out. Magpie nests have at least two openings so that there is an escape out the 'back door' if needed.

Being the Okanagan, there were, of course, a few California Quail wandering about. This is the only Quail picture I got the whole trip.....it is a female....

After supper we wanted to go for a walk. We had thought we could go to the boardwalk, but it was a bit further away than we'd thought and the only route was along the very narrow shoulder of the very busy highway, so instead we elected to walk up McIntyre Creek Road which took off to the right just past the most northern entrance to the campground.

Just at the start of the road there was a brushy area that was absolutely alive with White Crowned Sparrows......

Here is a closer look at one of them.

and here is the first of many wildflower pictures to come....I think this is a type of Dianthus rather than a Phlox.....

This is the terrain they are found in, growing amongst the sagebrush.....

the sun was getting low in the sky at this point, so we started back down the hill (which was steeper than this picture suggests).

we even had a sunset.... to bring the first night on the road to a close.

Bird List: Am. Coots - 200+ on the lake; Brewer's Blackbirds - 6; Meadowlark - at least 3 on the hillside; Swallows or Swifts - lots but couldn't make out the type; Mallard - 1 pair of 'moochers'; Red Head Ducks - at least 30 on the lake; Lesser Scaup - 20 or so; Ring Neck Ducks - 10 or so; Northern Flicker - 1; Canada Geese - 4; Trumpeter Swans - 2; Magpie - 2; Red Breasted Merganser -1 - think this might be unusual; California Quail - 3; Black Cap Chickadee - 2; Starling - 3; Red Breasted Nuthatch - 2; Yellow Rump Warbler - 1; White Crowned Sparrow - 18 at least; White Gyrfalcon - 1; Bald Eagle - 1; Rock Pigeon - 2; and some gulls or terns so far off we couldn't tell for sure.