Spring Trip 2012 – Tunkwa Lake P.P. – Part 2

Woke up on the morning of the 24th to see our only neighbour pulling out….not quite believing our good luck we set about enjoying the day.  After a leisurely breakfast we headed out for a walk over to ….

Leighton Lake – notice the nets in the corner there….fisheries had the spillway between Tunkwa and Leighton netted off…

There is now lots and lots of dead fall where ever you get away from the campground itself.  All those pine beetle killed trees are decaying at the bottom and being blown down but have been allowed to stay where they fall with only the immediate trail cleared…the first open spot you come to was alive with Yellow-rump Warblers…as was most of the park!

this gives a slight indication ….the trail is actually the grassy area…and there is another warbler…

in the distance we noticed a lot of swallow activity over the lake – we’d noticed this the previous evening over Tunkwa lake as well…

then we noticed, up ahead, one of those dead pine trees, absolutely alive with Swallows….

there is a close up of just one small section of the tree – mainly a mix of Tree Swallows and Cliff Swallows although I think there were a few Northern Rough-wing among them as well…

it was an amazing sight….any stumps or dead falls in the area were decorated with swallows!

in not quite the same numbers and in not quite the same location, other trees were decorated with Chipping Sparrows..

there is a more detailed look at one of the Chipping Sparrows…

back at Tunkwa lake it was a calm, but cool and over cast morning…

The Yellow-headed Blackbirds were there – it looks to me that some of them weren’t even in full breeding colour yet, or maybe this is just one of last years youngsters and not quite in adult plumage..

There were a number of Bald Eagles around…this fellow in first year plumage, must have been from last year, he was often flying with or near the adults, then other times he was completely on his own….it seems early for a bird from this year to be out on its own, and at one point we saw an adult flying with what appeared to be nesting material – although it seems late for eagles to just be nest building…

of course there were also Osprey and they obviously had youngsters in a nest as they were constantly fishing and then heading off in the same direction…. and I think at this stage I’ll upload this and then continue the day on in part 3…

Spring Trip 2012 – Manning Park part 3

We walked down through the snowy ‘dog leg’ a number of times..

walking down as far as the bridge…at one point Ernie attempted to walk the trail but there was just still too much snow..this area was alive with birds, mainly Robins, Junco, saw some Varied Thrush and

lots of those Gold-crowned Kinglets going over the trees.  Chestnut-backed Chickadees were down here too…

and in the ‘critter’ department – this is where the Douglas Squirrels were hanging out…

back up in the campground proper….were more of those Columbian Ground Squirrels…

along with the inevitable Chipmunks..

Chipping Sparrows had to be the predominant species – little flocks of them would be seen moving through the low bushes and over the ground…

here is another one…

but not to be outdone were the Warblers….here a Yellow-rump – of which there were lots…

and Wilson’s Warblers – can’t tell you how much time I spent chasing these little guys through the bushes until I was finally rewarded with this shot!

and then, oh joy!  Townsend’s Warblers – this is a species I really needed some decent shots of – and now I have them!

here is another one…

members of the woodpecker family were around but elusive….there were Northern Flicker, a pair of Sapsucker flew in front of us as we had driven into the campground – never to be seen again, and a pair of Pileated were obviously nesting somewhere – but this was as good as we got…still it was pretty successful bird wise – next we head to a park we hadn’t stayed at for a number of years – that being Kentucky/Allyene – next posting…

Spring Trip 2012 – Manning Park part 3

We walked down through the snowy ‘dog leg’ a number of times..

walking down as far as the bridge…at one point Ernie attempted to walk the trail but there was just still too much snow..this area was alive with birds, mainly Robins, Junco, saw some Varied Thrush and

lots of those Gold-crowned Kinglets going over the trees.  Chestnut-backed Chickadees were down here too…

and in the ‘critter’ department – this is where the Douglas Squirrels were hanging out…

back up in the campground proper….were more of those Columbian Ground Squirrels…

along with the inevitable Chipmunks..

Chipping Sparrows had to be the predominant species – little flocks of them would be seen moving through the low bushes and over the ground…

here is another one…

but not to be outdone were the Warblers….here a Yellow-rump – of which there were lots…

and Wilson’s Warblers – can’t tell you how much time I spent chasing these little guys through the bushes until I was finally rewarded with this shot!

and then, oh joy!  Townsend’s Warblers – this is a species I really needed some decent shots of – and now I have them!

here is another one…

members of the woodpecker family were around but elusive….there were Northern Flicker, a pair of Sapsucker flew in front of us as we had driven into the campground – never to be seen again, and a pair of Pileated were obviously nesting somewhere – but this was as good as we got…still it was pretty successful bird wise – next we head to a park we hadn’t stayed at for a number of years – that being Kentucky/Allyene – next posting…

Spring Trip 2012 – Manning Park part 3

We walked down through the snowy ‘dog leg’ a number of times..

walking down as far as the bridge…at one point Ernie attempted to walk the trail but there was just still too much snow..this area was alive with birds, mainly Robins, Junco, saw some Varied Thrush and

lots of those Gold-crowned Kinglets going over the trees.  Chestnut-backed Chickadees were down here too…

and in the ‘critter’ department – this is where the Douglas Squirrels were hanging out…

back up in the campground proper….were more of those Columbian Ground Squirrels…

along with the inevitable Chipmunks..

Chipping Sparrows had to be the predominant species – little flocks of them would be seen moving through the low bushes and over the ground…

here is another one…

but not to be outdone were the Warblers….here a Yellow-rump – of which there were lots…

and Wilson’s Warblers – can’t tell you how much time I spent chasing these little guys through the bushes until I was finally rewarded with this shot!

and then, oh joy!  Townsend’s Warblers – this is a species I really needed some decent shots of – and now I have them!

here is another one…

members of the woodpecker family were around but elusive….there were Northern Flicker, a pair of Sapsucker flew in front of us as we had driven into the campground – never to be seen again, and a pair of Pileated were obviously nesting somewhere – but this was as good as we got…still it was pretty successful bird wise – next we head to a park we hadn’t stayed at for a number of years – that being Kentucky/Allyene – next posting…

Lac la Jeune – May long weekend, 2011

Since in real time it is another cool, gray, showery day, decided I should do some more ‘catch up’ so back we go to our trip to Lac la Jeune Provincial Park, on the May long weekend.

We hadn’t been to Lac la Jeune for probably at least 12 years.  Last time we’d camped there it had still been a forested campground…but that was before the pine beetle and the subsequent ‘clear cutting’ of the park…

We arrived there about 8:30 in the evening and this is what it now looks like.  The Aspens are taking over and when they leaf out it would look a lot greener than it did that day.  It was barely spring up there at this elevation – at least this year of never ending winter!

Fishing is the primary reason people go to this lake.  This picture was taken from the boat launch area..

for those without a boat, this long float has been built so people can get out into the lake to fish, or take pictures or just look for wildlife..

there is a path that runs along the lakeshore, this picture is taken from that path, looking back…these pictures were taken at different times, with different cameras…which is why the weather is better in some than in others!

This one should probably have gone before the above…this is the view from the end of the float…there is a grassy picnic area, and then the lakeshore path starts…(no dogs in the picnic area)

this is pretty much where the path ends…there are private cabins from this area onward. 

Several pairs of Barrow’s Goldeneye were along the shoreline….and a number of Common Loons out on the lake..

Some more of those Barrow’s Goldeneye.

The Saturday afternoon was quite pleasant…as I recall a Canuck’s hockey game was on and cheers could be heard throughout the campground whenever a goal was scored….our campsite was up on the back row…this Mule Deer ventured out on the hillside on the opposite side of the road…I put the 36 x optical zoom on my new Nikon Coolpix camera, to good use…

other critters seen from the campsite were Yellow rump Warbler….this one being a female..

Chipping Sparrow – you can see the vegetation is just beginning….my bets were that the snow hadn’t melted that long ago..

Mountain Chickadee…

and, every afternoon a flock of a dozen or so Western Tanagers would move through the area.

I watched this American Crow gathering nesting material…

and the day ended with an impressive, although not very scenic, sunset (you can see the road right there behind the campground).

Next day we ventured up the trails to ‘Stake Lake’ – that isn’t Stake Lake, that is Lac la Jeune as seen from the access road…

this is the road that breaks into all sorts of cross country ski trails so you can walk as far as you care to go up in this area…

More birds up here…this Dark Eyed Junco…those bare Aspen trees had been full of Tree Sparrows – looked for Mountain Bluebirds but didn’t see any which seemed strange…

Red-naped Sapsucker and lot’s of Flickers, Townsend’s Solitaire, Robin, Swainson’s Thrush, etc. that we didn’t get pictures of.

and here is Stake Lake….could see a pair of loons in the distance, as well as a number of unidentified ducks..

down closer to the lake there were all sorts of Marsh Wren and various Warblers, especially Common Yellowthroat – none of which were going to co-operate for pictures…

on the return trip, took pictures of the only ‘wildflower’ that was actually in flower…

this Coltsfoot.

and one last look at the lake itself from a hill over looking the road…the dots on the lake, closest to the shore, are a pair of loons, those further out are boats full of patient fishermen.

In the afternoon I took another walk along the lake shore and have to show this serious of photos…

This Yellow rump warbler was on the ground…at first I thought it was sick or injured…but no, look closely and there is a pretty big bug there as well…

here it has one of the bugs wings in it’s mouth…

and finally, the whole darn thing!!