Spring Trip 2010 – Day 14 – Dinosaur Provincial Park

OK folks, I’m back on the desktop, back using the Live Writer program so please bear with me while I remember how to use it!

Now, back to May 5th….where we woke up to ~ you guessed it ~ SNOW

at least somebody was happy about it!

at this point, I must admit, we found it a bit novel.   It was now day 14 of our trip ~ we’d been on the road for two weeks and hadn’t gotten anywhere we’d planned to go ~ but might as well make the most of it…so we bundled up and set off for a morning walk.  At least the wind had died.

 

 

 

This robin was one of many that didn’t look too thrilled……

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and there were lots of White-crowned and White-throated Sparrows sheltering under the picnic table….you can see the snow was continuing as we set out…..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our destination was the Badlands Trail ~ I hoped to find some Prairie Crocus in the snow.

 

 

 

 

 

We’re looking back now at the 3 km long circle road that runs through the badlands

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Prairie Crocus up here were buried but we did find some of that Owl Clover

Here is Ernie and Shantz up on top ~ we didn’t risk going any further from this point as it involved a steep downhill….a little risky in these conditions….  headed back to the road and continued on as Ernie had seen a lot of Prairie Crocus further up….hadn’t gone too far when I spotted something at the side of the road…..

That’s me…….

and this is what I had spotted ~ a Western Meadowlark….

Worked my way closer…..

and closer….to get some of the best pictures I’m ever likely to get!

Pictures like that made the whole thing worthwhile!  Oh, and far as Prairie Crocus went…..

Well we did find a few, but between the wind and rain of the day before, and then the snow, the poor things were pretty battered and bruised!

 I’ll throw this one in, just because I like it….and we’ll continue on…..

While we’re looking at things in the snow….thought I’d show this one Ernie took while on the walk, of a Cactus in the snow…

Back in the campground, remember a few posts ago I mentioned to keep in mind the level of Sandhill Creek?  well this is why….look at it’s level now!  You’ll notice that the snow is disappearing as the day goes on although it did continue to come down ……the radio station we were listening to had a name for it ‘Snizzle’  half snow/half drizzle!

There was actually a lot of bird activity….here is one of the Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers…..

and a closer look at one of the White-throated Sparrows….

Since it was obvious we were going to be spending another night here, we elected to move sites ~ again! and this time decided to splurge on a powered site ($27 per night as opposed to $21)

So here we are, in the late afternoon, set up in the newest spot ~ we had the campground completely to ourselves as even the campground hosts, who must live close by, had left their rig but vacated the park and the tenters had finally given into the elements as well….this spot was right beside where I’d seen the rabbit.

Shantz was happy in the new spot as she had a good view all round….although I think she missed her beaver….

took a walk down to the river after supper…..the ‘Snizzle’ continued…

I took this picture of a Saskatoon Shrub in full flower….just to prove that it really was spring!

The deer also showed up again in the evening….

here is a closer look at one of the deer…..and so ended day 14.

Bird List:  White-crowned Sparrow – 8; Starlings – 6; Spotted Sandpiper – 1; Killdeer – 2; Tree Swallow – 1; Ring neck Pheasant – 3; White throated Sparrow – 8; Northern Flicker – 6; Western Meadowlark – 5; House Sparrow – 5; Brewer’s Blackbird – 6; Canada Goose – 7; Black cap Chickadee – 1; Hairy Woodpecker – 1; Black billed Magpie – 7; American Kestrel – 1; American white Pelican – 21; Mallard – 2; Northern Pintail – 1; Yellow rump Warbler – 2; Raven – 1; Yellow bellied Sapsucker – 4; Mourning Dove – 2.

N. W. T. Trip 2005 – Northern Alberta

We now left the North West Territories and headed south on the Mackenzie Highway in northern Alberta

The country side was very flat, agricultural land and we were very impressed with how attractive and well looked after the various farms were.

 

this sign was located in one of the ‘pull outs’ and explained about the origion of the highway.

We stopped that day at Twin Lakes Campground (I wonder how many ‘Twin Lakes’ there are….remember we stayed at ‘Twin Lakes’ in the Yukon during our June 2009 trip)

This was one of the ‘Twin’ Lakes….I’m not sure where the other one was.  We attempted to walk the trail that was supposed to be there, but this campground was not of the high standard we have since learned that most Alberta Campgrounds are….the supposed trail was virtually impassable…

Ernie was impressed with the ambition of the Beaver that was working on felling this large Poplar Tree!

and I was enchanted with these white Arum…at least I assume they are an Arum….they look like they could be related to our Skunk Cabbage…but there was no smell.

Next day we were back on the road, once more, heading south…

Pulled into a beautiful park, called ‘Peace Park’….there was a large ‘cultivated’ picnic area, playground etc., but also a campsite that appeared to be very ‘birdie’ – would have like to spent the night but Dave was having brake problems so we needed to continue on to the first big city….Grande Prairie, where we headed to Saskatoon Island Provincial Park.  Those of you who follow this blog will remember that we ended up at that park at the end of our Yukon trip last year and I commented on what a wonderful park it is….  2005 was our first visit and it took us that long to get back to it….we still haven’t made it back to the above ‘Peace Park.’

Here is a view of the lake….

There was actually a Trumpeter Swan family there that time, they hugged the far shore but we did get to see the young cygnets….in fact the only time to date that I have seen really young ones.

This was the first time we’d ever seen these Clay coloured Sparrows….which we now know are found all over the province!

my first Baltimore Oriole as well….

not to mention this Great Horned Owl…..in fact when we were sitting out that evening enjoying a bug free campfire….this, or another flew over and perched in a tree right beside our campsite…

look closely and you’ll see a Robin to the left, there were in fact a pair of Robins kicking up a fuss so I suspect there was a nest nearby.  I don’t know if Owl’s rob nests….but the Robins sure weren’t happy!

We had hit it right for the blooming of these gorgeous Prairie Lilies…

here is another look at this spectacular wildflower..

and these pink daisy…a type of Erigon I think.

and these white Canada Violets were growing everywhere in shady areas.

we must not forget the Chipmunks…busy munching away on the dandelion seeds, just like they were this past June when we were there.

before we leave, must show this other ‘lifer’ a Yellow bellied Sapsucker – again,the first I’d seen….

and this baby Bunny that had somehow fallen into the rather deep fire pit and couldn’t get out.  Ernie rescued him, but not until he’d come and got me to take a picture….I don’t know if it was a Snowshoe Hare as we’d seen a lot of them there….or if it might have been a Cottontail….it sure was cute! and not terribly happy to be rescued…we just hoped that it would be able to find the rest of it’s family….