After taking a look at the map and the time we had remaining, the lure of Gooseberry Lake Provincial Park was too great to ignore. It meant a long day of driving as we headed out the north gate of Elk Island National Park and proceeded on highway 15 until it ran into the main highway #16 which we followed until we could turn south on secondary highway 36, once that road intersected #14 we proceeded on a south easterly direction to Wainwright, where we turned south again, this time on highway 41 (a run straight down #41 from Cold Lake would have brought us to this park). It was lovely countryside along the route, gradually getting more open and drier as we headed south. Along the route, in a pond in a field beside the road, I spotted a life bird for me - a Black-necked Stilt. The only picture I got was so poor I couldn't post it here, but so far that is the only Black necked Stilt I have ever seen, so I'm keeping it, for proof.By the time we reached the turn off to Gooseberry Lake Provincial Park we were in really cattle country and it wasn't just the huge Rodeo Grounds that turned out to be adjacent to the park, that clued us in. As it turns out, Gooseberry Lake is an internationally recognized 'Important Bird Area' known partly for its popularity as a stopping place for waterfowl and shorebirds during spring and fall migration, but also because it has a small breeding population of the endangered 'Piping Plover'.The campground and park was very well maintained with lots of large shade trees and green lawns. The amenities such as large playing fields and golf course sort of gave testament to the fact that this must be a pretty popular place, and the fact that the 'lawn' at the entrance, although mowed, consisted of 90% cactus and 10% grass....sort of gives you an idea that this is probably a pretty warm place during most of the season. When we arrived it was cloudy and threatening rain and there were only a few other units parked at the far end of the campground, but obviously early arrivals for the rodeo that was apparently going to be that weekend.
The above is a view of the lake itself. Not the most scenic of lakes, and you can see that the country around about is pretty flat, just gently rolling grasslands for the most part. The above view would be looking from the location of the campsite towards the north east.
This view is taken from a trail below the campsite and is looking more directly eastwards.
There were huge cat-tail marshes along much of the shoreline. Who knows what and how many creatures were lurking in that massive bulrush bed!
and yes, there were the promised Avocets!
Our second day at Elk Island National Park, we decided to drive back towards the north entrance. We had seen what looked like an interesting nature walk and decided to check it out. As I recall, there wasn't much in the way of bird life (at least I don't have pictures of many) but there were a lot of wildflowers.
Ground Dogwood, or Bunch Berry, (above) which are actually classified as a 'shrub' lined the path in the more forested areas. 
Twinning Honeysuckle (above) was just coming into flower.
As were Star Flowered Solomon's Seal. 
We found more of those Marsh Marigolds, growing in particularly boggy areas. It's song led us to the House Wren, in the picture below. This was obviously 'daddy' as there was a snag with a hole in that must have been occupied my 'mum' sitting on a nest.
After going as far as we could on that trail - it sort of petered out in a wet area, we went back and decided to drive north to the little town of Lamont, for a few supplies. After stocking up, the weather had deteriorated to sort of on again, off again showers, so we elected to take the gravel road that bordered the park boundary, traveling east as far as the park went and then turning south. The area opposite the park was all farm land so there were quite a few of these Eastern Kingbirds sitting on fence posts. Photo's not as clear as I'd like, but that is what happens with a telephoto taken from an idling vehicle.
The shot below gives a pretty good indication of what the area looked like. Rolling hills with marshy areas in the bottom and open grasslands outlined with Aspen trees.
This male deer was one of several we found. I kept looking for a moose, there was supposed to be quite a large population of them in the park, but I never saw one the entire trip.
A male Red Wing Blackbird - just to show they were there as I haven't actually posted a picture of one yet.
The picture below gives a good illustration of the size difference between these two duck species. There is a pair of Blue Wing Teal on the log, beside a male Canvasback.
I think I've mentioned before that Blue Wing Teal are one of my favorite ducks, in fact I like all waterfowl. Blue Wing Teal are quite 'spooky' as ducks go so difficult to get a really good picture, the one below shows the 'blue' on the wing that gives the species it's name.
We got back to the campground quite late in the afternoon, so decided to take the walk past the golf course again so Shantz could stretch her legs after having been cooped up in her dog kennel in the truck for most of the day - not that she minds that in the least!
Back on the road and heading to Elk Island National Park. It really wasn't a very long run from Garner Lake, west on highway 28/36 until the secondary road 831 which pretty well took us to the north entrance of the park. We always purchase annual passes to our National Parks, so no problem there. Straight to the campsite which hasn't changed much in years and years, which means it hasn't kept up with the times and is pretty small, cramped and crowded. I think there was also a parking lot style site for RV's as well, but since we avoid those types of places like the plague, we opted for the other choice - after all we weren't here for the camping experience but the location.After an early lunch we headed out to see what we could see. Elk Island is actually know for the Buffalo, I think there are Wood Buffalo on one side of the main highway that bisects the park and Plains Bison on the other. When you have traveled in the N.W.T. and had to sit and wait for herds of Wood Buffalo to amble off the road, their backs level with your truck window, or you've watched a herd magically appear out on the Great Salt Plains.....well seeing these guys just doesn't hold that much of a thrill.
We drove to a site that offered viewing possibilities and found a large, well maintained picnic site and parking lot, with trail. There was a viewing platform but the lake was so low that the water was so far off, it was impossible to see anything. Fortunately there was a trail that seemed to take you down the side of what I guess was a lake.
The above photo shows the trail we followed and eventually came to the area shown below.
There was a great profusion of waterfowl and shorebirds, but still a little too far out to get really good pictures of. I could have ventured closer I suppose, but this spot was in full view of the viewing platform and I didn't want to get charged with harassing the wildlife.
Another view......
and another, this one showing a pair of Trumpeter Swans, which were the only Swans we saw that trip.
There were a number of American Avocet there, including a number that seemed to be sitting on nests. American Avocet are one of my favorite shorebirds, just because they are so pretty! By the way, those yellow flowers that lined the shoreline are Marsh Ragwort.We met a young fellow in the parking lot and got talking, he was working as a surveyor of some sort and was traveling all over northern Alberta and doing some bird watching at the same time, he told us about a place he had stayed at where there were more Avocet than he had ever seen and the birds in the campground were incredible, the name of the place was Gooseberry Lake Provincial Park - stay tuned!
Back to the campground. I went for a walk down to the main lake, there is a big picnic area and beach between the campground and the lake, all very civilized (too civilized for my liking). As you can see the weather was a bit 'iffy'. 
Headed along the pathway (it was paved - you can't call it a trail!), that led to a board walk. On the way I passed these gulls, a mixture of Ring Bill and Franklin. The Franklin are the ones with Black heads. Did the board walk but didn't notice anything too exciting. A pair of Red Neck Grebe (of course!) and a female Red Wing Blackbird with nesting material in her mouth.....we then ventured a little further along, past the golf course (yes 'golf' course)......
Got this picture of the lake from a different angle and yes, more Pelicans.
After supper we decided to head in the opposite direction and after getting past the boat launch we found a trail that looked more like a 'trail' and started to follow it as it went around the north edge of the lake.
This young buck deer was browsing in one spot, not the least bit perturbed by us. I was a tad nervous walking past him. Fortunately Shantz has a healthy respect for deer. When she was quite a young pup we were staying in the Kettle River Provincial Park just outside of Rock Creek, B.C. There are a lot of deer in that campsite and one evening they went sort of berserk, racing around all over the place, right through campsites. Shantz was on her tie out and jumped up on the table to either get a better view or escape from them - in fact Ernie always says that she figures picnic tables save you from marauding deer - which is why she always lays on them....whatever the reason or thinking, she is now interested when she sees one but walks past respectfully.
In another wet spot (there was a boardwalk bridge), this Muskrat was busy gnawing right beside the path. He wasn't quite as accepting of us as the deer had been.
We were getting to the stage where I was getting a bit nervous, it was quite late in the evening and we hadn't seen another human.....so this was about where we turned around. There is a bird's nest in that shrub right in front 
I put the camera up for a quick peek, and yes, there were eggs in it. I don't know what kind of bird nest it was, possibly a Yellow Warblers as I had seen one in the general area.
Enough for that day, we headed back to the trailer and it was soon time for bed. Seems, if memory serves, we had a thunder storm that night.
Woke up to another beautiful day and decided we would move on, but not before a morning walk at Moose Lake where this American Pelican obliged by flying by.
However, even better than that, was seeing another Blue Jay. It isn't a great picture, it isn't even a good picture, it is just 'proof it was there'. I had always thought that Blue Jay would act like Steller's and Gray Jays and that if they were near a campsite, they'd be right there visiting to see what you were having for supper.....but I guess not....
So back on the road, heading west on Highway 28, we hadn't gone far when we noticed a sign for a Garner Lake Provincial Park, so decided to check it out. The campsite only had one other unit in it and from the grass growing in sites, it was obvious that this wasn't that busy a campsite, at least in early June, so we decided to stay.
Our campsite, and if you didn't know, the ONLY reason they put tables in camping sites is for huskies to lay on. 
This is Garner Lake. Not the most picturesque of lakes and the shoreline wasn't a sandy 'beach' type beach and had a distinct 'odor'
It was a warm day and April thought she might wade in and lay down to cool off, but then thought better of it.
Shantz, on the other hand got right into it....and then a strange thing happened. She was very busy digging holes that would immediately fill in with water, that she would have to dig out again, so there was a lot of splashing going on and suddenly a Loon appeared, then a second Loon arrived on the scene, and not long after, a third......
Ernie near the shore, Shantz at the end of her leash and the Loons, not that far out, in fact they came in even closer. When Shantz stopped digging, they would drift out, when she started splashing again, they would come in for a closer look. We assume that they likened her splashing to that of a caught fish, and this must be one of those places where Loons have been known to steal fish right off the line.
Of course whenever you get 3 Loons together in the same place, especially during breeding season......
You get a bit of a kerfuffle!
a while later we decided to take a walk along a marked 'nature trail' - unfortunately it didn't look like any maintenance had been done to the trail since the past season and there were a lot of deadfalls to climb over and the grass, because it was long, harbored more than a few mosquitoes, but we persevered until we reached a viewing blind. This Spotted Sandpiper was visible through the bushes....
I walked down the very overgrown path towards the water where there was a Red Neck Grebe on this nest. The Grebe left as soon as it heard me approaching and the Spotted Sandpiper immediately climbed onto the nest and started picking up, what I presume, were little bugs. I took this one quick shot and then retreated so the Grebe would get back on her nest.
After our excursion, I went and sat on the little pier that jutted out into the lake. I hadn't been there very long when I saw this herd of Pelicans round the corner into the bay beside me.
I had a fascinating view of them as they would all swim in one direction for a while and then would decide to make a great splash and carry on......
then settle in and proceed to, presumably, herd fish into a tightening circle.
This whole process went on for quite some time. When the Pelicans finally left, there wasn't really much to see on the lake and it was getting pretty warm, so I went back to a marshy area I had seen right at the entrance to the campground.
There was a steady stream of bird life heading to this pond to bath, so I settled myself down in the grass at the edge of the road and watched.
an American Robin of course, they are always up for a bath....no matter how green the water!
The above is a view of the lake itself. Not the most scenic of lakes, and you can see that the country around about is pretty flat, just gently rolling grasslands for the most part. The above view would be looking from the location of the campsite towards the north east.
This view is taken from a trail below the campsite and is looking more directly eastwards.
There were huge cat-tail marshes along much of the shoreline. Who knows what and how many creatures were lurking in that massive bulrush bed!
and yes, there were the promised Avocets!
The lake side was alkaline type mud - a shore birds delight! Here are some of those Avocet......
and just one more........
part of the trail ran past these Silver Berry Shrubs. Silver Berry grow where ever it is hot and dry - including in many areas of B.C. and in the Rocky Mountains. You always know when you are in Silver Berry country, especially in June as the perfume from the tiny flowers shown in the next picture is wonderful! I'm not a perfume fan, but if they could bottle this scent - I would wear it!
a close up of the Silver Berry flower (by the way, the berries that will show up later in the season, really are silver in color.
This pretty little flower is a 'Mealy Primrose' and they were growing in areas along the trail
Avocets weren't the only birds on the shoreline. This fellow is a Bonaparte Gull - similiar too but also quite different from those other black headed gulls - the Franklins that we saw at Elk Island.
This fellow is a Marbled Godwit.
back to the flowers, as close as I can figure, the yellow flowers in the above photo are Narrow-leafed Puccoon
and this one, that shows up in one of those views of the lake at the beginning of this post, is the highly poisonous Buffalobean or Golden Bean.
part of the trail ran past these Silver Berry Shrubs. Silver Berry grow where ever it is hot and dry - including in many areas of B.C. and in the Rocky Mountains. You always know when you are in Silver Berry country, especially in June as the perfume from the tiny flowers shown in the next picture is wonderful! I'm not a perfume fan, but if they could bottle this scent - I would wear it!
a close up of the Silver Berry flower (by the way, the berries that will show up later in the season, really are silver in color.
This pretty little flower is a 'Mealy Primrose' and they were growing in areas along the trail
Avocets weren't the only birds on the shoreline. This fellow is a Bonaparte Gull - similiar too but also quite different from those other black headed gulls - the Franklins that we saw at Elk Island.
This fellow is a Marbled Godwit.
back to the flowers, as close as I can figure, the yellow flowers in the above photo are Narrow-leafed Puccoon
and this one, that shows up in one of those views of the lake at the beginning of this post, is the highly poisonous Buffalobean or Golden Bean.
