Tunkwa P.P. – Late August, 2010

Took advantage of an unexpected week off in late August to do a bit of B.C. exploring.  Started off heading to good ole’ Tunkwa as we hadn’t been there since the Canada Day long weekend.  Arrived at 8 in the evening…

Just in time to catch this sunset.  With only about 20 of the 220 sites occupied we settled in on the spit which we had pretty much to ourselves.

August 27th was  my definition of paradise ~ the temperature had dropped to close to freezing overnight with a heavy fog over the lake that had dissipated by 8:30 or so, with the sunshine.

The lake was like glass and so quiet….

We set off for a walk around the north end of the lake, over to Bluff Lake….

Lot’s of Lesser Scaup families over here – I’ve mentioned before how this species of ducks are really late nesters….

Raising young Lesser Scaup seems to be a community affair….

We counted over 70 ducklings….

This being late August we knew shorebird migration was well underway…this pair of Greater Yellowlegs were poking about on the shoreline.

 

Here is a late summer look at Bluff Lake….there wasn’t a bird on it. 

The spillway from Tunkwa to Leighton was now totally dried up.

Heading back to the campground I spent the rest of the day just wandering and taking pictures….

The whole area was over run with Yellow Rump Warblers….there had to be hundreds of them…

The Canada Geese were very relaxed after a summer of activity…

In fact they made for some artistic pictures as they blended in with the late summer grasses..

I especially like this one…

Quite a few Starlings hanging about….not in the massive numbers you find around farms and ranches though…

 

Here is another one of those numerous Yellow Rump Warblers…no longer in his brilliant breeding plumage.

Someone else no longer in his brilliant plumage is this male Mallard….he’ll only change his brilliant emerald green head to this dull one for a couple of months before turning back into the colors everyone associates with Mallards.

In the quite area between the spit and the main part of the campground, there was a family of Pied bill Grebe.  I’ve seen Pied bill Grebe here before, but never a family of them.

It was a treat to be able to watch them.  One of the little guys came up with a frog almost as big as he was!

A walk along the shoreline in the afternoon found some more shorebirds.

The inevitable Killdeer of course….

but also a Semi-palmated Sandpiper (closer bird) and a Baird’s Sandpiper (further bird)

I even managed to get my kayak in the water, for the first and only time this year!

Snuck up on these sleepy ‘eclipse’ plumaged Mallard.

an after supper walk found us another shorebird species….this one a Solitary Sandpiper…

poking about along the edge of Leighton Lake…

and so an absolutely perfect day, drew to a close.

Manning Park – August long weekend 2010

In real time it is a horrible gray November day….think I’ll finish up this trip to Manning….

August 1st we decided to do the same walk as we’d done the day before, but to go a little further…first to this marshy area where Ernie had actually spotted a Black Bear cub the evening before…

No bear cub this day…just Ernie and Shantz

Lot’s of these Oxeye Daisies…

and some Yarrow.

From here we headed to the Rein Orchid trail….somewhere we hadn’t walked for quite a few years…

This is a really short ‘loop’ trail….the Rein Orchids were long over but

there was lot’s of Pink Wintergreen in flower along the trail…

Here is a closer look at the flower head of Pink Wintergreen.

Now back to the trail and heading towards the campsite…

To show we were now in getting into the ‘fruiting’ rather than ‘flowering’ part of the season, these Blue Huckleberries….

the partially ripe seed heads of False Solomon’s Seal…

these berries will be bright red when fully ripe….

These ‘Tway’ berries are fully ripe….

This bit of ‘nature’s garden’ sports two dainty ‘shrub’s – the creeping ‘Twin Flower’ and the taller ‘Prince’s Pine’

The weather turned hot that afternoon and we spent it sitting in the shade visiting an ‘at home’ neighbour who also happened to be staying in the same campground.

Next day it was time to head home, but not before stopping at Strawberry Flats for a bit of a walk…

again, it wasn’t the most inspiring time of the year…

Tiger lilies were in flower along the more open parts of the trail…

Here is a bit closer look at some of the Tiger lilies

Bull Thistles were also in full flower….

We did actually spot a couple of birds….this female Hairy Woodpecker….

and this Spruce Grouse….

Mid-summer is definitely not my favorite time of the year and this trip pretty much shows why ~ still it is always nice to get away and see something different.

Manning Park – July 31, 2010

Yes, in real time it is the 4th of November….but we’re going back to the August long weekend now, when we headed up to Manning Park.  Manning, like Tunkwa, is a place you can usually get into even if it is a long weekend ~ that is as long as you don’t attempt the ‘reserve able’ Lightning Lakes campground ~ a spot you couldn’t pay me to stay in ~ far too busy for my liking!

Because of that thing called ‘work’ we didn’t get away from home until 3:30 in the afternoon so didn’t reach our favorite campground until 5:30, by which time it had filled up for the evening.  We know from experience that Cold spring is a campground that fills with transient campers, just spending the night before moving on, so weren’t worried when we had to head to Hampton for the night. 

Had no problem finding a spot in Hampton, took this picture on the morning of the 31st….

There are some spots in this campground that offer a pretty spectacular view of these distant mountains.

Some of the plants in flower were these Birch leaf Spirea shrubs that grow all over in Manning.

Good old Fireweed….

and not so common, Mountain Monkshood.

After a leisurely breakfast, timed so that we’d arrive at the campground about the time all the over nighters were leaving, we headed back to Cold Spring.

Where, much to our surprise we found a number of spots open in the ‘dog leg’ area, including this one, right at the very end of the camping area.

One of the reasons we like Cold Spring Campground is that there is a lovely circular walk right from the campground.  You can either just do the ‘circle’ or you can carry on from this walk to any number of more strenuous hikes.  The trail started right across from where we were camped.

The terrain along the trail is quite varied, resulting in a variety of flowers….this Aster being one of the later varieties…

While the earlier flowering Ground Dogwood were pretty much finished….

Here is one of the views of the river….and I’m really not sure of what river it is…from one of the low sections of the trail…

 

While this is looking down from one of the high points of the trail….looking back toward where the campground is situated.

We had completed one side of the loop and were starting back along the other when Shantz found a real prize in the river…

a jug of milk!  In no time she had hauled it out, with her front teeth she peeled off the safety seal, then with her back teeth she twisted off the cap and started on the milk inside.  It was amazing how quickly and easily she opened it ~ as though she did it every day ~ and the strange thing is, she’s never seen one before….we buy our milk in cartons!  We let her have a taste but  not knowing how long the milk had been there thought we didn’t need a dog with an upset stomach and made her leave it…much to her disgust!

This bridge is the trail head.  You can just make out our camper back there in the middle of the picture, below the bridge itself.

There was a large bed of this ‘Willow Herb’ flowering at the edge of the river just upstream from the bridge.

I’d left everyone back at the camper and wandered off by myself to get a few flower pictures….the Willow Herb and then this One Sided Wintergreen.

at the site of an old rock slide, this Scarlet Gilia….a flower common to the Okanagan….I’ve mentioned before that one of the attractions of Manning is the mix of coastal and interior plants.

This rock slide area is usually home to Pika but I didn’t spot any that day….it was probably too warm for them to be out and about.  By the way, it looks cloudy but actually the haze was caused from smoke from forest fires burning in the interior of the province.

Here is another section of the trail, this over well worn rock, going back to the time there was a much larger river flowing in this area.

There is just one section where the trail is so narrow between the river and a rock face that a boardwalk has been built.

 

One of the rock faces found along the trail…which, by the way, is well maintained.

and finally, an evening shot taken from bridge, showing the section of the river that runs directly behind the campground.  You will note I haven’t mentioned any birds ~ that is because the park ~ at least the areas we were in, was absolutely devoid of birds.  Something I’d never experienced before.