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…

Spring Trip 2012 – Manning Park part 2

We spent 3 days at Manning Park, the weather cooperated, a little on the cool side, but pleasant enough to sit outside during the day as long as you were dressed for it.

Here is the whole family enjoying the great outdoors – including the 16 year old Shih Tzu!

it wasn’t long though, until we had company….

This pair of Common Raven moved in and appeared to adopt us as their own!!!

even attempting to come right inside…

and trying to share our dogs dinner – as you can tell she is used to birds!

Not to be out done…the Gray Jay’s joined us too…

Shy they aren’t!!!

a Gold-crowned Kinglet even joined in the fun…running around right at my feet gathering up our dogs fur as fast as she was loosing it!  I was so shocked didn’t have time to focus the camera properly – hence the fuzzy shot!

Of course one of the things we look for when we are traveling are the wild flowers…this early in the season with the snow barely having melted in spots, one really had to look – but they were there…

The Utah Honeysuckle was just coming into bloom in the sunniest areas – but there were enough of them that the Rufous Hummingbirds had arrived – this being a favorite early food source.  (wasn’t able to get a hummingbird picture here)

Spring Gold was just starting to flower, again in the sunniest locations.  The creeping phlox wasn’t quite in bloom yet..

I found these Pussy Willows most attractive though….

as did the Chipmunks!  By the time our 3 day visit was over, chipmunks had pretty much eaten every pussy willow off of the bushes!  and I think that is probably enough for this posting….we’ll cover the rest of the ‘critters’ and birds in part 3

Spring trip 2012 – Manning Park part 1

Long before the May long weekend, we made reservations at Coldspring Campground in Manning Provincial Park, but with the long cool spring and the snow pack, we didn’t know until just the night before whether we would actually be able to stay there.  We must say that Manning Park was excellent about sharing information with us and had actually telephoned the evening before to say that they had checked and our site was free of snow and we were ‘good to go’…So, it being 7 long months since our last trip we were out of here bright and early in the morning.

So eager were we that we arrived in the park at 10 in the morning – with the campground not opening until noon, we headed to Lightning Lakes…

where the lakes were still frozen, although thawing out around the edges.

There were several pairs of Barrow’s Goldeneyes going through their preliminary mating rituals.  The female of this particular pair was unique in that she had a white ring around each eye – it didn’t appear to be a disease or an injury.

The Columbian Ground Squirrels were out in force…

Here is another one…

Gray Jay’s of course – happy to see some people – I guess there had been a lull between the time when the place was full of cross country skiers and now…

the bare areas were alive with American Robins, and surprisingly, Yellow-rump Warblers…running around on the ground with the robins..

Dark-eyed Junco are to be expected…

What wasn’t expected was an American Pipit!!  Seemed to only be the one and it was sticking to the lake shore.  As noon approached we headed back to the campground….

and settled into our spot which turned out to be absolutely perfect – yes, that is a little bit of snow there in the corner.

but nothing like what was still down in the ‘dog leg’ (which of course wasn’t open) and the first corner in the campground where snow was still as deep as the picnic tables were high.  After settling in I went exploring….and you’ll see the results in Part 2