Alberta Trip - May 31, 2008 - Lesser Slave Lake - Day 2

One of the reasons we had wanted to come to Lesser Slave Lake, was to visit the Boreal Center for Bird Conservation that is situated in Lesser Slave Lake Provincial Park, and was, in fact,having it's 14th annual 'Song Bird Festival' that weekend. So after not quite as early a start as we might have wanted, we headed back towards this center. Hadn't been on the road for too many minutes when we spotted this bear....it wouldn't have been too far from the campground itself. Alberta is way ahead of B.C. in practising 'bear proof' camping, and in enforcing it as all of their campgrounds are routinely patrolled by conservation officers....in fact many of the campgrounds are actually run by conservation officers.... but I digress....

We turned into the Boreal Center and found a wonderful facility, toured the marvelous building and gift shop and talked to a few people at the site. If anyone is interested they can check out their website at www.borealbirdcentre.ca and I notice that this years Songbird Festival is on June 6th and 7th. There were a number of trails to walk. Along one of them, I think it was the 'Warbler Walk' I finally manged to find one of those White Throated Sparrows. Check out the picture below and you'll see why they are so hard to spot. By the way, I've mentioned it before, but if you click on the picture, it will come up full page, then go back to the blog by using your 'Back' button.

Here is a closer view of the White Throated Sparrow.

and another, in this one he is giving his famous call.....

After leaving the area we took a drive up to a lookout. I can't remember the name of the hill this lookout was on, in fact I think it was called a mountain....it certainly was the highest elevation in the area.

This gives a good overview of Lesser Slave Lake, looking westward.

This one is looking southward. You can just make out the little town of Slave Lake on the shores of the lake.

and another view of the lake, again looking sort of southwest. We ate our lunch at the picnic tables at this viewpoint and then drove back down to explore some more. The day before, while we were setting up, two birds had flown through the campsite with a loud 'chatter' and I had realized that they were Blue Jays. Real Blue Jays - not our Steller's Jays. Now I know to the rest of the country Blue Jays probably aren't that exciting, but to someone from B.C., they are, so one of my goals was to get pictures of 'real' Blue Jays.

We found a marvelous road that followed the shores of the lake and had all kinds of places you could pull over and park and walk from and any number of times Blue Jays flew across the road in front of us....but pictures....no way, they proved to be very elusive.

I did get this picture of a Tern, I think a Common Tern, although anyone is welcome to correct me as I'm not positive on that.

and this picture shows one of those 'pool's' in the riparian habitat that ran between the two sandy beaches, all along the shore line. Blue Wing Teal and Northern Shoveler were very happy in this environment.

Alberta trip - May 30, 2008 - Lesser Slave Lake

May 30th we hit the road early as we had another fairly lengthy drive ahead of us. Our goal this day was to reach Lesser Slave Lake Provincial Park which is situated on the eastern shore of Lesser Slave Lake. Headed north on highway 32 until we reached the little town of Swan Hills, where we stopped for gas and coffee (of equal importance!) and then headed north again, now on highway 33. The above picture gives a pretty good idea of what the country looks like in that area. Gently rolling hills, if not under agriculture, then covered in boreal forest. Highway 33 runs out at highway 2, where we headed eastward to the town of Slave Lake, then north to the Provincial Park.

I can't really recall but I think it must have been a weekend because the campground was quite busy. I found this quite often....there didn't seem to be much in the way of populations around, but when you got to the parks, they would be busy....even this early in the season. We didn't have the most scenic camp site, but it would do. After getting set up, we walked down to take a look at the lake.

Even though it is 'Lesser' Slave Lake, it is still a very big lake. ('Lesser' only as opposed to 'Greater' Slave Lake that we had visited a couple of years previously) A number of trails led to the wonderful sandy beach that ran the entire east shore. This view is looking directly westward, and as you can see, it was pretty windy.

Later that evening we went back to the lake, the wind had now died, this shot was taken looking south along the beach, towards where the town of Slave Lake would be.

with this shot taken from the same spot, looking northwards. There were actually 2 sections of sandy beach. This, the closest to the water, then there was a long strip of riparian habitat with pools of water, deeper in some spots than others. There were ducks in some areas and the whole area was alive with frogs. Couldn't actually find them, they must have been tiny ones, but you could sure hear them! Then between this riparian area and the main shore was another wide sandy area.

We spotted this large flock of male Common Mergansers on the lake. Common Merganser males are known to vacate the females, leaving them to raise their young on their own, while the males hang out together for the summer. Obviously, Lesser Slave Lake is one of their 'hang outs'.

There was lots of bird life in the area.

Chipping Sparrow - found just about everywhere east of the Coast Mountains in B.C.

as are those Yellow Rump Warblers - again, this one is of the Myrtle variety as you would expect to find in this area.

I just about broke my neck trying to get pictures of a pair of Red Breasted Nuthatch, and never managed more than this! Everywhere here I could hear White Throated Sparrows, in fact all over northern Alberta I could hear White Throated Sparrows with their "Old Sam Peabody, Peabody, Peabody" call...but White Throated Sparrows like dense bush and actually finding them and photographing them was a bit of a challenge! I'm sure I also saw Northern Water Thrush here at this park, but never managed a picture.

Heading to Alberta - May 29, 2008

May 29 was one of those 'traveling days'. We got away fairly early and were heading towards Hinton. As we were leaving the park we spotted these Elk and stopped to get a few pictures. A closer view of the Elk - taken from the car - thank goodness for telephoto lens!

Like I said, it was a traveling day, and once Ernie hits the road it is hard to get him to slow down or stop for scenery pictures - a condition that is going to be remedied this year! But back to last year....after a stop at Canadian Tire in Hinton for something that apparently was needed, we continued along highway 16 to Edson, then took a secondary road, #748 until it joined highway #32 (we never take 'highways' if there is a secondary road going the same place). Headed north on #32, through Whitecourt, the destination being Carson Pegasus Provincial Park. We knew nothing about this park, other than that it existed and we needed a spot to spend the night. It proved to be a fairly large and popular place, and annoyed me because it was one of those places where they tell you where you are going to camp, I like to at least get a chance to check the place out first, but no matter, it was only an 'over nighter'.

There was a nice trail that ran along the shores of the lake. This is a view of the lake from the trail just below our campsite, although there was a steep bank between the campsite and the trail.

I went for a walk and discovered these yellow flowers. Now I don't think there is anyone who has had a fish pond that hasn't, at one time or another, bought a pot of Marsh Marigolds from a garden center, to have at the edge of their pond. I know I have, and I had no idea, until that moment, that these are a native wildflower that we found growing where ever it was 'marshy' all over northern Alberta!

A closer view of the Marsh Marigolds.

A little further along I found this pair of Red Neck Grebes..........

They were busy nest building. I couldn't see where the actual nest was, but they were working very hard at it. We saw Red Neck Grebe on virtually every lake we stopped at. I have some nest pictures, a little later on.

A final picture of one of the Red Neck Grebes, one of my favorite birds to photograph as they are usually co-operative and if you can catch the sun just right on their 'red' neck, it makes for a great shot.

Heading to Alberta 2008 - Jasper Park - Day 2

We decided to spend a couple of days in Jasper Park. It had been many years since we had visited Athabaska Falls, so decided to take a day trip to the falls and also to a look out that we remembered was a spot where you could often see Mountain Goats. We were disappointed in the goats - none to be found - but had a nice visit to the Falls as these photos show.

I was impressed with how well the man made structures were incorporated into the landscape. Most noteably, these steps in the picture below.

The steps led to down to bottom of the falls and gave this view of the Athabaska River.

I found this clump of Calyspo Lilies blooming beside the parking lot.

There was a road heading off to the west from the main highway, so we decided to drive down it to see what we could see. There were several scenic lakes along the route.

Back on the main highway, what would a trip to Jasper be is you didn't see a Black Bear or two?

This photo was taken from the safety of the car.

On the way back to camp, we stopped for a walk on the Five Lakes Trail (I think that is the name of it). Years ago, we hiked the whole route, but this time I only went as far as the valley and waited there with April (the elderly shih tzu) while Ernie and Shantz went a little further.

There were masses of these Calypso Orchids growing along the trail. This is just a small sampling of them.

Here is another close up of the Calypso Orchids. These are an extremely abundant early wildflower throughout the Rocky Mountains and are actually found in areas throughout B.C.

And finally, the only bird seen that day....a Chipping Sparrow. The date was the 28th of May, 2008.

Heading to Alberta 2008 - Jasper Park

Four weeks from today we will be on the road, set out on this years big adventure, so it is about time I got back to posting about last years spring trip to Northern Alberta, otherwise I won't be finished this one before we start out. We had spent the night at Mt. Robson Provincial Park and were headed to Jasper National Park, one of our favorites of the National Parks. We stopped at this spot, along the highway for some lunch and to give the dogs a bit of a walk. I was surprised at how little snow was on the mountains. After all it was still May, somehow I expected the mountains to be more 'snow covered'.

While Ernie gave Shantz a good walk I found this Butterfly enjoying the Dandelions. I think it is a Satyre Butterfly (my reference books are already packed in the camper and no doubt the spelling is wrong). After the break we hit the road and headed to our favorite campground in the park (well the favorite one that is open that early) - Snaring River. We like this campground because it is out of town and it is a really pretty spot.

After setting up we headed for a walk, the campground itself is quite treed, but I love this open alpine area which is beside the river.

This shot shows the river itself and the trail that runs along beside it.

The alpine area beside the river is full of wildflowers. It was a bit early in the season, but already these Windflowers or Anemones were in flower.

As was this cream colored Locoweed.

and these early Blue Violets. Since it was still early in the day, we decided to go for a drive up to Maligne Lake. This meant driving back to the town of Jasper and then taking the Malign Lake Road.

Maligne Lake is quite high up. There was a bit of snow still in shaded areas and parts of the lake were still frozen. The sun was sort of in the wrong position which is why this picture is so dark.

This was one of a family of young Gray Jays. It was rather eye opening to realize just how early these birds nest. Here it was the end of May, there was still snow on the ground, the lake was still partially frozen, you can see the grass is just starting to sprout - and already a nest had been built, eggs laid, hatched, young fed (on what?) and now the youngsters were out on their own, although mom wasn't far away!

We walked along the path beside the lake and were surprised to see these Harlequin Ducks on the lake, swimming along beside the ice. I always understood that Harlequin nested on fast moving streams and rivers, so I'm not sure what they were doing on this high alpine lake.

Back at the campground, spotted this Yellow Rump Warbler. This one, with the white under the chin, is of the Myrtle variety. This type is the type you expect to see in and on the east side of the Rockies, where the Audubon (with the yellow under the chin) is normally found on the west side of the Rockies.

One more look of the Snaring River, this shot taken from quite close to the road by which you access the campground. There is actually a bridge not far from here with an over flow campground further up the road.

We actually had an interesting experience there that evening (and the following one). We were in the trailer playing some sort of board game and Shantz was tied up outside, when we suddenly heard this very deep 'big dog' bark - looked at each other and Ernie went outside and quickly yelled at me to look out the window....in the campground right next to us was a very large light gray canine. At first we thought it was a wolf, but later realized it was a very healthy coyote and he was very interested in Shantz. She was very agitated (we hadn't realized she could actually bark - we'd never heard her bark before - or since for that matter). We of course brought her in and it took almost half an hour for her to calm down. The next night....he was back again!

Easter 2009 - End of inaugural trip.

By 10:00 am we were on the road again, heading north towards Penticton in beautiful sunshine.
Since it was such a nice day we decided to chance the Connector, the road report we had heard earlier had said it was bare with a few slushy sections, and this proved to be the case. The Connector goes through such high areas that the weather at the top can be very different from that in either Kelowna or Merritt, the two places it 'connects'. It was obvious that there had been quite the snowfall the previous day or night and it would not have been a good time to be traveling, but by Monday morning the roads were pretty much clear except for a stretch a kilometer or so long where there was still slush on the road.

As we approached Merritt, where the 'Connector' joins the Coquilla Highway, the signs warned of compact snow south of Merritt and it looked very 'black' in that direction so we decided to not take the chance and figured we would head home via the Nicola Valley out to Spences Bridge and down the Fraser Canyon, as this is a lower route. While Ernie was picking up a burger I took this picture of a male House Sparrow. Birders aren't supposed to be impressed with House Sparrows, they are an introduced species and known to hang around places like fast food restaurants, but hey, they are birds, it's not their fault they are here and in fact are apparently in trouble in their native England....besides, they are notoriously difficult to get a decent picture of.

After a quick lunch we headed out the Nicola Valley until we reached this Recreation Site, at Lower Nicola. Recreation Sites are often located in really beautiful areas but because they are unregulated, they tend to be occupied by people who enjoy the outdoors by tearing it up with quads and dirt bikes and have little regard for the surroundings or others also trying to enjoy the area, hence we look forward to the time that we can enjoy such sites during the week and in the off season and avoid them the rest of the time.

Most of the weekend visitors had already pulled out when we arrived and I was delighted to find the area carpeted with early Sagebrush Buttercups.

The above view is of the Nicola River, looking in a southerly direction, towards Merritt.

This view, taken from the same spot, is looking northwards towards Spences Bridge. Shantz was enjoying this last vestige of last winters snow - she was sure there was something down there!

Back to my Sagebrush Buttercups - one of my favorite flowers, just because they are the first thing to flower in the dry open grassland areas of the province that I also love. Note these ones growing amongst the cactus.

A closer view of Sagebrush Buttercups.......

and closer yet!

Buttercups weren't the only flowers - there were a number of these 'Yellow Bells', another early flower found in the interior grasslands. The 'bells' start out yellow and then turn to orange as the flower ages.

In another area there were a lot of these 'Woodland Stars' or 'Fringe Cups' another early wildflower.

and finally these little pink flowers that I can't find in my reference book - possibly a type of Rockcress????

After getting my fill of wildflower pictures, it was back on the road until we reached another spot, this one not even a Recreation site, but a spot where people do camp, also beside the Nicola River. Note that we are into really dry 'sagebrush' country here as this isn't very far from Spences Bridge.

The river, looking towards Spences Bridge.

More Sagebrush Buttercups here - growing amongst - what else - but Sagebrush!

And one final view of these Sagebrush Buttercups, before hitting the main highway and heading home.