Williams Lake Creek Valley

Went for our first bike ride of the season yesterday evening with the Naturalists.  Except only five of us showed up, one less than last year!  

Water level was high but not (yet?) flooding the trail.

Many exciting things have been on this field trip - a rubber boa, pelicans floating in the Fraser River, etc., just not the two years we've attended.  We did see a marmot, and we had a discussion of the notable wildlife sightings we've had in the past.

The ride back is all uphill, but here Rick is pedalling so fast the foliage is a blur behind him.

Bobolinked Again!

Tuesday we headed out to Mission Road to look for the fabled bobolink, reported by others but never seen yet by the likes of us.

Leo scans for the mythical bobolink

We drive south of town to the Mission Road every spring hoping to spot this bird, but no luck yet. Never mind, it was a beautiful day and a beautiful walk along Jones Creek, and we heard and saw many other birds, especially common yellowthroats and clay-coloured sparrows (the bird of the day).

And here is a shot of the Mission Ranch, home of what is likely the most northerly group of breeding bobolinks in British Columbia, and also, unfortunately, very many sorrowful memories for the First Nations people of the area.

Mission Ranch, site of of former residential school.

Victoria Day Weekend

I drove up to Smithers for the long weekend to visit my mom.  The weather was great and my sister and I went on a couple of hikes.

The first hike was to Malkow lookout in the Telkwa Highroad area.  The woods were packed with birds, singing their hearts out.

Nice view from the top

The second hike was more of a drive as we attempted two trails Sybille hadn't beenonin years and they were all grownin and hard to folloiw.  But we did see:

this lovely flowering wild clemati, and

Here's Sybille under a bower of flowering Saskatoon Berries

Also, my niece Sonja has opened a pop up shop on Main Street for the summer. 

 It's a studio space and local artists can get a membership and display their work in the gallery or rent the space for workshops or concerts. 

I missed her grand opening last Friday but from the looks of her facebook page it was a success.

Of course, most of the time I spent having interesting conversations with my mother, which was the purpose of the visit.

Horsefly River

Sunny day on the Horsefly River

Our first kayak trip this year on the Horsefly.  The weather was beautiful and we had a great time, but the water was fairly high so it was a quick trip.  The photo is of Glen in his brand new raft, on its inaugural voyage.

Balsamroot Route

Yesterday we went for our annual visit to check out the flowering balsamroot at the Junction sheep reserve.  As you can see,

it was a beautiful day, but we were a little early.

The flowers were just starting to come out.  We'll be returning in a week or so to catch them at their height.

Spring

Last September I finally got around to adding more tulip bulbs to the bed near our front door.  So we were rewarded with a great multicoloured display.  (You can see the mothballs I sprinkled around after the first few blooms got eaten by the deer!)