June and Stampede Weekend

 

We made into the Williams Lake Tribune's montages of the Stampede Parade!  The Tribune reporter was across the street from us and we were in the backdrop of many of her photos.  I'm sitting at the curb in a gray hat and a pink shirt and Leo's sitting further back under the trees in a lawn chair.

I haven't posted much lately because I lost my phone and haven't been taking any pictures.  We've been out camping at Horsefly Lake once and I'm still training for the PEI walk.  We made it to 18 km but now we've scaled back as it was taking up most of our days with a four hour walk and rest afterward.

Patti and I rode our bikes down to the eagles' nest on a non walking day. I brought Leo's camera to take a few pictures.

The adult was on the nest and the two eaglets were up and in view.

Here Patti is sitting on the riprap at river's edge checking out the eagle nest. Note the curious marmot in the background.

Big Momma

They've gotten pretty used to us as we stop for a break here on our walks.

Here's the other adult eagle in a nearby tree.

And more marmot cuteness:

Meanwhile Leo flew back to Nova Scotia for a week to visit his sisters.

At sister Cathy's retirement party

While Leo was home he helped with the garden at the family home in Dartmouth, including power washing the house.

Power washing the house

May Days

We are enjoying the spring weather.  We've decided to mix up our Wednesday walks and go somewhere new each week after a winter walking in the creek valley.

Last week we crossed the Fraser River and walked along Moon Road.

Nice view of Englishman Road on the other side of the Fraser

The balsamroot were blooming on the edge of the road.

After our walk we sat at the side of the road and had our tea/coffee break.

Patti and I continue to train for our PEI hike and are enjoying the changes in the creek valley as spring progresses.

On May 5 we first noticed the clematis

And the Oregon grape in bloom.

When we first spotted the osprey nest there were only a few branches but every day the nest gets more substantial.

Osprey nest May 10

On May 13 we first spotted an eagles in the eagle nest.  We ran into Leo right afterward on his run and he took this picture with the nest behind us.

Spot the eagle nest.

A day or two later we met Leo again just as he spotted a bear coming down the hill.  We yelled out and it took off before we could get a look at it.

We take our snack break on a pile of riprap right near the eagle nest.  

There are marmot living in the pile of rocks and one day a deer crossed the river right below us.

This week we reached 13 km and have now walked past the lower parking lot (no longer accessible to vehicles since the big flood) and halfway down the old sewage ponds.

Nobody else walks this far down the valley so we have it all to ourselves.

Selfie time!

Yesterday on our walk we spotted a flock of ravens on the side of the road just before the (new) sewage lagoons.  We deduced there must be a kill there and sure enough we found a dead deer.  Always curious, Patti checked it out and discovered a stillborn fawn half out of the womb.  The deer was intact so must have died during labour right on the side of the road.

Patti pulled the fawn out.  I told you she was always curious!

I guess I was curious too because I took the pictures.

We continued on our walk but on the way back we realized we should be concerned about bears.  We made noises but the carcass was still untouched.  Patti phoned the city and they said they would remove it but just in case, today we walked from Patti's house up to my house and back down to Patti's.  Almost 10 km total but it's all uphill to my place.  Back to the creek valley tomorrow.

 

Chilanko Marsh

Last year this time we were in Ontario but this Victoria Day weekend we returned to our annual tradition of the naturalists' field trip to Chilanko Marsh.

We were the first to arrive at the marsh and as soon as I stepped out of the truck I could hear two Virginia rails calling.  Leo managed to get a good picture.

It was a cold day and always threatening to rain so the birds were not as active as in previous years.

But it was still a good day out.  We ended the day at the old ranch so we could add Brewer's blackbirds to our checklist.  We also saw some ducks we hadn't seen in the main part of the lake -  shovelers, cinnamon teal, common goldeneye and bufflehead.  Trip leader Jim says this is because the loons chase the ducks away from the more open portion of the marsh the loons need to take flight.

The beautiful old ranch house (now owned by the Nature Trust) u der a glowering sky

It started raining hard so we jumped into the truck and headed home.

Bluebird Routes

We were late getting out to our bluebird boxes this year and in fact had forgotten exactly where was the new route west of Riske Creek we took on last year.  It took some perusing of Google maps to figure out where the access was.

As luck would have it the area was in the midst of a super bloom of balsamroot.

Every plant had 15-20 blossoms.

On this new route there were lots of nesting bluebirds but no tree swallows or their eggs present.

It was cold and always threatening to rain so perhaps all the swallows were hunkered down next to a low-lying pond hoping to see some flying insects.

It didn't really start to rain until we got across the Sheep Creek bridge, once we got to town it developed into a real gullywasher and we've been having afternoon thundershowers every day since.

More Spring

 

We had a string of very warm days (high of 28 C!) so spring has had a real jumpstart.  My Nanking cherry tree is blooming, and my sour cherries are just starting to burst.

We walked to Scout Island and spotted the first goslings.

There were only 3 goslings but a minute later I spotted another family with maybe 12 goslings.

Patti and I are in training for a walk around PEI in the fall so we've been hiking down the creek valley, increasing our mileage every week.  We are up to 11 km this week.

When we are down in the valley so often we start to really notice the changes as spring advances.

In the burn area I noticed these bright yellow flowers.

Corydalis

Hoping this is the first of many wildflowers to pop up after the fire.  Maybe we'll get morels!

Patti spotted an eagles' nest right above the road with an eagle sitting on it.

Today when we walked by we saw one of the nesting pair flying while the other sat on the nest.  Then spotted the carcass of a mallard duck on the road near the nest.

Bad closeup. White spot is eagle's head.

And we also spotted a new osprey nest being built on a hydro pole. There were two ospreys working on the nest and another circling overhead.  I assume the third osprey was not happy with a new pair moving into its territory.

Spot the osprey in this poor photo.

Spring

 

Spring has arrived.  Note also the display of newfound patriotism. Or is it a Newfoundland display of patriotism?988

For the first time in years my Forsythia are putting out a great show of blooms.

I pulled out and displayed my Easter egg collection.  I inherited a bunch more from my mom.

Here's this year's Easter egg: