July7-11 High Level to Fort Providence

Wow! It's hot up here.  We have had temperatures up to 36 degrees along the way to Fort Providence.  After leaving High level we crossed the NWT border and camped at Twin Falls Campground for 2 nights.  This was next to 2 beautiful waterfalls.  Then it was up to Hay River fort another 2 nights.  On the advice of the camp ground attendant we took a day and drove to Fort Smith through Wood Buffalo park.  We left the trailer in Hay River.  It was a long drive but I have always wanted to visit Wood Buffalo.  It was really too hot to explore much and the horse flies were thick.  We decided to spend a night at fort Providence before getting to Yellowknife.  It split up the trip quite nicely.  The campground attendant there told us the helicopters constantly flying over were taking wood out to burn dead buffalo.  Apparently an outbreak of anthrax is decimating them north of the Mckenzie River.  It takes 4 cords of wood to burn one buffalo and they have found over 200 of them.
     I am writing this in MacDonalds, Yellowknife.  Dian and I hiked a 3 mile trail through the backwoods this morning and shopped this afternoon.  We will be here until July 20 and take in a music festival.  Looks like there is enough going on here to keep us busy for awhile.
     Click on the picture if you would like it enlarged.

It was great to finally hit the border

Louise Falls.  I didn't expect the falls to be so big.

Dian by Alexandra Falls.  Both falls are within walking distance on the Hay River and accessible     from the campsite.

Another perspective of Alexandra Falls.

A family of Yellow-bellied sapsuckers were in our campsite at High Level.

Louise Falls again.

Dian is sitting by dinosaur tracks that were recently uncovered by winter ice breaking up.  Can you spot about 6 depressions?

Here is a close-up.

This old church caught our eye.  It was on a reservation in Hay River and not accessible to us.

This Common Tern had a spot that it came returning to quite regularly.  It would catch a fish and then take off for points unknown where it probably had a nest.  It would return in just a few minutes.  I sat on the shore of Great Slave Lake and took a lot of pictures of it.

Not a great shot but it isn't very often I get to see a Boreal Chickadee.  This one was in our campsite at Twin Falls.

This Wood Bison was on the highway to Fort Smith.

Another shot of the Tern

While watching the Tern I noticed 100's of dragon flies in the air.  I tried to get some flight shots.

A Red-eyed Vireo drove us crazy in Fort Providence.  We could hear it singing but couldn't locate it.  Finally it came to us.

Hay River is a harbour for ships.  There are many and I got a picture of a few of them.

The forest fires have put a lot of smoke in the air.  I thought it would make for some great sunrise shots on Great Slave Lake.  I got to the lake at 5:30AM but it still wasn't early enough.  Can you see the fishing boat heading out?

The heat has spawned a few forest fires and the road out was closed around High Level.  It just opened so we hope everything is clear when it's time for us to leave.  The next blog will feature Yellowknife and surrounding area.  Thanks to everyone for following us.  We are well over 2000 hits now.

July 3-July 6 Edmonton to High Level

It was good to see friends and family in Edmonton as we continue our journey north.  As we left St. Albert the wind and rain were was something else but by the time we reached Slave Lake the weather was perfect.  We spent the night north of Slave Lake in a provincial campground called Lesser Slave Lake Provincial Park (who would have thought).  A very nice spot which is popular with Edmontonians.  The next day we made it to Dixon, north of Peace River.  We pulled into a campsite and found ourselves to be alone.  It was really quiet and after a few cars drove by to check us out we decided to pull up stakes and head to Manning which was 1/2 hour away.  We found a much better spot next to the Battle River in the middle of town that felt much safer.  The next morning we visited the Manning museum.  Quite a good showing for a small town.  Three hours later we were in High Level and settled into the Aspen Grove RV Park.  Tomorrow we hit the NWT border and temperatures in the 30's.  If you want to see the pictures enlarged you can click on them.

We took another trip to Villenuve before we left Edmonton hoping to see a Sharp-tailed Sparrow.  No luck but got some more shots of a Black Tern.

These Franklins Gulls were enjoying their island getaway.

A Least Sandpiper was in the same pond as the gulls.

And so was this Spotted Sandpiper.

With its' beak full this Yellow-headed Blackbird was wondering if I was ever going to leave.

The only bird I managed to capture at Slave Lake was this Canada Warbler.  Not a great shot but I don't see them very often so I included it.

This Yellow-rumped Warbler was at the spooky Dixon campsite.  

A Yellow-bellied Sapsucker was also at Dixon-feeding young right in our campsite.

June 22-July 2 2012-Saskatoon to Edmonton

Well the last 10 days have been mostly taken up with visiting relatives.  For those following us on the blog for birds and photography this episode will be quite boring.  From Saskatoon we went to Wainwright were we stayed with Lorna Steinke, Dian's sister-in-law.  Had a great dinner and a visit to the Wainwright stampede.  We were just leaving when we got a call from my son Fred who was working in Stettler. We made a u-turn and headed there.  Spent an evening with him and then off to Edmonton.  My brother has a nice pad in the back where we park the trailer and then the serious visiting began.  Granddaughter, brother-in-law, great nieces etc.  We did manage to get to Elk Island Park, Big Lake and a slough north of Villeneuve.  Off to Northern Alberta July 4.  We hope to get to Slave Lake the first day and get back to serious photography again.  The weather has been great but we don't know about tomorrow when we leave Edmonton.  We have a reservation in Yellowknife for July 11.  Hang in there NWT-we are on our way...

                                                                                        

Lorna, Page and friend

Coots at Elk Island

House Wren Elk Island

Savannah Sparrow Elk Island

The Brenholens

Black Tern north of Villeneuve

Black tern Big Lake St. Albert.  Many feeding young here.

Ruddy Duck in duck weed.  Big lake.

Sora, scrambling through the weeds and dodging butterflies.  Big Lake.

June 19, 20, 21-Day 17, 18, 19 Elbow to Saskatoon

We dodged rain showers during our stay at Douglas Provincial Park but it was a great place to camp.  The facilities are excellent here.  When we pulled into Gordon Howe RV Park in Saskatoon June 20, we called local birder Gordon Taylor.  Gordon had generously offered to show us some local hot spots.  He picked us up at 8AM and we were off towards the west.  Not sure of our exact route but to keep a long story short, the following pictures will tell some of the story.  Many thanks Gord, for a great day.

To find a Sora in the open is always a great thrill.  Gord picked this one out as we cruised Goose Lake.

Gord took to us to a weir to watch the Pelicans.  It was entertaining watching this one navigate the current.

A few Common Grackles were also watching the Pelicans-perhaps hoping for scraps.

Eared Grebes were in abundance in many of the ponds we visited.

We also saw some Horned Grebes.  To compare with the Eared Grebe above, one has a black neck and the other a red neck (among other things).

This tagged Turkey Vulture was west of Delisle. (K36)

This Vulture was south of Elbow. (B59)

It would be great to tour the prairies and just take pictures of old buildings.

The wind prevails from the left.

A visitor at our campsite at Douglas.  American Redstart.

Douglas campsite.  Dian looking nonchalant.

This is the best I could do with many shots of the Yellow Warblers I took.

June 16,17,18-Day 14,15,16 Val Marie to Elbow Sk.

     We were a little reluctant to leave Grasslands Park as it is a magical spot.  However we have to move on if we want to complete our trip.  Chaplin was our first stop as we heard there were Piping Plovers there on Chaplin Lake.  A huge lake where they mine sodium phosphate.  I wondered where they get that stuff from.  The local campsite was $15 a night on the honour system.  A nature center catering to birders told us where we might find the Plovers and they were right.  We found our lifer after little searching.  We decided to celebrate by travelling 40 miles to Gravelberg for supper.  We heard they had a good restaurant called the Cafe de Paris.  When we got there we found out they only served paninnis and wraps.  But they were good.  On the way back we saw a badger peeping at us through some long grass.  I should say I saw it as Dian never could pick it out.  We checked for Piping Plovers again before we left Chaplin but no luck.  We considered ourselves fortunate to have seen one.  June 17 we left for Douglas Provincial Park on the shores of Diefenbaker Lake.  A great campsite for $22 a night.  Redstarts, Veerys, Yellow Warblers, House Wrens, Catbirds and more serenaded us as we set up the trailer.   June 18 we set out for a location north of Elbow where Scott Wilson, a Saskatchewan birder, kindly informed us of another Piping Plover location.  He was bang on as we found a pair with young after a half mile hike on the shores of Lake Diefenbaker.  I took a few shots and we left trying to disturb them as as little as possible.

A shot taken at the Crossing RV site.  A fellow was setting up is tent and the cattle gathered to watch him.  It was hilarious.

A Shoveler mother and her brood.

An Upland Sandpiper checking me out.

A Willet is quite a drab bird until it flies and reveals the wing pattern.

A male Wilsons Phalarope incubates the eggs.  This one must have had a nest close as it was doing a distraction display.

It was raining as we headed to Douglas Park so we decided to take a side trip to Moose Jaw and visit the Western Development Museum.  This trailer handmade in Manchester England caught our eye.

Franklins Groundsquirrel or Bush Gopher-they are all over our campsite.

Veerys are also common in the campsite.  

Last evening I went down to a small pond hoping to find some beaver.  I lucked out with 2 but not with my lens.  It was way to powerful to capture all of these surprisingly tame subjects.  They would swim up to me and stare me down.

Diefenbaker Harbour at Elbow Sask.  where I have found a WIFI signal for the blog.

Another nice flower.

While I was watching the beaver this muskrat also wanted to get in on the action.

Our target bird.  We have looked for the Piping Plover many times before and it was satisfying to finally find them.

3 young Piping Plovers were scurrying away from us.  These shots are heavily cropped as we didn't want to get too close.

     We have to do our birding and photography between rain showers as the weather is unsettled. We are also finding ticks to be a problem.  I found one at the nape of Dian's hair.  I think they like the dark as I found one close to where the sun don't shine on myself.  We average 3 or 4 a day.  Luckily I don't think any have bitten us yet.  Off to Saskatoon tomorrow, June 20.