Post by bandj on Jun 10, 2020 14:05:21 GMT -8
Janet and I spent last weekend in Manning, for an unofficial bird blitz.
We drove up on Thursday the 4th, stopping at the Cascade parking lot to see if any Band-tailed Pigeons were doing their gravelly thing. No sign of them, but there was a very pale looking Red-tailed Hawk (Western light morph???) presiding over the area. See Ebird list:
ebird.org/canada/checklist/S70262395
We spent that evening walking up the road from Strawberry Flats to the ski area. The road itself was fairly quiet, but did sport lots of Snowshoe Hares, as Jon has said. The ski hill area itself was nicely birdy. Highlights were the drumming Red-naped Sapsucker, that Jon also saw a couple of days later. Many Barn Swallows, with at least two nests in progress. The Finch, which we were sure from the profile and the song was a Cassin's. And a group of 4 or 5 Pipits feeding in the grassy area. On the walk back we were treated to a magnificent Hermit Thrush concert. Ebird list at:
ebird.org/canada/checklist/S70261396
On a visit two days later there were fewer birds, but a large comfortably sleeping black bear at the edge of the lower ski run. We had four bear sightings in all during the weekend.
On Friday we walked round Lightning Lake. Not too much on the lake itself. We saw what appeared to be a pair of Common Loon, but were confused later on when a third loon joined them. There was some tremoloing and posturing, but it was hard to tell who was who! Lots of Spotted Sandpipers in most places we went to. A couple of highlights of this walk were finding a pair of Three-toed Woodpeckers excavating a nest and seeing a male Spruce Grouse near the rainbow bridge strutting about and fanning its tail. Ebird list:
ebird.org/canada/checklist/S70261779
Some of our hikes were severely truncated by either blowdowns (Boyd's Meadow), or flooding (Gibson pass south trail), or outright closures (Beaver Pond). We did hike some way up Skyline one, which was in better shape until snow got too deep.
We visited McDiarmid Meadows (see ebird.org/canada/checklist/S70262199) hoping for at least a Harlequin on the river, but no luck (maybe it was too swollen and rushing even for them.)
We were delighted to find a pair of Hermit Thrush building a nest, low down in a small Subalpine Fir, surprisingly close to a building. She was doing all the work, with he guarding and helping out. A couple of short video clips:
youtu.be/jUYKmISVv1s
youtu.be/1vfKc_JgKhs
Bryan
We drove up on Thursday the 4th, stopping at the Cascade parking lot to see if any Band-tailed Pigeons were doing their gravelly thing. No sign of them, but there was a very pale looking Red-tailed Hawk (Western light morph???) presiding over the area. See Ebird list:
ebird.org/canada/checklist/S70262395
We spent that evening walking up the road from Strawberry Flats to the ski area. The road itself was fairly quiet, but did sport lots of Snowshoe Hares, as Jon has said. The ski hill area itself was nicely birdy. Highlights were the drumming Red-naped Sapsucker, that Jon also saw a couple of days later. Many Barn Swallows, with at least two nests in progress. The Finch, which we were sure from the profile and the song was a Cassin's. And a group of 4 or 5 Pipits feeding in the grassy area. On the walk back we were treated to a magnificent Hermit Thrush concert. Ebird list at:
ebird.org/canada/checklist/S70261396
On a visit two days later there were fewer birds, but a large comfortably sleeping black bear at the edge of the lower ski run. We had four bear sightings in all during the weekend.
On Friday we walked round Lightning Lake. Not too much on the lake itself. We saw what appeared to be a pair of Common Loon, but were confused later on when a third loon joined them. There was some tremoloing and posturing, but it was hard to tell who was who! Lots of Spotted Sandpipers in most places we went to. A couple of highlights of this walk were finding a pair of Three-toed Woodpeckers excavating a nest and seeing a male Spruce Grouse near the rainbow bridge strutting about and fanning its tail. Ebird list:
ebird.org/canada/checklist/S70261779
Some of our hikes were severely truncated by either blowdowns (Boyd's Meadow), or flooding (Gibson pass south trail), or outright closures (Beaver Pond). We did hike some way up Skyline one, which was in better shape until snow got too deep.
We visited McDiarmid Meadows (see ebird.org/canada/checklist/S70262199) hoping for at least a Harlequin on the river, but no luck (maybe it was too swollen and rushing even for them.)
We were delighted to find a pair of Hermit Thrush building a nest, low down in a small Subalpine Fir, surprisingly close to a building. She was doing all the work, with he guarding and helping out. A couple of short video clips:
youtu.be/jUYKmISVv1s
youtu.be/1vfKc_JgKhs
Bryan
