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Post by james on May 21, 2024 21:15:56 GMT -8
On Monday I had time to go a bit further afield for birding than I normally do. Thought I would check out the Great Blue Heron Reserve, but on the way I made a snap decision to go to Cheam Lake Wetlands instead. And wouldn't you know it, when the exit for Cheam Lake Wetlands came into view, I decided again to keep going ...all the way to Manning. I regretted that deeply on the way home, because of traffic, but the birding at Lightning Lake was pretty good. Lots of Townsend's and Yellow-rumped Warblers singing, a Hammond's Flycatcher, Barrow's Goldeneyes staying close to the lake edges, a few Common Mergansers, a curious Mountain Chickadee, and both species of kinglets, to name a few. Grouse were booming throughout the hike but I never spotted any.
There were a lot more dead trees than I remembered so I thought maybe I would see an American Three-toed or Black-backed woodpecker but no dice. There were lots of signs of woodpecker and sapsucker activity though. Some of the live spruces had a lot of scales stripped from their bark. Other points of interest: blooming glacier lily and orange honeysuckle, and a bat hunting over the lake in a less windy spot. This was at about 2 pm so I guess it was hungry.
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Post by Chris on May 23, 2024 18:34:39 GMT -8
Always enjoyable going to Manning.
How much snow is up there?
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Post by james on May 24, 2024 6:46:55 GMT -8
Hardly any at the lakes. Just a few slippery patches in the shade . Looked like there would be more up the trail to Mt Frosty.
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Post by kenneth2019 on May 24, 2024 8:37:33 GMT -8
I was up there on Wednesday, it was snowing heavily but not staying on the ground. The snow level was only a few hundred feet up, zero degrees celcius at the lake. My knee has Me restricted to flat ground so I did not go up. Birding was good even on the level, there were Mountain Bluebird and Yellow-headed Blackbird at the boat rental.
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