Post by Gord on Jul 19, 2008 15:19:22 GMT -8
A little late sharing my report.
Got to the parking lot just before 9:00. On the way up came across a female Ruffed grouse and about 4 fairly small chicks. Even though the little ones were the size of tennis balls at best, one flew at least 12 feet to get over the stream running along side the road. Amazing how soon they can fly. Was not able to get a picture of the chicks from the truck.
Also, down at the beginning of the road, was this doe munching peacefully away.
Near the parking lot was a snowshoe hare, also munching away.
Things were fairly quiet birdwise on the trail in general. A family of Grey Jays were just before Spoon Lake. Plenty of Hermit Thrush singing and two Black Swifts flew over noisily. On the cliffs somewhere I could hear a Golden Eagle calling. Things are really behind up here. Aside from the jays, I saw no other young birds and most of the adults seem to be in courtship mode more than feeding a nest full of young!! The plants are also late. There is still plenty of snow in places.
I think this is a Cascades Golden-mantled Ground Squirrel. I have never seen one there before.
A little bit of scenery from around Spoon Valley.
Lots of juncos singing. American Pipits were doing their display flights which I have not often seen. A highlight bird of the day was a pair of Townsend's Solitaires. One was singing very loudly and for several minutes as they moved around the same general area. Makes one thing they could be nesting. Otherwise as mentioned, it was not as active for birds as Ive seen it. A few Grey-crowned Rosy-finches went overhead several times.
Up top, the scenery was pretty good. A little bit of poor air quality though.
Also up here were three mammal species.
This Hoary Marmot startled me as it came up for a look.
A Pika came out briefly for a snack.
And a little Yellow-pine Chipmunk paused briefly in its high-strung looking movements for a photo.
Also up top, was this Yellow-rumped Warbler poking around in the rocks and shale and pausing to look at the Fraser River far below. Closest plant of any sort, never mind a tree, was quite far away.
A good photo to go along with the article about them on the website and how adaptable they are!
While I did not look overly hard, I did not see any Ptarmigan on this trip. On the way back down, once again at Spoon Valley, this deer made the day more mammal action than bird complete. At first, I saw it in the shrubs bordering the creek. At one point, I saw it jumping around back and forth over the stream and even once splashing around in the water. I thought maybe something was chasing it. But then it came closer and closer. I swapped lenses thinking about getting some scenery shots with the deer in it. Once I did that, the deer really started to act. It bounded wildly past us up the hill a little bit to turn around and roar back on by. It did this twice and to me it was clearly enjoying itself. Too bad I did not have time, or the presence of mind, to change lenses to the longer one again! The last we saw of it was as it ran further away bounding over logs, tossing its head and making fantastic jumps. The pictures are sort of a progression of the story above.
Cant wait to get back up there again!
Got to the parking lot just before 9:00. On the way up came across a female Ruffed grouse and about 4 fairly small chicks. Even though the little ones were the size of tennis balls at best, one flew at least 12 feet to get over the stream running along side the road. Amazing how soon they can fly. Was not able to get a picture of the chicks from the truck.
Also, down at the beginning of the road, was this doe munching peacefully away.
Near the parking lot was a snowshoe hare, also munching away.
Things were fairly quiet birdwise on the trail in general. A family of Grey Jays were just before Spoon Lake. Plenty of Hermit Thrush singing and two Black Swifts flew over noisily. On the cliffs somewhere I could hear a Golden Eagle calling. Things are really behind up here. Aside from the jays, I saw no other young birds and most of the adults seem to be in courtship mode more than feeding a nest full of young!! The plants are also late. There is still plenty of snow in places.
I think this is a Cascades Golden-mantled Ground Squirrel. I have never seen one there before.
A little bit of scenery from around Spoon Valley.
Lots of juncos singing. American Pipits were doing their display flights which I have not often seen. A highlight bird of the day was a pair of Townsend's Solitaires. One was singing very loudly and for several minutes as they moved around the same general area. Makes one thing they could be nesting. Otherwise as mentioned, it was not as active for birds as Ive seen it. A few Grey-crowned Rosy-finches went overhead several times.
Up top, the scenery was pretty good. A little bit of poor air quality though.
Also up here were three mammal species.
This Hoary Marmot startled me as it came up for a look.
A Pika came out briefly for a snack.
And a little Yellow-pine Chipmunk paused briefly in its high-strung looking movements for a photo.
Also up top, was this Yellow-rumped Warbler poking around in the rocks and shale and pausing to look at the Fraser River far below. Closest plant of any sort, never mind a tree, was quite far away.
A good photo to go along with the article about them on the website and how adaptable they are!While I did not look overly hard, I did not see any Ptarmigan on this trip. On the way back down, once again at Spoon Valley, this deer made the day more mammal action than bird complete. At first, I saw it in the shrubs bordering the creek. At one point, I saw it jumping around back and forth over the stream and even once splashing around in the water. I thought maybe something was chasing it. But then it came closer and closer. I swapped lenses thinking about getting some scenery shots with the deer in it. Once I did that, the deer really started to act. It bounded wildly past us up the hill a little bit to turn around and roar back on by. It did this twice and to me it was clearly enjoying itself. Too bad I did not have time, or the presence of mind, to change lenses to the longer one again! The last we saw of it was as it ran further away bounding over logs, tossing its head and making fantastic jumps. The pictures are sort of a progression of the story above.
Cant wait to get back up there again!
