Woodlawn Park & Golf course - after the flood

The water has receded.  This is what the place looks like in the aftermath.  All photos courtesy of Larry Preddy.  I'm using most of his descriptions too.

Washed out road into the golf course and silt on road to Woodlawn entry gate (there were drifts of silt at least 2 feet high around the gate)

 #9 Fairway 

 Area in front of clubhouse with #18 green in background behind the pine trees

 You can see the high water mark on the maintenance sheds (at park entrance)

Road into the campground area is completely washed out and part of the river now. There used to be at least 30 campsites on at least 30-40 yards of ground to the left before the river.

The picnic grounds and oldest camping areas

 The river from #47 bridge - it's quite a bit wider now

Thanks Larry!

Just Fledged

and not quite sure about the strange things in this new world outside the nest.  This funny, little bit of a bird is a young Cliff Swallow (Petrochelidon pyrrhonota)

It survived the Great Flood of 2011, having been raised in a mud nest tacked to the uppermost part of a culvert through which poured the raging water from Boundary reservoir into Rafferty.   Stay safe, little bird.  

(Click on pix for larger & clearer, if you want)

Common Nighthawk

For the past few years, I've noticed a lack of Common Nighthawks (Chordeiles minor) around Estevan - ever since the huge, old, brick Estevan Collegiate Institute building was torn down.  I'm pretty sure these birds nested on the flat parts of the roof.  [They are also ground nesters - clearings in trees near water.  Well, we do have a lot of water around here this season....and now a lot of mosquitos!] 

Lately, though, there is at least one, hopefully two, nighthawks often cruising the sky over my place in the evenings, issuing their familiar nasal 'peent' (others may choose to translate the call otherwise, 'peent' is the way it sounds to me)

A week or so ago, I found a group of 17 nighthawks out near Mainprize Park (west of Estevan some 50-60 kms).  That particular windy afternoon, all except one were sleeping - or trying to sleep - on the rails of a corral. 

It was good to see such a good number of these insect-eating birds.  There's a lot of current concern about the rapid decline in numbers of the Barn Swallow.  Out here in the prairies, we still have a lot of Barn Swallows, but I would say the Common Nighthawk decline is not insignificant. 

Click on pix for larger & clearer, if you want.  It was pretty windy that day with feathers flying up and such; everything looks a bit blurry to me. 

For more information and an audio clip of 'peent', go to All About Birds:
http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Common_Nighthawk/id
and Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_Nighthawk

A Prairie Slough

One of the things I missed most during my several decades of city dwelling was the Prairie Slough. 

A Mallard, Anas platyrhynchos, hen and chicks

Prairie sloughs are simply the most peaceful, relaxing and interesting places on earth.

Black Terns, Chlidonias niger.

An Upland Sandpiper, Bartramia longicauda

sky watching.

A family of Northern Shovelers, Anas clypeata

A Pied-billed Grebe, Podilymbus podiceps, quietly floating, sorry about the shadows.

A displaying male Ruddy Duck, Oxyura jamaicensis.  These guys remind me of little tug-boats.

And what prairie slough would be complete without a bunch of Yellow-headed Blackbirds, Xanthocephalus xanthocephalus, squawking away

A perfect afternoon, even with a few mosquito bites.

Roche Percee Flood

This photo makes me so sad.  My best birding areas are somewhere in the vicinity of the little village of Roche Percee.  It's part of my regular birding route.  And now, much of it is under water.

Driving #39 - Estevan Area Flooding

Two days ago, I was out on Highway #39 - the bit between Estevan and Weyburn.  There's a place, just west of the little town of Macoun that is underwater.  The CP railroad tracks in this stretch are nearly submerged as well.  I think train traffic has stopped except for work trains with loads of crushed rock for the rail bed.

Needed the windshield wipers on when plowed through the water.

 The road to Mainprize Park south of Halbright

A general view of the oilfield just north of Mainprize

I promise I will get back to blogging about birds, flowers, and nature in general soon.

Oil Patch in the Flood

This is the state of probably 35% or more of the pumps in the vast oilfield on which I live.

I'm not really up on the state of the local oil industry, but since most of the roads are closed, and ALL of the roads are too soft for the big, heavy oilfield trucks, things are a little quiet.

Peonies

My peonies are blooming - gloriously blooming, in fact.  All this rain and cooler weather has been decent for my perennials, if nothing else.

So I hauled out one of my Mom's old vases - the one I always associate with big bouquets of peonies during my childhood on the farm.  I think Dad probably won this vase at the Estevan Fair way back in the 50s. 

Big, luscious blooms

And something else.....

.........ah, of course, an ant.

Estevan Flood - June 23

#47 at the Woodlawn Bridge - wash-out

Woodlawn

The golf course

Boundary Dam

Gray Partridges In The Rain

I need a break from flood photos.  Let's get back to the beloved birds.

A Gray Partridge (Perdix perdix) pair were feeding on a newly mowed acreage lawn yesterday morning.  I expect a good many nesting attempts for game birds has failed as it has for most of the waterfowl in the area. 

Mr. Partridge

Mrs. Partridge

I do have a nice goose story.  My friends have been watching a Canada Goose nest in the valley below their place.  Twice the nest has been in water, and we all thought the eggs were doomed.  However, three little goslings hatched out yesterday.  Yay