A Most Peaceful Place

Is this a slice of heaven or what?

Opapiskaw Rapids

on the Winnipeg River near Lac du Bonnet, MB  (the locals say lac du bonny)

The river was higher than usual, so the rapids were fairly submerged.

Common Yarrow (Achillea millefolium) 

So very peaceful.

I think this is Alumroot (Heuchera richardsonii). 

Did I say it was a most peaceful, still evening....??? 

 
And what Canadian lake, river or stream is complete without our national animal Castor canadensis

A storm advancing?  Yes, this is part of the storm system that caused flooding in Alberta, dumped a lot of rain over Southern Saskatchewan and Manitoba....with more to come.  But, I didn't know about all that.  I'd been in the woods for a few days, completely oblivious of what was going on in the rest of the world.  Switched off and tuned out.  So nice.

A Canadian Tiger Swallowtail (Papilio canadensis) also enjoying the simple and very natural life.

This particular bit of serenity was courtesy of Opapiskaw Campground in Manitoba's Whiteshell Provincial Park.

Thanks, Manitoba.  I'll be back.

Where is it?

Wildflowers And Turkeys

Last June, after my Churchill trip, I spent a day driving around the woods and marshes east of Winnipeg.  I love marshes and fens. 

 The Blue Flag Irises (Iris versicolor) were blooming (irises are my favourite garden flower) 

  
There are bugs on these flowers, wonder what they are.

 A Large Yellow Lady`s Slipper  (Cypripedium pubescens var. pubescens).  Another wild flower I am always delighted to find.

Some Yellow Pond-lily (Nuphar variegatum) pads with a flower bud

Two Wild Turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) toms....who were displaying and putting on a bit of a performance, until we got close.  I never have the `right` lens on my DSLR.

Oh well, it is always fun to see these big, rather ugly-yet-handsome birds.

 

 

Churchill

We flew into Churchill, Manitoba on Calm Air late this afternoon.  It's a bit of a return to Winter for me...in fact, it is likely colder here now than it was in Estevan for most of the past Winter.  I will survive and so will my cohorts, except Rhonda from Alabama is not quite aclimatized to this sort of chill.  The breeze coming in off the iced over Hudson's Bay is mightly cold.

So far the birding is fantastic, and I expect it will just keep getting better.  This is my first trip Up North so many of the northern birds are Lifers for me.  It is very exciting.

This is the tide coming in near the mouth of the Churchill River near the old grain terminals. 

There are hundreds of Ruddy Turnstones sitting on the little ice flows near shore.  Many pairs of Common Eiders (Lifer), a few pairs of Long-tailed Ducks, one pair of Red-breasted Mergansers, many Arctic Terns  (Lifer) and several Parasitic Jaegers (Lifer) scaring them into dropping their freshing caught lunch.  Amazing to watch.

Anyway, I'm tired tonight.  Maybe I'll get a couple hours tomorrow to sort through some pix and post a few.  I've been averaging 4 hours sleep per night, with little 'time off'.  Hope I can sort through a few pix tomorrow and post some things.

My alarm is set for 4:45 a.m.  We are meeting at 5:45 for breakfast and then off birding who knows how many hours.  Our leader, Ken, is just a trifle hyper.  We older gals need a tad more rest than he seems to....however, we are pretty gung-ho ourselves!

Creekside Revisited

During my last recent ramble through some parts of Manitoba, I again camped overnight at Creekside.  Actually, I was surprised the place was open as it must have been flooded earlier in the Spring since 'creekside' means along the shore of the Assiniboine River. 

This sign looks like it has recently got some new legs but still needs a bit more of a wash-up. 

Anyway, this is a friendly, quiet bit of refuge for a weary RVer, tired of battling the big trucks and usually heavy traffic on the TransCanada.  It's 40 kms or so east of Portage la Prairie.

The birding is usually pretty good there too.  The park has good variety of big old trees.  Chestnut-sided Warblers, American Redstarts, and Red-eyed Vireos were among the feathered types near my site.

The resident Canada Goose pack were sunning on the lawn when I drove out the following morning.

Creekside is the place I camped two Springs ago when Western Painted Turtles  (Chrysemys picta bellii) were laying eggs. 

This is one of those female Painted Turtles.  They were everywhere. 

This one deposited her load a few meters from where I was parked.  She dug, and dug and dug a hole in the damp sand, as deep as her back legs would stretch. 

She would deposit an egg, cover with some sand, lay another....

On and on - 20-25 eggs

She covered the rest of the sand, and then laid on the 'nest', resting.  It was dark by then.  The whole process took about 3 hours.

When I awoke next morning, the turtle was gone, the only indication of some sort of activity was a wet spot the size of her body.  She must have emptied herself of a fair amount of fluid.

I didn't get a chance to ask the park owner about the turtles or flood damage when I checked in. 

Oh, and yes, I like turtles, too.

More info about Painted Turtles at Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Painted_turtle

Clouds

I love big puffy cumulus cloud formations - especially when I am not in the immediate vicinity they are building!

This one was near Russell, Manitoba, Canada yesterday afternoon.