Sunday, March 18, 2012

Friday I had to visit one of our locations in
central Alberta so we decided that the entire family
minus the cat would drive up Friday ( mostly Helen )
stay in a hotel overnight and wander home Saturday
visiting a couple of birding spots on the way. This
would give us an idea of how the dogs travel. This trip
 is about 4.5 hours the trip to the cabin about 8 hours.
The dogs were not happy about hours in their new
kennel and Shaun was paranoid about a night
in the hotel, he gets that from me but they did fine.
However it is still winter here so birding consisted
of magpies, crows and skeins of returning geese.
Out first stop was Beaverhill Lake. We never found the
actual observatory but we did find the lake.


"This natural area is internationally recognized for its wetlands
& diverse bird populations - more than 270 bird species have
been reported, with 145 known to breed locally. Beaverhill Lake
was designated a RAMSAR site (wetland of international significance)
 in 1987. The two-day Beaverhill Lake Snow Goose Festival attracts
6000 people to the site annually."


Government of Alberta


Beaverhill Lake has dried over the years and is now more
wetland than  lake. As such these photos are pretty
typically of a prairie wetland in the winter.








Next we decided to stop at the
Miquelon Lake Provincial Park
"Miquelon Lake is at the south end
of the Cooking Lake Moraine. The park is
dominated by trembling aspen, balsam poplar
& white spruce forests."

Government of Alberta


Despite numerous maps and mapbooks
we did not find that either. We did find a
nice spot to stop (dogs) along a gravel
road. There was still a fair bit of snow once
you got off the highway into the trees and no
visible birds. It is still winter here. Then

"Home again, home again, jiggety-jog;"
Mother Goose



"Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting 
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things."


Wild Geese
Mary Oliver







6 comments:

Anonymous said...

lovely!

Guy said...

Hi Sandy

Thanks a bit chilly but nice.

Guy

Kathie Brown said...

Lovely photos and poem there at the end. Sorry you could not find the places you were looking for. You were brave to try in the first place in winter!

Guy said...

Hi Kathie

We will try again one summer. I was just talking to someone from the area who mentioned the snow geese do not stop there anymore. And we were not that brave the weather was okay on the weekend. We are having a heavy snowfall here today so I am glad I am not on the road now.

Thanks for stopping by.
Guy

Unknown said...

Great tour, and it looks like winter is not over for you!! Boom & Gary of the Vermilon River, Canada.

Guy said...

Hi Gary

Sorry to be so long in responding. They are predicting more snow for today so we have a ways to go yet.

Guy