Fishflies

The annual emergence of mayflies from Lake Erie is a dramatic event.  Although they do not eat as adults and only live for a few hours no one can ignore the huge number of Mayflies when they emerge from the lake in mid June (perhaps they should be called Juneflies?).

Immense numbers were recorded back in the 1950's but the huge flights disappeared by the early 1970's. The reappearance of these insects has been taken as a sign of the improved health of the lake.

Here are a few images from Marie's home on June 19. There were millions of these little critters on her house and  on every leaf of every tree and shrub in her yard.

Roadside birding

May 25 - On our first day in Alberta we drove from Calgary down to Waterton Lakes National Park. Roadside birding was great and here are a few images from the day.

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Merlin with prey

Ferruginous Hawk

a pair of Barrow's Goldeneyes at Cameron Lake (lake is 99% frozen)

a very tame female Spruce Grouse feeding along Cameron Lake Road

 displaying male Dusky Grouse along Cameron Lake Road just above village of Waterton Lake. 

Alberta scenes

Dipper and Harlequin Duck were seen here in the village at Waterton Lakes National Park.

Moon rise over the Rockies in Waterton Lakes National Park

After the sun set this "sun pillar" was a breathtaking sight over Kehiwin Lake in northeastern Alberta.

Just after midnight near Cold Lake on June 2. At this time of year and at this latitude the night sky never becomes very dark.  The bright "star" is Venus.

Here is Tom Hince at 4:59 am. on June 2 searching for birds at Cold Lake.

May 25 - June 5 in Alberta

Although this trip was primarily for birding I found that, once again, Alberta was a great place to see mammals as well as birds. Here are some images from this trip and a few from last year's (see also photos from June 2009).  

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Columbian Ground-Squirrel - common at Waterton Lakes National Park

Golden-mantled Ground-Squirrel at Waterton Lakes

Red Squirrel (from 2009 trip) 

Here are mages of the three species of rabbit found in Alberta.

 Nuttall's Cottontail (above image from prior trip to Saskatchewn), 

Snowshoe Hare, Waterton Lakes National Park (15 seen along upper Cameron Lakes Road)

White-tailed Jackrabbit (image from 2009 trip) 

Bighorn Sheep at Waterton Lakes National Park being groomed by a magpie. 

Rocky Mountain Goat (kit), Banff National Park

Elk, Jasper National Park

Black Bear, Banff National Park (6 seen on June 4 drive to Jasper)

Grizzly Bear at Bow Lake in Banff National Park (my first for Canada)!

An Update

I am always impressed with how quickly the tallgrass prairie greens up after a spring burn. Here is the Ojibway Prairie Provincial Nature Reserve 25 days after the fire. It is now more lush than nearby sites that didn't burn!

The squirrel family has finally vacated my "owl box" (see post from March 9). The old box was taken down and the new box is ready to be installed.

Here are the baby squirrels back on April 18.

12 days after burn

The prairie starts greening up very quickly after a prescribed burn.  The most common question I get after a burn in the prairie is "What are those big mounds scattered everywhere?" These are ant colonies that are built by several species of mound building ants. An ant colony can take six years to produce these large mounds and the colony can be active for 12 years or more.

Spring Burn at Ojibway

A prescribed burn was carried out in the Ojibway Prairie Provincial Nature Reserve on April 15, 2010. 

Dramatic flame height as fire burns through a dense patch of Phragmites.