One Swallow Doesn't Make A Summer

If you are reading this, a Great Time to pass the 'Link' on to Friends & Family!

Early this morning I telephoned the Leake household and in fairly short time Heather was down to The Lodge to pick me up and take me back for a 4 days stay.

Some little way outside what is the main village there is this turn off to the north,

and soon the LEAKE homestead sign hove into view.

Let me introduce you to my friends Colin Leake, currently busy in his job as Maintenance Manager on the AlCan Highway, as well as organising the next family holiday,

and his wife Heather, seen here cooking enough chicken to feed the 17 people (just a very small part of the food required for this 2 weeks trip) who will be on their upcoming holiday. This involves flying, by private light aircraft, with 1,500 pounds of kit to the Nahani River in the North West Territory, then rafting from Virginia Falls to Nahani Butte a distance of 240Km

Looking down the main entrance path the first building is

the 'Guest Room', yes this was to be all mine during my stay.

Then comes the Stables which are accommodation for Heather's 7 horses,

and in true Western style what serves as the Tack Room, a sturdy ranch fence.

The front of the main house.

the back and

2 gable ends with the

west view complete with loungers, stereo, beer fridge and these

beautiful vistas. Looking between the trees the Toad River is also visible.

An Elk scull and antlers serve as a table table.

The barbecue area.

Heather's garden complete with potatoes, rhubarb, lettuce etc.

One of a number of out-houses bedecked with Moose antlers.

The 2 Guardians of the property as carved by Colin.

Four species of Swallow in the air or perched at the same time!

Violet-green Swallow

Each cabin has its attendant group of nesting Cliff Swallow.

Cliff Swallow

Tree Swallow

Barn Swallow

Of note, just outside of Port Nelson a Sandhill Crane was seen on a roadside verge, otherwise thus far the species of 'wildfowl' recorded here are as follows (list additions in blue):- Mallard, Northern shoveler, Pintail, Cinnamon Teal, Lesser Scaup, Bufflehead, Blue-winged Teal, Gadwall, Slavonian Grebe, Pied-billed Grebe, Ring-necked Duck and American Wigeon. Other additions include Sharp-shinned Hawk, Spotted Sandpiper, Northern (Red-shafted) Flicker, Warbling Vireo and Lesser Yellowlegs.

Trip List = 145 World Lifers = 14

Fort Nelson to Toad River

The 3 hour run from Fort Nelson to

was a mere bagatelle compared to some of the journey's I've made so far, but with the 2 days of continuous rain now hopefully behind me, today's destination is likely to be one of the highlights of the trip. Having spent 3 days here on the 2007 tour, I know the potential is very high with 2 main aims, one would be to better the number of 'wildfowl' recorded here, while the second will be to visit the Leake family who showed us such fantastic hospitality last time.

There has been a little development here during the 4 year interim, mainly more accommodation having been built, but there was no problem getting a room for the night which was very comfortable except for the perennial problem. The water here is about 80% sulphur, at least that what it smells like, but everything else about the place is verging on paradise. With the Greyhound arriving at 18:oo and daylight extending well beyond 22:00 there was plenty of time to get reacquainted.

The scenery was just as spectacular as I remembered it, but

just on a cursory look it seemed like reaching anything like the 21 species of 'waterbird' we recorded on this lake alone, was already looking like a tall order.

This small spur to the main lake has been effectively

dammed by a family of Beavers, seen here on the left edge of the water

with a close up of the southern section and the water overspill.

Beaver Lodge

Seems like the Heavy Metal brigade are this far north and neatly altering the message on this skip.

Simple but effective, this film of polythene stops

this!

Some distant shots of 3 Beavers.


Distant Slavonian Grebe.

A flower?

Catching a movement (that I thought might be a Woodpecker) out of the corner of my eye I went to investigate, but could only find this Red-breasted Nuthatch.

When I came to edit the photographs a Northern (Red Shafted) Flicker was seen in the hole.

Lesser Yellowlegs

Lesser Scaup

Cedar Waxwing, good numbers of them here and interesting to see how they feed.

On the scarce occasions we see them in UK they are feeding exclusively on 'berries'. Here at this season there are no fruits and seems novel to see how adept they are at 'fly-catching'!

Bufflehead (male)

Bufflehead (female).

Brown-headed Cowbird males).

Brown-headed Cowbird (female) not a great shot, but interesting to see how they 'walk down' the Dandelion stems to feed on the seeds.

Ruddy Ducks

Dawson Creek to Port Nelson

After 2 comfortable nights and the same number of exciting days, it's back to the 'old faithful' Greyhound to continue the journey north. A chance to catch up on the dhobying, wildlife notes and photo editing etc, I feel well refreshed and raring to go. The 'Mile Zero' post at Dawson Creek is exactly what it says, the start (or if you're going the other way, the end) of the Alaska (AlCan) Highway. The flexible plan,which can change by the hour, is to continue up as far as Fairbanks, Alaska stopping at Fort Nelson, Toad River, Whitehorse and Tok at the very least, which is just a mere 1523 miles from the post.

Mammals List thus far:-

Ground Squirrel, Grey Squirrel, White-tailed Deer, California Sea-lion, Raccoon, Hawaiian Monk Seal, Black Bear, Moose (or Swamp Donkey as they're known around here), Cony (Rabbit), Coyote, Mole plus unidentified Bat & Vole Sp.

I do like these huge lorries.

Barn Swallow

and again!

The first Cliff Swallows nests, let's hope it won't be the last.

There have been 2 full days of persistent rain, hence the short post. Should be moving on to Toad River in the next couple of days from where there should be a lot more action. Fingers crossed!