Trout Creek Ecological Reserve
Here are the news.
Before I got into the ER I saw a dark Merlin on a snag where I have
seen one a couple of times before.
I was in the ER for 2 enjoyable hours today,not including the hour to get there and back. After
a few early rain drops, that morning was mild, with no or minimal wind.
I saw or heard 19 bird species and was delighted with this. Many birds
are hanging out together as they prepare to fatten up and or store food for
migration and winter.
Mixed flocks of nuthatches, juncos, siskins
(there were a lot of them today), chickadees and
even a few Western Bluebirds livened up the otherwise calm morning.
I was ecstatic to hear and then see my first flocks (19 and 7) of
SANDHILL CRANES! I heard 2 unexpected RUBY-CROWNED KINGLETS and saw a WESTERN
TANAGER
and immature CHIPPING SPARROW. The last 2 species
are not uncommon on the ER but I had not seen one for some time.
A few plant species had some flowers and one species was in bud (/Artemesia dranunculus / or
Tarragon). The toadflax appears to have taken a beating from the bio-control
and the dry summer. There were few seed heads and
those that I checked crumbled in my fingers . Again, I
found no knapweed, so the bio-control has been significant.
I was surprised to find that
the summer silver-gray Steppe-Mouse Moss was green! I assume that the wetter
weather has got the photo receptors working again,but I don`t know.
The best part of the tour was watching a young BLACK BEAR,about 4-5 years old, foraging
below a
but it ran up the slope, fat jiggling, as I moved.
The old stile at the 12th green of the golf course has a broken leg
and needs to be replaced as it is dangerous.
About 25m north of the stile, a short piece of fence need to be
re-attached to a post or anchored to T-bar. As you know, the fence at the talus
slope needs to be repaired.
There was no sign of human activity.
Cheers......Laurie