All right. All this talk of hummers has prompted this northern rebuttal
<grin>. This past weekend was gloriously sunny but a touch cold thanks to
another shot of dry Arctic air. Last week, a Prince George local had
stopped to relieve himself at the McLeod Lake dump and ran smack into a
flock of 20-30 ptarmigan. His description of black around the eye led us to
believe they were Rocks. Thus, a few of us decided to pile into a couple of
cars and head up north to check it out, about ninety miles or so up toward
McLeod Lake. The plan was to have breakfast in town and lunch up north.
Well, things would have started off fine if Mark hadn't twisted the
ignition key trying to open the car door (seems Helen had just washed the
car despite the warning of the impending cold snap). Despite that little
setback, we eventually were underway. Now there aren't a lot of birds
around this neck of the woods this time of year but there are always ravens
on highway patrol and we managed to tally about 30 between Prince George
and our northern terminus. Our secondary quest was to see the Trumpeter
Swans along the Crooked River where underground springs maintain open water
even in the depths of winter. The swans were there but only 5 adults and 4
young... low numbers compared to the past few years. Maybe they went out to
the coast this winter. The pair of dippers cavorting around near the 100
Road bridge north of Bear Lake was a treat. Of course, there was nothing
but ravens and a single chickadee at the ptarmigan-less dump! We made it to
the Mackenzie junction and had lunch (not great) and then decided to look
for caribou along the road to Kennedy Siding just east a few miles. No
caribou but plenty of fresh caribou and wolf tracks... as well as great
views of the snowcapped northern Rockies under a brilliant sun. On the way
back, I was starting to doze. We were several miles north of Bear Lake
again when Nancy yelled from the back seat, "Owl on a snag up on the
ridge". Screech. Radioed to car ahead (walkie-talkies are great with more
than one vehicle) to turn around. Well, lo and behold, perched atop a
wind-swept snag was a N. Hawk Owl in all its finery patiently perusing its
domain. Kudos to Nancy for keeping a sharp eye. Characteristically, it
showed no interest in we mere humans. It was almost a year to the day that
I had last seen a Hawk Owl. This made our day and we had smiles on our
faces as we rolled back into town. Oh yeah... we expect to see our hummers
roll in here when the snow goes in April!

- Jack

Jack Bowling
jcbowling at mindlink.bc.ca
Prince George, BC