Trout Creek Warden’s report Sept 12, 2012

Laurie Rockwell reports:

• a very cool 7c at 7.30am with a slight breeze that seemed less noticeable in the sunny spots! it was very quiet for most of my 2hr hike.
• I saw/heard 13 species of birds, mostly resident species. I was very happy to see a species that I have seldom seen on the ER, a Red-napedSapsucker (male) working a sap well on a Saskatoon shrub. I also saw a seldom seen Downy Woodpecker and heard a magpie,  a local species that I do not often see, even in the summer.
• most plants are dried up, but a few are still in some stage of green. In fact, the Rabbit Bush is still in flower. I removed 10 knapweed plants, a far cry from the days before bio-control!
• I saw/heard no mammals, saw no new scat. The only insects were a few small moths .
• I saw no sign of human activity.
• Sara et al will be doing fence repairs tomorrow. For this I am grateful,given tight economic time

Red-naped Sapsucker (Sphyrapicus nuchalis)

Image by Calibas, Wikipedia Commons.