Saturday Morning Walk

At 9:00 am on a Saturday, the Town park is pretty quiet.

The Loons are still asleep.

The baby ducks and their mom were awakened by brooklyn trying to catch them by swimming. She swam half way around the pond before she gave up.

The little guys were none the worse for wear, but their  Mom was a little frazzled.

The other loon was awakened at the noise of the chase.

This is some type of water weed that is just beginning to flower. It is interesting that the flowers come up into the air.

We did about 2 km of walking then decided to head for home.

A Hint of Spring

This is what I had prepared to post prior to the 25 cm dump of snow we got. (See previous post)

A trip to the Athabasca River today showed that , yes, ducks have returned, why I don't know!

 The river was flowing pretty good for this early, but no where near flood stage. That normally happens in August when the mountain glaciers really start melting.

 Lots of little ducks floating around.

 Houston, we have lift off!

 There was a hint that a heron had also returned.

 There were lots of geese on the sandbar out front, but they were in the brush squawking and choosing mates. The ones that were flying were going down the back channel, out of camera range.

Two Gold Eyes  were indifferent to my presence, up to a point. This goes to show that maybe we will get spring ( we may call it summer) this year.

The dogs are shedding, the horses are shedding and some of the birds are back!
Bring it on!

Here is what we have scheduled for this weekend!

Alerts in effect for Whitecourt, AB

Snowfall Warning

Issued at 10:33 AM MDT Friday 12 April 2013

SUMMARY

Heavy snow beginning tonight.

DETAILS

A low pressure system will develop over Alberta tonight bringing with it a band of heavy snow. Current guidance suggests the band will set up from the Grande Cache region through the Capital region and into areas east of Red Deer. Total snowfall amounts up to 20 cm are possible by Sunday.

They were wrong! We got 25 cm (10 inches) of very wet snow!