Nice Approach

Wheels down, Flaps down, on short final. Camera stretched to its limit, so a little blurry. Tundra Swan coming in for a landing on the other side of the field.

 

Still here!

As I was taking my daily stroll around Rotary Park, I could here a baby bird crying. It was like "Feed me, Feed me". by the time I got to the Osprey nest, the deed was done and this not-so-little guy was noshing down on a fish! He was very hungry!

I t looks like somebody delivered a Rainbow Trout from the pond.

Osprey Profiles

I figure the Ospreys will be leaving for southern climates before too long. I was surprised to see this one still here and even more surprised to see him sitting and posing.

 He was quite the ham

 There was another one circling over the pond in Rotary Park probably looking for fish. It was not cooperative and stayed too high and didn't even stoop for fish.

 I am going to miss these guys. Its hard to believe that two days ago last year we had a snowstorm in Whitecourt!

 Stretching is probably good before a long flight.

 Hopefully, I will be able to get some action shots before they depart.

Ideal Conditions

This is Saturday and Sunday all ready for Family Day Celebrations in Whitecourt. Rotary Park pond is ideal. Over the last 10 days, it has warmed up and most of our snow is gone. The skating rink and touring trail (about a half kilometer has also melted and frozen back into a glass like skating surface.

A few brave souls were out skating. Come Monday (Family Day) it is expected that the ice surface will be crowded. The fire pits will be glowing and about a thousand people will be enjoying the warm weather and out doors.


However:

 There always has to be a "However, or a But" involved somewhere!


The forecast for Sunday is 4 to 7 cm of snow! All is not lost because the crews can plow it off. Still, it would be better as is. Oh yeah, all activities in the park are free!

Excitement While BBQ'ing

This is the view from our deck at about 4:30 pm while BBQ'ing. The burn was in a grassy area between our Walmart store and a residential trailer park and condo site.

It started small, and at first we thought it was a house fire.

It kept getting bigger as we watched.

You can get an idea how big it was by the twin engine spotter or "Bird Dog" near the plume.

We walked a couple of blocks to get a better view

 Fortunately, we have a air tanker base in Whitecourt and the big guns weren't long in arriving. They just got back from a major trestle fire in Mayerthorpe down the road.

The Convair has a big drop tank and is a massive plane!

He was coming in about 500 feet over the house on the way to the fire.

A helicopter and bucket came in to assist with getting the hot spots.

It was quite a show for about an hour when basically the fire was out, except for the ground crew mopping up anything still burning. We were very fortunate that there was no wind today!

Rotary Park in Whitecourt

Quite a few years ago when Millar Western Forest Products rebuilt their saw mill, they took the gravel from this area leaving a BIG pond that naturally flushes itself through the gravel to the Athabasca River. The Town of Whitecourt and MWFP worked out a deal where the Town made a Park within the Town, not more than three blocks from the down town area.

 There is a covered picnic area ( Yes, Virginia, it does get HOT and Sunny in the North)

 Every spring they put 1500 Rainbow Trout in the pond for fishing. The limits are 5 per day and the fishermen must be under 14 accompanied by an adult.

 The fountain is kind of cool.

 There are two water slides, one fast and the other slightly slower.

 Kids on their floats now and then get caught in the back eddies and have to be rescued by somebody bigger coming down and bumping them out, or by an adult on shore.

They built a fabulous climbing playground, the biggest that I have seen any where.

 There is also a splash pool with water guns and a big bucket

When the bucket dumps, there are lots of squeals and for the unwary, the chance to be knocked over.

You know, the best of all, IT'S ALL FREE!