Blanchet Island, East Arm of Great Slave Lake, Northwest Territories. 15-16 August 2015 PART I

Went out for a camping/fishing/stargazing trip to Blanchet Island, located at the East Arm of the Great Slave Lake. Never been that far east on the lake before - the geology and vegetation are distinctly different from Yellowknife.There are also fossils of stromatolites there!

Took the Twin Otter there ....

We're actually leaving, in these photos ... couldn't get a footage of us arriving when we are still in the plane, now, can we?

THAT is a piece of stromatolite!

And THIS is me holding dinner...

Which he caught.

I didn't do too much exploring/hiking as my back was a bit messed up that day. So it was mostly fishing, and looking at rocks, and napping, and snacking.... while waiting for the night show to start .. about nearly 11ish pm, all the way to 3ish am, when the sky starts to get too light to see the colours well.

The photos are a bit blurry, as I didn't have my tripod or remote shutter release with me that night (absent minded, much?), and towards the end the lenses were so fogged up with condensation. But the effect it had on the photos just made it more surreal.                                                                   

Considering the limitations, the photos came out spectacularly well. I am chuffed that I managed to capture some of the rarer colours (reds, purples). Haven't come across Oranges yet - it's Mythical Status yet to be debunked.
                                         

Glowsticks and Auroras = fun

Next time it will be multiple glowsticks going in all directions!

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I only act my age (about 5, mentally) when I'm camping

Wordlessness

My Silence and Solitude goes hand in hand
A bubble of Quiet in a noisy, hectic Land
It deafens, nay, thunders, oh silence so sweet
Only then can I hear the ethereal cosmic Beat.

Once in a while another Wanderer traverses by
In his Sphere of Silence, beckons you nigh
And we meet both in Quiet, voiceless exchange
For a Silent Companion is not all that strange!

To my silent companions out there in the World,
Who stood while Rocks, Rivers and Time unfurled
I wish upon you a silent, wordless smile-
For I think I'll be quiet for a little more while.

(R Howton August 2015)

Of course we went fishing, again! Baker Island, Great Slave Lake.

Decided to scoot a bit further from Yellowknife Bay this time. About 40km southwest to Baker Island. I am still a bit weirded out by the fact that I still cannot instinctively tell the cardinal directions during the day! Nothing freaks out a forest monkey out of the tropics more than having the sun follow a horseshoe path around the horizon .....

I am tempted to get an underwater camera so we can view the fishies under the water. It's exciting when they bite the lure, but that is only half of the action - I bet it would fun to see them chase the lure in the water itself, from the vantage point under the water.


                                       

                                                                    

We still haven't quite figure out how to get the whitefish and trout.... but it was still a blast fishing out monster pikes out of the weedy banks.

They (pikes) are still chilling out in the cooler..... waiting for me to clean them up! Yum!

Back in the North for some fishing

A bit smoky on the water, but not Smokopoliptic like last year.

Scooted to the Mirage Islands to do some fishing - so far all we get is pike. But Pike is good fun to fish :) nothing beats a nice day out with fishing gear and friends. Well.... maybe a day out hunting deer in the bush comes pretty close. Hehe.

This is actually "Angry Birds Island" - so named because it has a huge colony of gulls who WILL dive bomb you
in your boat if you get too close! Real Angry Birds!

Smoky out here

Catch of the day. Maybe about 10kg of fresh pike! NOM!

Always a fun day out, when you hang out with people you like!

The water around the little islands was almost warm enough to warrant a swim! Should have brought my neoprene wetsuit with me. 17 deg C is about the threshold swim temperature I can handle for about 30 mins .....

Definitely going for more fishing this weekend, then!

Slightly better video of Greg the Red Squirrel Kit in the birdfeeder

He tried to teach his younger siblings to raid the feeder, but so far they aren't as successful or interested. Greg's fur is all sleek and shiny, and he is now rounder and bigger than his siblings!

North American Red Squirrel (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus) kit raiding the bird feeder

I love watching the red squirrels in the backyard. They are always so bubbly and hyper. It's been a mild winter and a hot spring (haa!) so far, in Calgary, so there's a big baby boom of squirrels and hares.

This little guy is Greg (named after another squirrel fan in NWT - *waves hi to Greg if he's reading this*). There's three kits, but I cannot tell them apart just yet. For now they are all Gregs LOL.

More Raven photos

I was quite unwell over the weekend, so I spent a lot of time just hanging out with my feathered friends on the roof. Nano, Pico and Femto are growing fast, and they are nearly fledged. I cannot wait to spy on them exploring the world outside their nest!

Micro is the bigger of the two parents, with a missing (3rd) primary flight feather on his/her right wing. Looks scruffier than Milli, with a deeper call noise. More daring in personality as well.

Milli is smaller, with complete but tatty primary flight feathers. However, he/she has an injured right ankle (like me!) so Milli favours it a lot when landing or perching. More suspicious and less trusting than Micro, of gifts, so I would suspect that Milli injured the leg by a human set trap.

Managed to get a couple of very shaky videos of Milli. Sorry about the shakiness, as I said, I was feeling very unwell.

Dancing with Ravens - nesting site

I've made some new friends. Feathered ones, that is.

There's a Raven pair that chose to nest on a neighbour's window ledge, and the chicks are about ready to fledge. What I find hilarious is that the they (humans) tried to discourage them from nesting there by putting up plastic deterrent owls..... but of course the Ravens aren't buying it. In fact, they are lording over the plastic birds, by building a nest just around one, and using the other as a poop-perch!

Clever birds.

They even made it in the news.I've named the parents Milli and Micro, the chicks (3 of them) are Nano, Pico and Femto.

Yellowknife couple learns that there's no tricking the Ravens.

Ice fishing at a friend's cabin

Went out to a friend's cabin over the past weekend to do some ice fishing. Nothing landed this week, but got a nice lake trout the week before.

Last snowmobile ride of the season for me!

Taiga winter sunset is actually kind of nice. If you can get far enough out of town.

Northern Horizon during sunset. Panned about 90 deg clockwise from where the sun is setting.
Light scattering and "horse shoe sun path" up here really disorientates me. I've never lived
anywhere that I can't determine my cardinal points easily. Had to look at my compass!
Freaks out my inner tropical monkey.

Mosses are enjoying the melting ice and snow.
They looked like they're cheering for joy, waving green pompoms!

I like the Lichen, moss, and fungi world. They don't get as much credit or notice as plants do, though.

                                          

Green Pompom of Moss!

Not sure what this is yet.... at least until the leaves come out. Life poking out of the frozen ground.

More Moss!

I like the way the colour of the moss and it's sporophyte capsules contrasting next to the melting snow.

On the Northern Ice Roads at Sunset

More photos, went out driving on the Ice Roads for a few hours around sunset, to watch the moon and the skies. I've been doing a lot of careful walks (hobble, really) on my not quite healed ankle, so I'm usually absolutely knackered by the end of the day to type much.

Must remember to archive the photos here.

Ravens Dance

The Ravens' Dance 

Old Man North still is blowing his sharp icy breath into my Parka swaddled face. I stood there, knee-deep in feathery snow, with my hoar frosted lashes clinging stubbornly to my cheeks. I raised my head and eyes to the Dancing Cloud People, and smiled.

The Ravens are Dancing!

I hear them calling and hear their powerful wings beat the cold, chill air. Now soaring high, now swooping low; but always in a pair or in threes. Their Dance brings new life to the Earth. Their dance, it means Sister Sun is coming back, from her hut in the Cold North! With her coming, Old Man North will retreat to his icy lair.

Throck! Throck! *click*click*

Chortling Ravens express their joy in the coming of spring. In the coming of abundance and prey, and in the coming of the next nestlings. Of sleepy creatures coming out of their nests. Of Bears grazing on new grass. Of caribous, in the hundreds, if not thousands, and of fish spawning in the rivers.

Yes, I will run back home and tell the Elders. The Ravens are now Dancing! We will see Spring again! 

 

 

[This work was inspired from watching the Ravens performing their bonding rituals while I was out hobbling in the deep snow around Niven Lake]