It’s a rare occasion when I’ve been able to do any hiking this summer, so Tessa and I were thrilled to be out enjoying the Highline trail in the beautiful July weather this evening.
Swainson’s thrush nest with young birds
We met John at the top of the east connector. From Pennsylvania, he’s holidaying here for a few weeks before starting work in California. A few more metres along the trail I could see that Ship’s Prow creek was down to a trickle. The ice flow is long gone, and it’s probably safe to hike up to Grassi Knob from the north approach now. It involves walking in the creek bed on some slab rock which is tricky when the water volume is high.
Three sisters creek
The highlight of tonight’s walk was seeing the Swainson’s thrush nest. I first observed the eggs on June 23. In the interim, the four speckled eggs have transformed into four large mouths. It’s been fascinating to watch this miracle of nature in my back yard.
Last year’s flood has created quite a significant change in the landscape along Three sisters creek. The entire creek bed has been excavated and widened, and is now a long stretch of rock and gravel. I’ve added a photo of how it used to be. At this time of year the creek bed was a spectacular garden of wildflowers.
Swainson’s thrush
FYI re: Pirate Trails in that area. The area above the Peaks of Grassi is a wildlife corridor. Access is in the corridor is restricted to official trails only. Being elsewhere is illegal and will result in serious fines is a CO catches you. Volunteers from the Bow Valley Stewards are working regularly in that space with the COs to close “pirate trails” and protect the wildlife, and your help to do that would be most welcome. There were articles recently in the Outlook regarding efforts to tear out illegal mountain biking technical features in that area.
Here’s a link to one of the Outlook articles: Bike structures torn down in corridor