October 9th, 2024 by Gail Hachey and Claudia Lipski
Time Involved: 11:00 AM – 4:00 PM (only 1.5 hours on the actual linear park)
Distance travelled to and from Alix – 200 km (the nestbox trail is 6.6 km)
Impromptu! Claudia’s plan for the day had fallen through, so with a quick text and response from Gail, we were off to clean out nest boxes!
We met at the Erskine General Store at 11:15 AM and then carpooled to the south end of the Rowley Linear Park along Twp. Rd. 32-0, taking gravel road shortcuts to the Scollard Road. The last portion of Scollard Road was paved, so that was a nice change (although there had been little traffic and the gravel roads were dry). The fall colours were a delight! The aspen poplars still held their yellow leaves and the contrasts with evergreens, willows, saskatoons and dogwoods were striking.
The travel time from Erskine was less than one hour, and we started the 6.6 km trail at 12:10 PM. The temperature was a balmy 13 C. As we drove the trail northward, we appreciated having the sun behind us. There was minimal wind, so the messy job of emptying the boxes wasn’t so bad. We had left Erskine under cloud but had only a scant cloud cover while on the trail.
Our first wildlife sighting was a yellow butterfly and then a loggerhead shrike! Other than that, it was very quiet for wildlife. We saw a few more yellow butterflies, two horned larks, an unidentified sparrow and a magpie. A helicopter flew by to the west, and a farmer crossed the linear park on his way to another field.
The old railway berm was easy to drive, with only a few holes to bump through and no trees close to the trail that could reach the car. The grass was about 20 cm high, but the tire track paths were mainly bare soil, short grass, or gravel.
The vandalized toilets have been removed, and only one picnic table remains near boxes 21/22. Two nestboxes have been used as target practice, so they must be replaced.
The Rowley Linear Park hosts a total of 29 pairs of boxes. Tree Swallow young had successfully fledged from a total of 32 boxes. We also recorded eight nest starts and noted that six boxes had either dead young or unhatched eggs. We found a few house wren nests and only one house sparrow nest.
We created a bit of excitement when, to our horror, Claudia realized that her phone was missing. With many more boxes to check, Claudia realized that her phone was missing. Several stops later, we discovered it on the hood of the car, exactly where it had been placed with the Merlin app running. Merlin had identified horned larks, and the phone was safely retrieved. At this point, Gail realized that her gloves were missing! Back we went this time for only one stop, to retrieve them.
We wandered our way back to Erskine via back roads that skirted the east side of the Red Deer River. The views to Dry Island Buffalo Jump Provincial Park were amazing in its autumn regalia.
Travelling on an overgrown road allowance near the end of our eventful day, we happened upon a large cluster of shaggy mane mushrooms. These edible delights were gleefully harvested and later fried for dinner. A delectable end to a delightful day!
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