In Tents on the Pipeline (4)

The pipeline has broken out in tents!!!! Little shelters have been erected and are moved over each join in the line. As I took these photos, I heard the most amazing zings and zaps and sounds that would have been quite perfect for a space battle if they had been accelerated. I was trying to think of someone to ask (it was about 8pm at night on Th) and finally called Kelly. Who asked Google and then suggested I ask the guys working in the morning.  I did and they had no idea. It was probably the pipes cooling off, although I'd not ever heard it before in all the times I've walked near them. Super fun and a bit creepy! 

 The area is almost all cleared, ready for a trench to be dug for the line to be buried.

 I looked inside a tent and there was blue pebble like stuff on  the plastic tarp. It turns out those are used in sanding where the welds have gone. I'm not sure what the duct tape in the earlier photo was for.

 Mum was pretty happy on Friday morning to see a tent at the end of the drive. It didn't stay long!

 They are not entirely secure and a bit of a breeze might topple them.

 They appear to be easy to carry. Two people can move and place them where they are needed. Although, I did see one in the bed of a small pick up truck a few days ago!

Arness Beach is still messy with ice and muck. There are now many kinds of ducks out on Bishop lake and mum had two mallards in the yard Friday afternoon. Mum's lake is still very much frozen over, but the birds know what time it is! 

Swans!

There are a LOT of swan photos here. I tried to decide what not to share, but it was too difficult! I was so excited to see them and I wanted to show off every photo I had. Last  year, there was a single grown swan paddling on the edge of the ice. This year, there were four adults, with a pair on the right side and a pair on the left. It was hard to choose which two to watch! These are unedited (the first one I did crop a bit of ground and sky off-I did a careful sneaking up on them. I kept taking photos so I'd have something if they spooked.) 

 Often ducks will hang out near these swan because the larger birds stir up vegetation from below with their beaks or feet. This makes for an easy snack for the other dabblers.  

This was the second pair. They did quite a bit of grooming. 

 (Back to the other side....I was really excited!)

 And then everyone decided to swim off. I hope to see them again, I don't want to disturb them, but I'd love to get a bit closer than the verge on the road.

 I believe these are Trumpeter Swan. Tundra swan congregate in flocks, while these tend to  keep to pairs. They are reported to mate for life, but not always. Trumpeter swan have all black beaks, while the Tundra ones have a yellow spot near their bill, but not always! The black band on their beak tends to be a 'U' shape to the 'V' on the Trumpeter. The Tundra swan is also smaller. The Trumpeter does not have much of a call. More of a 'oh-ohhhh' sound. You'd never believe such a giant bird (25 pounds) would have such a quiet voice. I forgot to mark what gives them their  name, the Tundra sort of whistle when they fly (their wings), but these guys are more silent once they get off the water. I often look up bird information on the all about birds site on Cornell lab of ornithology. (follow link)

Bits of Breakup

April has been full of all sorts of weather. so far. We've had melting days and snowy days and then almost hot ones. Here are a few photos I've taken while out and about. 

 Easter flowers from church and snow on Wednesday and Thursday of the same week!

The snow melted quickly and it was nice enough to go for a tramp in the woods. I didn't go very far, the snow may have been rotten (slushy), but it was deep in spots! 

I sent lake updates to our neighbors while they were on vacation. Every day it more water was seen on top, the next two photos were 24 hours apart! 

 I decided to not go down to the lake edge, the path has about 6 feet of ice on the bottom stretch of the path! I accidentally took this next photo while contemplating my decision to go down or not

We saw waterfowl on Bishop lake when we drove past, I went out to see if the swans were back and identified a male and female mallard. They took off when I approached and landed on clear water on the other lake. I attempted to hike to that far lake, but the snow was too rotten and the way wasn't entirely solid. 

 I did find 'fluff' in the creek from the other lake. It was really soft, so it might be from swan.

 This was the first time I went to the lake Bishop side of the culvert. The no trespassing sign was on the ground buried in brush, so I figured it would be ok..

 Later, on Thursday of this last week, I went to Arness Dock to see if you could get to the beach yet. The road was 'clear', but I didn't want to risk it! I took photos from on top of the hill. I climbed up quite a ways on top of the snow. In the photo below, I found I'd taken a picture with the Monopod in it. You need to look close, but it is there! (I think that is the name of that platform!)

 The jack up rig seems to be home for ravens. I could hear their liquid gurgles and as the sun set, pairs winged around the different parts reaching into the sky and settled on the black metal.

 The sunset wasn't purple on the mountain side, most of the clouds were behind me. It was fun to watch the sun drop into the sharp outline of the horizon. It was definitely golden!