2019 Vacations photographs
Photographs are shown in chronological order.
Overview of my trip, which was from Glenview, the green dot, to Kinoosao, Saskatchewan, the red dot.
The destination town of Kinoosao and fishing locations. Will detail later. Site A is a large bay about 20 minutes by my little boat, where I caught no fish. Site B is a closer bay where I also struck out. Site C was good for Lake Trout, which were still shallow. I trolled with a Five-of-Diamonds lure, about 3-5 feet below the surface. Got about 100 in 5 days. Numerous Northern Pike were caught, mostly off rocky points, however, the small bay near site D yielded a 48 inch Northern, shown later.
Sunset on Manitoba Highway 6 June 13.
Saturday June 15, in the town of Leaf Rapids. I worked this small boggy area for B. frigga, taking 5. This shot is taken from the north end, just above a bird nest. More later. BTW, I used 5 different cameras, so photo quality varies.
Sunday June 16. The locals went mudding in the bog. Now I am looking north, from the south end.
The eggs of a Spotted Sandpiper at the north of the bog. The mom always flew off when I approached. I saw another bird at the south end, where I parked, which I assumed was a male, the dad to this mom.
Thanks to Bob Parsons and especially Bob Gehlert for the ID in this and most of the other bird photos on this page!
Here is where I parked.
Here is the presumed dad to the above nesting mom. But, this is actually a Killdeer.
And, I found another nest, so this was another nesting mom. These are Killdeer eggs.
Thing was, I parked here 5 times, almost crushing the eggs each time! The eggs are just below my tire track, nestled to the right of the plant.
I caught 2-3 northern pike under the bridge where Man 394 crosses the Churchill River, just north of Leaf Rapids. Locals caught walleye here, but later in the evening. Saturday night dinner.
I parked overnight in front of the town beach. Here is the view from my rig.
A closeup.
Saturday, they painted the playground equipment...
and cleaned the beach.
Sunday saw a great deal of pollen in the campsite lake. I saw this in the little roadside ponds as well.
Glaucopsyche lygdamus couperi, aka a Silvery Blue, on the beach Sunday morning.
Sunning itself.
Sunday morning I visited a small Spruce Bog just south of town. Before I entered, this flock of geese passed overhead.
I have just entered the bog. This one was very open, with few trees. The bog was so-so for butterflies, however, I did take most of the Oeneis jutta for the trip here.
Sunday afternoon, headed back to the frigga bog. A truck like this one came flying over a hill, and I was parked at the bottom. Truck kicked up a golf ball sized rock that came straight at my face. I braced for the worst, expecting a shattered windshield, but I only suffered 5 dings on the glass - still extensive damage, but fortunately none were in my field of view and I don't even notice when I drive. The top on my camper was also dinged.
Manitoba now has these signs in pace.
A fen just north of the frigga bog, north of Leaf Rapids.
The same fen at dusk, around 10 pm.
Another fen, with a beaver lodge. North of Leaf Rapids.
A snowshoe hare, nibbling on the road at dusk. Saw quite a few of these at night. Probably licking salts from the road, perhaps calcium chloride.
Spied this diving duck, a Scaup, just east of Lynn Lake
A moment later.
Another fen.
This is near the front of a bog about 20 miles east of Leaf Rapids, where I tool a lot of nice bugs over 3 days. N55.87134 W99.70742
In the middle of the bog, a nice stretch of arctic cotton grass, Eriophorum callitrix. Not many leps found here.
Another shot.
Looking toward the north edge.
A closer shot.
More cotton grass.
A closeup of a spot where I took E. discoidalis. I took 3 others in similar spots, which had these spots of very short growth among the taller grass.
Still on the northern edge.
Now near the back of the bog. Bogs collect water, nothing flows out as in a fen. It was very wet here.
Google earth view of the bog. The back is at the bottom, which faces a hill covered with deciduous trees, with a small white dot in the center. I parked off the road to the right of the bog where the white area is seen. Was about a 30 minute walk to the back, only about 500 yards.
The middle of the bog is filled with spruce, visible in this image as darker trees surrounded by the lighter grassy areas. O. jutta flew here. The grassy area to the right of the spruce yielded few leps, the grassy area to the left was better and here I found a few E. discoidalis. The grassy area at the back was great for B. freija, P. centaureae, and others.
Some perspective. The bog is south of Leaf Rapids, shown here by the yellow pin in the lower left. The large body of water is behind the Rat River dam, which is located on this view on the road between the bog and the word 'image'.
An open area toward the back of the bog with my footsteps visible.
Another shot of the same spot.
Further back, taller grass.
Approaching the boggy area.
A little further back.
Another view.
Found several ant nests in this bog.
This is at the back of the bog.
From the back, looking toward the road..
I had to return to Thompson twice the first week to make phone calls - no service anywhere west of town, all the way to Reindeer Lake, about 300 miles. This raven was calling atop the court building.
Thompson has many wolf SBImages/statues. This mural is visible off the main highway, where MAN 6 ends.
This is a memorial to bush pilots. The plane was salvaged from a crash site and restored.
I returned to the Hughes River on Wednesday. I caught many walleye here, late in the evening, as it was very warm and sunny for the first week. When it finally did rain, the walleye fishing was even much better.
Same spot, looking downstream. I parked here for the night.
This bush was found in disturbed areas. P. canadensis and machaon frequently nectared on the flowers.
Friday, June 21 was overcast and I headed toward Reindeer Lake. This is about 10 miles east of Lynn Lake.
Can't get away from these annoying Redwing Blackbirds, which attack me on my daily runs in my neighborhood during nesting season.
Saw some ducks here but they moved before I could get a photo. Nice shot, nevertheless.
Off to the side of the last shot.
These wooden bridges spanned the roadside ditches along the road. Drainage is found along these roads more often than not.
A Lessor Yellowleg. These are very annoying, perching on treetops and constantly shrieking at intruders.
This was just east of the bog I visited.
They never stop chirping.
Flying to another treetop.
Nice shot of a Sandhill Crane.
The nest is nearby, hence it's agitation.
One last shot. I was on my way to Thompson when I stopped to photo these.
This Merlin was taking a dust bath in the middle of the road.
An approaching car soon spooked this one.
Now on Reindeer Lake. Caught this beauty, 48 inches, 25 lbs. I asked a local to take a photo of the big pike I had caught. When I pulled it from the water, he was amazed! He thought I had a 6-7 lb fish to photo. I caught this at site D, see the first photos for details of the location. Caught this on a Five-of-Diamonds, using 20 lb test and a 100 lb leader. I had to land it to my little boat by hand, as I had forgotten my net. It took 30 minutes to revive the fish, and it sat on the bottom near the dock for almost 2 hours, finally swimming away. Two days later, I hooked another monster at the same spot, but it threw the hook before I could land it. The same fish? The spot was the back of a narrow bay, about 25 yards wide and 120 yards deep. I saw the fish the second day swimming in the water before I hooked it. Pike warm themselves in these shallow bays in the spring, before moving to 12-15 feet of water above weed beds.
Another view.
I caught about 100 Lake Trout in 5 days. This one is freakingly fat. All were between 22-26 inches. Weather was cloudy and rainy the whole time I fished.
A local, Gordon Olson, took this action photo using his phone. Everyone was amused with my boat, as this is a huge lake, and my boat is 9 feet long. Needless to say, I did not venture far from the dock on this trip, for safety sake.
I stopped here to take a break. That little island in the background is where I caught a few herring. This is looking back toward the dock, which is not visible. The lure is a Five-of-Diamonds.
Now looking toward the road into town. Just around the point on the right is the small bay where I caught the big pike.
Did not recognize this fish at fist, a lake herring.
A seagull gathering, just to the left of the dock. Locals boats are seen in the background.
This is the bridge into town, Manitoba to the right, Saskatchewan to the left. This is about a mile from town.
Another gull gathering, seen on the way to the bay by the bridge. Most of these Reindeer Lake photos were taken with an iPhone 7, so the quality is poor.
A few bird photos. This is an American Widgeon.
Same duck.
Green-winged Teal.
Shot this very fresh E. mancinus puddling near the Hughes River. See spread photos at this page.
A P. canadensis nectaring on the flowering tree that I showed earlier. P. machaon was also fond of this tree's flower.
A P. canadensis puddle party.
Photographs are shown in chronological order.
Overview of my trip, which was from Glenview, the green dot, to Kinoosao, Saskatchewan, the red dot.
The destination town of Kinoosao and fishing locations. Will detail later. Site A is a large bay about 20 minutes by my little boat, where I caught no fish. Site B is a closer bay where I also struck out. Site C was good for Lake Trout, which were still shallow. I trolled with a Five-of-Diamonds lure, about 3-5 feet below the surface. Got about 100 in 5 days. Numerous Northern Pike were caught, mostly off rocky points, however, the small bay near site D yielded a 48 inch Northern, shown later.
Sunset on Manitoba Highway 6 June 13.
Saturday June 15, in the town of Leaf Rapids. I worked this small boggy area for B. frigga, taking 5. This shot is taken from the north end, just above a bird nest. More later. BTW, I used 5 different cameras, so photo quality varies.
Sunday June 16. The locals went mudding in the bog. Now I am looking north, from the south end.
The eggs of a Spotted Sandpiper at the north of the bog. The mom always flew off when I approached. I saw another bird at the south end, where I parked, which I assumed was a male, the dad to this mom.
Thanks to Bob Parsons and especially Bob Gehlert for the ID in this and most of the other bird photos on this page!
Here is where I parked.
Here is the presumed dad to the above nesting mom. But, this is actually a Killdeer.
And, I found another nest, so this was another nesting mom. These are Killdeer eggs.
Thing was, I parked here 5 times, almost crushing the eggs each time! The eggs are just below my tire track, nestled to the right of the plant.
I caught 2-3 northern pike under the bridge where Man 394 crosses the Churchill River, just north of Leaf Rapids. Locals caught walleye here, but later in the evening. Saturday night dinner.
I parked overnight in front of the town beach. Here is the view from my rig.
A closeup.
Saturday, they painted the playground equipment...
and cleaned the beach.
Sunday saw a great deal of pollen in the campsite lake. I saw this in the little roadside ponds as well.
Glaucopsyche lygdamus couperi, aka a Silvery Blue, on the beach Sunday morning.
Sunning itself.
Sunday morning I visited a small Spruce Bog just south of town. Before I entered, this flock of geese passed overhead.
I have just entered the bog. This one was very open, with few trees. The bog was so-so for butterflies, however, I did take most of the Oeneis jutta for the trip here.
Sunday afternoon, headed back to the frigga bog. A truck like this one came flying over a hill, and I was parked at the bottom. Truck kicked up a golf ball sized rock that came straight at my face. I braced for the worst, expecting a shattered windshield, but I only suffered 5 dings on the glass - still extensive damage, but fortunately none were in my field of view and I don't even notice when I drive. The top on my camper was also dinged.
Manitoba now has these signs in pace.
A fen just north of the frigga bog, north of Leaf Rapids.
The same fen at dusk, around 10 pm.
Another fen, with a beaver lodge. North of Leaf Rapids.
A snowshoe hare, nibbling on the road at dusk. Saw quite a few of these at night. Probably licking salts from the road, perhaps calcium chloride.
Spied this diving duck, a Scaup, just east of Lynn Lake
A moment later.
Another fen.
This is near the front of a bog about 20 miles east of Leaf Rapids, where I tool a lot of nice bugs over 3 days. N55.87134 W99.70742
In the middle of the bog, a nice stretch of arctic cotton grass, Eriophorum callitrix. Not many leps found here.
Another shot.
Looking toward the north edge.
A closer shot.
More cotton grass.
A closeup of a spot where I took E. discoidalis. I took 3 others in similar spots, which had these spots of very short growth among the taller grass.
Still on the northern edge.
Now near the back of the bog. Bogs collect water, nothing flows out as in a fen. It was very wet here.
Google earth view of the bog. The back is at the bottom, which faces a hill covered with deciduous trees, with a small white dot in the center. I parked off the road to the right of the bog where the white area is seen. Was about a 30 minute walk to the back, only about 500 yards.
The middle of the bog is filled with spruce, visible in this image as darker trees surrounded by the lighter grassy areas. O. jutta flew here. The grassy area to the right of the spruce yielded few leps, the grassy area to the left was better and here I found a few E. discoidalis. The grassy area at the back was great for B. freija, P. centaureae, and others.
Some perspective. The bog is south of Leaf Rapids, shown here by the yellow pin in the lower left. The large body of water is behind the Rat River dam, which is located on this view on the road between the bog and the word 'image'.
An open area toward the back of the bog with my footsteps visible.
Another shot of the same spot.
Further back, taller grass.
Approaching the boggy area.
A little further back.
Another view.
Found several ant nests in this bog.
This is at the back of the bog.
From the back, looking toward the road..
I had to return to Thompson twice the first week to make phone calls - no service anywhere west of town, all the way to Reindeer Lake, about 300 miles. This raven was calling atop the court building.
Thompson has many wolf SBImages/statues. This mural is visible off the main highway, where MAN 6 ends.
This is a memorial to bush pilots. The plane was salvaged from a crash site and restored.
I returned to the Hughes River on Wednesday. I caught many walleye here, late in the evening, as it was very warm and sunny for the first week. When it finally did rain, the walleye fishing was even much better.
Same spot, looking downstream. I parked here for the night.
This bush was found in disturbed areas. P. canadensis and machaon frequently nectared on the flowers.
Friday, June 21 was overcast and I headed toward Reindeer Lake. This is about 10 miles east of Lynn Lake.
Can't get away from these annoying Redwing Blackbirds, which attack me on my daily runs in my neighborhood during nesting season.
Saw some ducks here but they moved before I could get a photo. Nice shot, nevertheless.
Off to the side of the last shot.
These wooden bridges spanned the roadside ditches along the road. Drainage is found along these roads more often than not.
A Lessor Yellowleg. These are very annoying, perching on treetops and constantly shrieking at intruders.
This was just east of the bog I visited.
They never stop chirping.
Flying to another treetop.
Nice shot of a Sandhill Crane.
The nest is nearby, hence it's agitation.
One last shot. I was on my way to Thompson when I stopped to photo these.
This Merlin was taking a dust bath in the middle of the road.
An approaching car soon spooked this one.
Now on Reindeer Lake. Caught this beauty, 48 inches, 25 lbs. I asked a local to take a photo of the big pike I had caught. When I pulled it from the water, he was amazed! He thought I had a 6-7 lb fish to photo. I caught this at site D, see the first photos for details of the location. Caught this on a Five-of-Diamonds, using 20 lb test and a 100 lb leader. I had to land it to my little boat by hand, as I had forgotten my net. It took 30 minutes to revive the fish, and it sat on the bottom near the dock for almost 2 hours, finally swimming away. Two days later, I hooked another monster at the same spot, but it threw the hook before I could land it. The same fish? The spot was the back of a narrow bay, about 25 yards wide and 120 yards deep. I saw the fish the second day swimming in the water before I hooked it. Pike warm themselves in these shallow bays in the spring, before moving to 12-15 feet of water above weed beds.
Another view.
I caught about 100 Lake Trout in 5 days. This one is freakingly fat. All were between 22-26 inches. Weather was cloudy and rainy the whole time I fished.
A local, Gordon Olson, took this action photo using his phone. Everyone was amused with my boat, as this is a huge lake, and my boat is 9 feet long. Needless to say, I did not venture far from the dock on this trip, for safety sake.
I stopped here to take a break. That little island in the background is where I caught a few herring. This is looking back toward the dock, which is not visible. The lure is a Five-of-Diamonds.
Now looking toward the road into town. Just around the point on the right is the small bay where I caught the big pike.
Did not recognize this fish at fist, a lake herring.
A seagull gathering, just to the left of the dock. Locals boats are seen in the background.
This is the bridge into town, Manitoba to the right, Saskatchewan to the left. This is about a mile from town.
Another gull gathering, seen on the way to the bay by the bridge. Most of these Reindeer Lake photos were taken with an iPhone 7, so the quality is poor.
A few bird photos. This is an American Widgeon.
Same duck.
Green-winged Teal.
Shot this very fresh E. mancinus puddling near the Hughes River. See spread photos at this page.
A P. canadensis nectaring on the flowering tree that I showed earlier. P. machaon was also fond of this tree's flower.
A P. canadensis puddle party.
