Last days

I am home so let's finish up the last couple of days.

Monday the weather was nicer.  As usual, we had breakfast and went out immediately after.  I haven't mentioned the meals, I haven't really had time to talk about anything but the basics but now I have a few minutes more.

The Centre is lovely and the people there are very nice.  It is dorm style living.  There are four beds to a room but we had our room to ourselves.  Dining is cafeteria style but the cook is really good.  Each meal of each day was something new and delicious.  She really knows how to feed a crowd.  For lunches and dinners we had perogies, nachos, bannock hot dogs, teriyaki chicken, cabbage rolls, pasta with two sauces, grilled cheese sandwiches, and more.  Each breakfast had a meat, eggs and some sort of home cooked bread, one day it was cinnamon buns (which were the best!), french toast made with homemade bread, croissants, muffins etc.  And, unbelievably, she made fresh cookies practically every day, each day a different kind.  Meals were heaven.

Here is the dorm room

This was our window with lovely view, and all of our junk

Here is the cafeteria, also with a lovely view.

Back to birding.  We visited the grain port a couple more times.  We saw our Crane only once more, the second time only for a few seconds.  I think we were lucky to have had that one chance to get pictures (lucky you too).  Lunch, birding.

We crossed the tracks many times during out time in Churchill

Red Grosbeak

Osprey

Cold but happy

White Wing Scoter

This may be abandoned or just waiting for warmer weather,
impossible to know in Churchill

Pacific Loon

Abandoned cabin on a lake

Common Loons

In the evening we took another walk around Twin Lakes (I was finally starting to figure out where we were).  Remember on that first day we saw a Snowy Owl and a Spruce Grouse but I didn't get pictures of either.  Well, as you know, we saw another Snowy on Sunday and then on Monday we saw another Spruce Grouse.  With pictures.  And bonus, with the Snowy, I took a picture with someone else's camera (better camera than mine) and she kindly sent me a copy.  I will post below.

A picture of the Snowy Owl from the day before but using a better camera

Spruce Grouse

Spruce Grouse in a different tree

This was as close as I got to a sunset

Now seems as good a time as any to mention our group.  There were nine of us, seven women, two men plus Rudolf driving. guiding and spotting.  I think we lucked out with our group.  Not everyone was a super keener.  We had a nice mix of experienced birders who knew what they were doing, some mid-level (me and a couple of others) and some newbies who were happy to learn.  We all got along and had all of our meals together.  There were three Gails in our small group.

The van organization was fun.  Each outing, everyone had their seat.  Then the next outing, everyone moved right or forward so that everyone had a chance at the front and also the purgatory of the back seat.  The front seat person was responsible for getting out the step so that the back people could get in and out easily.  The back seat was pretty terrible, hard to see and hard to hear but no one had to stay there too long.

From left:  Mary from Boston, Rudolf from Winnipeg, Mom, Quiet Gail from California,
Renee from Brandon, Man, Me, Purple Gail from Connecticut,
Tom from Brandon, Man (husband of Renee) and Rob from Winnipeg.
 Missing:  Little Gail from Winnipeg who was taking the picture

Our last day was raining again but it was much warmer without the wind so it was ok.  It had been clear in the night because the rising sun woke me up at 4AM.  But by the time we got into the van, it had started to rain.

Sunrise at 4am from our bedroom window

That morning, we got to visit the gift shop in town.  Now I know that I don't want anything from the gift shop.  I did buy a few Christmas gifts as the Museum gift shop and the CNRC gift shop.  If I had a few hundred extra dollars, I might have been tempted to buy a soapstone carving.  

The Centre has a few Arctic Hares who live in the area.  I finally got a picture on my last day. 

He's likin' that lichen!

Here are a few pictures from our last outing

A shorebird in a tree, a Hudsonian Godwit I think.
(Update, Mom has reminded me that it was a Snipe)
Birders will understand how strange this looks

We saw so many nesting Canada Geese that I finally just took a picture of one.

Bridge on the Weir

Did I mention I could never ID shorebirds.  This may be a Lesser Greenlegs.
We must have seen hundreds of Lesser Greenlegs and I still don't know if this is one of them.
I like the picture though.

After lunch Mom, I and a couple of other guests got dropped off at the airport for the 2:30 Calm Air flight to Winnipeg.  I am happy to report that it was indeed Calm.  Here are some pictures of the tundra from the airplane window. 

We got to Winnipeg, said goodbye to Little Gail and Gail from Connecticut and headed to our hotel.  I do not recommend where we stayed but it was half the price of Days Inn and we were just there to sleep (and watch a cooking show for 2 hours).  This morning we had our free breakfast and cabbed it to the airport.  Uneventful flight and into Victoria at 1:45 where lovely Chris was waiting for us.  She got us home, kept the cat and tomato plants alive all for the price of a latte.  

And because you have been so patient, here are some puppies.