I found a toad; a very large toad. Well, actually it found me. I was enjoying a bonfire at my makeshift campsite in the backyard. Some movement beside my tent caught my eye. My first thought was that it was a mouse but upon investigating, it was a toad.

Boreal chorus frogs are plentiful in my yard. I've been living in this location for 15 years and have never seen a toad in the yard; never mind one this large.

When I experience something new, I tend to gather as much information as possible. After taking numerous photos and video, I went straight to the Alberta Environment website to the reptile and amphibian resources. 

I thought I found the type of toad that it was but to be sure I sent a photo to the contact person listed on the page. To my surprise, I was right in my guess. I questioned it because the website said that the species was on the watch list. It was a sensitive species as a decline in population was observed over the years.

The western toad is the largest of Alberta's toads and my location happens to be at the eastern edge of it's range. What a find!

In addition to the backyard camping, I had time to get a couple of hikes in to see if the baby swans have hatched but there is no sign of them yet. There are lots of goslings around though.

I came across 8 elk that were wandering through the woods at the Biodiversity trail. That is a sight that is not common. 

During the week I did a hike in the rain. It was refreshing and peaceful; listening to the rain drops fall on the new green leaves. The forest smells were wonderful. 

This weekend is a working weekend so time is limited for getting to the trails. It may be a bust for getting out over the next couple of days but my find last weekend will 'toad-ally' make up for it.

So it is the May long weekend and vehicle after vehicle is streaming out of the hamlet. That is why I chose to stick around here. It is going to be a quiet weekend with all the neighbors gone. That doesn't mean that there will be no camping. It just means that it will be done in the backyard.

I purchased a new tent and have been impatiently waiting to try it out. The old one was fine but I couldn't stand up in it. It also held only the camp cot; no room for a chair or small table in case I had to hibernate inside due to rain. 

The new tent is amazing. My biggest camp cot fits in it comfortably and there is still room for a chair and small table. My gravity lounger would fit inside!

I tried everything out this morning for a little siesta that turned out to be two hours. There's just something special about sleeping in a tent with the fresh air blowing through the 'windows'.

I started working in the yard and got all the backyard flower beds weeded and the garden beds dug up before that nap. After the nap is when the clouds moved in and made everything wet. No more digging, mowing or anything else so I put on the raincoat and boots and headed to the trails.


I hadn't been to the Biodiversity Trail for a few days so that was the destination. I wanted to see if the swans became parents. There was no sign of young ones but the mom/pop were swimming around in the pond.

I watched this pair nest last year. They had four cygnets. This year I watched them construct their nest and am still waiting for hatching day to see how many babes they will have. The male was doing a great job of fending off any birds that got too close to their nest. I arrived at the pond just as a ruckus was happening. It was swan vs goose. That peaceful papa swan turned hostile when the goose came too close.

Dark clouds were coming from the west and the raindrops began to fall again so I made my way back to the parking lot. The birds serenaded me all the way. The leaves are opening and the trails are now lined with a thick green coat.

I got home after that refreshing jaunt in the woods and looked up some info on the trumpeter swans and learned something new today. I didn't know that the female was called a 'pen' and the male was called a 'cob'. 

I plan on having a bonfire this evening in celebration of the long weekend. The logs are split and piled high. My coffee is brewing and I'm bundling up in my camping gear to hunker down for the first 'camping' evening of the season.

 

I love being on the trail in the early morning. Dew drops glisten in the sun. Bird calls reverberate through the trees. Waterfowl and beavers are active in the pond. Most early morning walks result in seeing a moose, deer or hare on the trail.

I was able to get out early on three days this week to stake out the 'swan pond'. The swan couple have been nesting but were out for swims on all three mornings. I can't wait for their eggs to hatch. The nest is in a position that is great for viewing.

I found a moose on the trail as I rounded a bend. It took off running but we crossed paths once more later on in the hike.

I can make a 4km hike out of the 2km trail by doubling back and returning the same way that I entered. Most times I see things that I didn't see on the first time through. 

This week I came across a large spruce tree that the pileated woodpeckers are feasting on. They have created some very deep holes in the trunk where the spruce sap is oozing from beneath the bark. The morning sun reflected off the sap, creating a sparkling diamond effect from the tree. It was beautiful and so was the smell of the sap.

The swallows have returned to the Strathcona Wilderness Centre. They are busy gathering items for nests so there is a lot of swooping and diving going on. All the birdhouses at the end of the driveway are now occupied as are the large pipes that make up the gate. The swallows are nesting inside the ends of the pipes.

Things are really beginning to green up. The pussy willows are almost bloomed out and the leaf buds are popping open. The wildflowers are opening. I came across tiny purple violets on the trails and marsh marigolds in a marshy area that should be open in full color within the next week.

This morning's rain freshened everything up. It smelled so good when I opened the back door. The blackbirds were calling and the chickadees were singing. All of this 'spring' action on the trails and in my backyard is making me long for camping season.

On May 2 I had an incredible visit to Elk Island National Park. I left home at 9am and got back at 12:30pm. There was non-stop wildlife action from beginning to end.

It takes only 10 minutes to get to the park from my house. During that short drive I saw bison and elk grazing along the roadside. Hawks sat like sentinels atop the fence posts; waiting for the mice to scurry out from the dead grass.

The ponds along the parkway were teeming with waterfowl. Ducks of many varieties and Canada Geese swam across the smooth-as-glass surfaces. I parked and rolled down the windows so I could hear the sounds of the pond. What a choir it was!

The beavers were active. I saw a few of them swimming through the reeds in search of food.

My goal was to visit Astotin Lake to see if the ice had come off of it but I didn't make it to that parking lot. The beaver pond closest to the golf course parking caught my attention. I parked there and decided to explore on foot.

The pond had a couple of active beavers in it. One was not happy with the roadside barriers that were put up during road construction. I stood about twenty feet away from it as it tried its best to take the barrier down. 

The second beaver was having a showdown with a Canada Goose. Mama goose was patiently sitting atop her nest full of eggs which happened to be on top of the lodge that was being renovated. Papa goose was defending the family nest. The beaver swam in circles around the goose. The goose swam in circles around the beaver until the big tail slap occurred and the goose called it quits.

A second pair of geese flew in and landed close to the first pair. This resulted in a flurry of activity. There was going to be no sharing of this end of the pond. I witnessed for the first time, what happens when geese defend their territory. There was a lot of honking and hissing. There was a lot of wing flapping and chasing. The first male puffed out his chest to make himself look large. When that didn't work, he flew low enough across the water that it looked as if he was running on it in hot pursuit of the intruder. He looked pretty pleased with himself after fending off the unwanted visitors.

My walk took me along a marsh where a great blue heron stood tall amidst the old reeds from last season. It flew up as I walked by.

I continued to the boardwalk and found, ducks, grebes, gulls and geese in the inlet. A loon surfaced a short distance from me. I had hoped to see the pelicans but there was still a lot of ice on the lake and not a big white bird to be seen.

On my travels back to the parking lot I approached the beaver pond from the opposite direction. The beavers were still busy and I got close to the lodge. Mama goose was now allowing them to add mud and sticks to an area beside her nest. I got to watch them in action until the rain drops began falling.

What a great outing it was. I certainly needed the outdoor time. All those creatures some how knew this and put on quite the show for me.

If you get the opportunity to visit a local pond or park, take a few minutes and listen to the sounds of nature 'springing' to life as our trees and grasses green up and wildlife and waterfowl enjoy the water surfaces that are opening up. It is great reality entertainment.

Happy trails!