2204_1416 Chaplin Lake Triptych
Chaplin Lake is a large saline body of water on the Canadian prairie, covering about 20 sq km but only a few inches deep. When the shallow water warms in spring, billions of brine shrimp hatch and provide a feast for thousands of shorebirds on their northward migratory journey. Usually this occurs in late April and early May.
But I don't think there is a "usual" or "normal" anymore. Many, many people have remarked on the strange, abnormal spring we're having, here and elsewhere. For example, I planted spinach in my garden on March 19. That's more than a month early; most years the earth remains frozen until late April. I covered it with a plastic sheet. The seeds germinated and I now have a healthy bed of baby spinach.
However, following the unseasonal warm spell came an unseasonal cold spell, and some terrible weather that swept through Montana, the Dakotas, Manitoba and western Ontario, bringing blizzard conditions and stopping the bird migration for many days. When my friend Lori took me on a guided tour of the restricted area of Chaplin Lake, there were no birds. She said the dykes and mounds should be covered with shorebirds at this time.
Likewise, she told me she had never seen ice wedged and piled on the lake shore like this so late in the season. The top left photo, however, isn't snow; it's sodium sulphate! Chaplin Lake is a huge producer of this mineral salt, an inorganic compound used in the production of pulp and paper, detergents, and in glass making.
Saskatchewan Mining and Minerals, the company that works this rich resource, manages water levels in the lake to ensure habitat protection for the migratory shorebirds while mining a world-class quality product. They work closely with government and environmental groups. A refreshing atmosphere of co-operation not always present with mining operations.
More than half the world's population of Sanderlings stop at Chaplin Lake, along with significant numbers of Stilt Sandpipers, Semi-palmated Sandpipers, Piping Plovers, and many other species.
I'm planning to head back up there in mid-May, expecting a pretty good show!
Photographed at Chaplin Lake, Saskatchewan (Canada). Don't use this image on websites, blogs, or other media without explicit permission ©2022 James R. Page - all rights reserved.
2204_1416 Chaplin Lake Triptych
Chaplin Lake is a large saline body of water on the Canadian prairie, covering about 20 sq km but only a few inches deep. When the shallow water warms in spring, billions of brine shrimp hatch and provide a feast for thousands of shorebirds on their northward migratory journey. Usually this occurs in late April and early May.
But I don't think there is a "usual" or "normal" anymore. Many, many people have remarked on the strange, abnormal spring we're having, here and elsewhere. For example, I planted spinach in my garden on March 19. That's more than a month early; most years the earth remains frozen until late April. I covered it with a plastic sheet. The seeds germinated and I now have a healthy bed of baby spinach.
However, following the unseasonal warm spell came an unseasonal cold spell, and some terrible weather that swept through Montana, the Dakotas, Manitoba and western Ontario, bringing blizzard conditions and stopping the bird migration for many days. When my friend Lori took me on a guided tour of the restricted area of Chaplin Lake, there were no birds. She said the dykes and mounds should be covered with shorebirds at this time.
Likewise, she told me she had never seen ice wedged and piled on the lake shore like this so late in the season. The top left photo, however, isn't snow; it's sodium sulphate! Chaplin Lake is a huge producer of this mineral salt, an inorganic compound used in the production of pulp and paper, detergents, and in glass making.
Saskatchewan Mining and Minerals, the company that works this rich resource, manages water levels in the lake to ensure habitat protection for the migratory shorebirds while mining a world-class quality product. They work closely with government and environmental groups. A refreshing atmosphere of co-operation not always present with mining operations.
More than half the world's population of Sanderlings stop at Chaplin Lake, along with significant numbers of Stilt Sandpipers, Semi-palmated Sandpipers, Piping Plovers, and many other species.
I'm planning to head back up there in mid-May, expecting a pretty good show!
Photographed at Chaplin Lake, Saskatchewan (Canada). Don't use this image on websites, blogs, or other media without explicit permission ©2022 James R. Page - all rights reserved.