Spruce Woods Provincial Park, Manitoba

 A group of friends and I have been itching to get out of the city since the weather has been wonderful in Manitoba. So we planned on going camping as soon as Spruce Woods Provincial Park opened for the season. Unfortunately weather had other plans and the temperature dropped suddenly just for that weekend! A day trip out to the park was a nice compromise though and the weather was nice enough for that.

Ramalina sinensis

Teloschistes chryosophthalmus

Ramalina sinensis

While other people were looking for lichens and mammals/birds I definitely was keeping my ears open for that distinct slither. Expecting a garter snake and hoping for a hognose I really was shocked to find a young smooth green snake!

Smooth Green Snake (Opheodrys vernalis)

Spruce Woods is unlike any other area I have seen in Manitoba. The contrast between the flat prairies, rugged Canadian shield and flat alvar regions that I have been to is vast. Here the area is full of rolling hills of sand. Scattered spruce trees grow out of a mat of dwarf shrubs like juniper and bearberry. 

 Tumbleweed lichens such as Cetraria arenaria, were frequently found caught in grasses and other locations that they get stuck whenever they blow away. I imagine this happens frequently to disperse them since they really don't have much of an anchor to the substrate underneath.We even managed to find an unusual lichen, Xanthoparmelia chlorochroa growing on the sand dunes.

Xanthoparmelia chlorochroa

 The devils punch bowl was our first destination. Here we saw many birds including yellow-rumped warbler, flycatchers, sandpipers and a waterthrush.

Devils Punch Bowl, Spruce Woods Provincial Park

Devils Punch Bowl, Spruce Woods Provincial Park

The seeps around the punch bowl looked very interesting for plants but there unfortunately wasn't an easy way to get across that we had time to find.

Seep near the Devils Punch Bowl, Spruce Woods Provincial Park

 The larger dunes were very barren of vegetation compared to the hills below them.They had mostly Artemisia and tall grasses that will flower later in the summer.

Contrast between large dunes and smaller hills below

  These dunes involved a lot of races up and down them. I am not surprised that this area used to be used as a military training area as all. It was quite the workout!