July 22 - Drive to Calgary - Hawks at Springbank Road

Welcome to my Vacation birding blog which details birds seen on our trip to Calgary in late July. Most of the posts cover birding in Calgary and areas south and east of the city.

After Calgary, we headed south to Waterton National Park where I managed a few photos. We then travelled through Glacier National Park in Montana and west to Couer d'Alene Idaho. I saw very few birds on this stretch and took no bird photos. 

We arrived in Grand Forks BC for my niece's wedding, and I did get in a couple of short bird-watching outings there. 

The posts are arranged in ascending date sequence starting with our arrival in Calgary on July 22.

We left home around 5:30 AM and made very good time for most of the trip.

We always stop at the Travel Alberta Centre in Field BC as Edith likes to shop for souvenirs and I always check out their nature books. I hit the jackpot this time with the brand new Sibley Field Guide to Birds of Western North America. And it had a Lazuli Bunting on the cover as a bonus!




This was the only place where I had time to find a bird, a Black-billed Magpie. There'd be more of these in Calgary.

Black-billed Magpie - Travel Alberta Centre, Field BC

We were about 50 KM out of Calgary when traffic on the Highway 1 came to a stop. It was caused by an overturned truck carrying a load of watermelons (you can't make this up). We diverted to Highway 1a and came through Cochrane. This diversion allowed me to take the Springbank Airport road parallel to Highway 1. I always look for Swainson's Hawks here and was not disappointed.

The first bird we saw was this adult light morph. Although it looks quite dark, it is lighter than the dark adult.

 Swainson's Hawk - Springbank Rd, Calgary AB

We saw an even lighter coloured hawk go past us and turned around to try for a photo. Fortunately, the road was not busy. We located this Juvenile Swainson's light morph.

Swainson's Hawk - Springbank Rd, Calgary AB

Swainson's Hawk (Imm) - Springbank Rd - Calgary AB

After this we made our way to my cousin John's house in West Calgary, where we'd stay for the next three days.

July 23 - Weaselhead Flats at Glenmore Park

I headed out early to Glenmore Park which is quite close to my cousin John's place. Weaselhead Flats is a recreation and natural area that descends down to the Elbow River Valley. There are paved foot and bike paths, and many side paths that are quieter.

I arrived to find that a race event was on in the park, so I got away from the main paved path quickly.

It was three weeks later than our normal time to be in Calgary and I hoped there were still Cliff Swallows nesting under the walking bridge that crosses the Elbow River. I was also hoping to see some Clay-colored Sparrows, common in Calgary but not a species we see on the coast.

I was rewarded on the side trip with a sparrow high in a tree. I thought it might be a Clay-colored but upon photo review I saw that it was a Chipping Sparrow. Although I'd seen one already in the Okanagan, I was happy to see another. The reddish brown on the top of the head and the strong eye-stripe are good field marks.


Chipping Sparrow - Weaselhead Flats,  Glenmore Park, Calgary AB

It did not take long to hear a Clay-colored Sparrow, and a bit of pishing brought it into view.

Clay-colored Sparrow - Weaselhead Flats,  Glenmore Park, Calgary AB

This sparrow makes a repetitive buzzy sound, the field marks are the white eye-stripe, white throat and buffy chest.

I now returned to the main path and saw some yellow birds active in a tree nearby. With jogging racers going by behind me, I got a nice shot of an adult Yellow Warbler in the treetops.

Yellow Warbler - Weaselhead Flats,  Glenmore Park, Calgary AB

I saw a different looking yellow bird nearby and snapped this photo. It was a recently fledged juvenile Yellow Warbler.

Yellow Warbler (Imm) - Weaselhead Flats,  Glenmore Park, Calgary AB

I was now at the bridge with the Cliff Swallow nests. As mentioned, I was three weeks later than usual on this trip and swallow activity was sparse to non-existent at first.

Cliff Swallow nests - Weaselhead Flats,  Glenmore Park, Calgary AB

A couple of kayakers came by and we spoke for a while and then they shared their lunch with me. That's the Alberta hospitality for you. I kept watching the bridge and noticed that the swallows seemed to come to the nests at 5 to 10 minute intervals. 

I guessed that most of the chicks had fledged and were still using the nests for home base. I went over to the other side of the bridge and into the bushes to get a vantage point and took this photo of an adult feeding a nestling. It's not the sharpest, but there's very little time to react and even having the shutter in burst mode only helps so much.

Cliff Swallow - Weaselhead Flats,  Glenmore Park, Calgary AB

I returned to my cousin's house and he pointed out some sparrows with reddish brown heads in his front yard. More Chipping Sparrows, this time at close range.

Chipping Sparrow - SW Calgary AB

Since my birthday was coming up in two days, Edith suggested I buy something for myself for birding. I was considering new binoculars, but decided to buy a smaller camera with high powered optical and digital zoom, something I could carry in my golf bag. My friend Mary-Jean was getting great results with her Nikon Coolpix.

I also chose a Nikon Coolpix, the newer and larger P900C. This camera can zoom up to 83X optically and double that with digital zoom on the chip (obviously with loss of picture quality at highest magnification).

This is one of the first photos I took in my cousin's back yard after we got back from downtown. This young Robin was about 30 feet away when I took this.

American Robin (Imm) - SW Calgary AB

Unfortunately, about six days later in Grand Forks, the camera malfunctioned and I've had to ship it to Toronto for repairs. After waiting two weeks for parts, Nikon has informed me they are replacing the camera. 

I'll identify some of the photos in upcoming posts taken with this camera.

July 24 - Inglewood Bird Sanctuary

Located in south east Calgary on the Bow River, Inglewood has been a favourite of mine for many years. In 2013 Calgary was hit by a historic flood and the sanctuary was heavily affected. It was closed to the public until late summer in 2015. About 80% of the trails have been restored. There was a significant loss of trees, so the place feels more open than before.

This photo shows the grassy area on the south west part of the sanctuary as I walked in from the nature centre. It was about 8:00 AM when I arrived.

Inglewood Bird Sanctuary, Calgary AB

There is a channel that divides the sanctuary, it used to be part of the river but has been cut off from it for many years. The east and west sides of the channel provide good habitat for songbirds.

There was much activity on the west side as I came in. The sun was in my eyes which usually causes problems with taking photos. However, the angle was such that the first few images I shot were the best of the day.

There was an abundance of House Wrens, I suspect a mix of adults and juveniles. Here's the best of the shots I took of them, especially with the spider web in the background.


House Wren - Inglewood Bird Sanctuary, Calgary AB

I took this photo a bit later in different lighting conditions.

House Wren - Inglewood Bird Sanctuary, Calgary AB

Here's another bird I took with the back lighting. At the time I thought it was a Song Sparrow. After reviewing the photo at home, I decided it was a Fox Sparrow, which has four subspecies in North America. On the coast we see the Sooty Pacific Fox Sparrow. This one is a member of the Slate-colored sub-species.


Fox Sparrow - Inglewood Bird Sanctuary, Calgary AB

I spotted a butterfly nearby and it landed just off the path. It is definitely a member of the Fritillary family and I am pretty confident it is a Zerene Fritillary, a butterfly seen in Southern Alberta.


Zerene Fritillary - Inglewood Bird Sanctuary, Calgary AB

This is the channel that divides the sanctuary. This is taken from a foot bridge located at the southern end of Inglewood.  As you can see, it was a beautiful summer day.


Inglewood Bird Sanctuary, Calgary AB

Just across the bridge there were Mule Deer very close to the path.


Mule Deer - Inglewood Bird Sanctuary

I made the turn and headed north on the east (river) side of the sanctuary. The early rush of birds had slowed, but there were still some to be seen, including this Cedar Waxwing taken with my new Nikon Coolpix.


Cedar Waxwing - Inglewood Bird Sanctuary, Calgary AB

I made a brief detour when I heard the familiar call of a Western Wood-pewee.


Western Wood-pewee - Inglewood Bird Sanctuary, Calgary AB

A bit later I heard the buzzy call of the Clay-colored Sparow, a bird I had seen the previous day at Weaselhead Flats.

Clay-colored Sparrow - Inglewood Bird Sanctuary, Calgary AB

I was now right at the Bow River, the trail that had been here before was gone. I saw some gulls out on the rocks and was happy to see they were Ring-billed. Although common, I had not seen any yet in 2016. 

I took this photo with my Canon SLR at a fair distance. I could have cropped it more but would have lost some detail unless the focus was perfect.

Ring-billed Gull - Inglewood Bird Sanctuary, Calgary AB

I then took this shot with the Coolpix using the digital zoom. In this case the cropping was done in the camera when I zoomed and I was able to ensure a sharp focus. This is the kind of shot that I bought this camera to get.

Ring-billed Gull - Inglewood Bird Sanctuary, Calgary AB

I did see some other birds such as Yellow Warbler, Eastern Kingbird and my first Spotted Sandpiper of the year. However, I was not able to get good shots with either camera.

The final bird of the day was a Baltimore Oriole thanks to some help from some local birders. The Oriole never came fully out into the open, so this was the best I could do. It was my first for this species since 2012 in Ontario.

In this case my Canon SLR with the 400mm lens was used as it is far easier (for me) to locate a bird in a scene like this and rapidly snap a series of shots.

Baltimore Oriole - Inglewood Bird Sanctuary, Calgary AB

July 25 Morning - Frank Lake

Today was my birthday and Edith and I spent the entire day birding south-east of Calgary. We stopped at two locations and I've created a post for each.

I've been visiting Frank Lake since 2002. It's a protected wildlife area about an hour south of Calgary, just east of High River. You drive in off the highway on a gravel road. At the end of the road is a trail to a very nice blind right on the lake.



You have to walk over a boardwalk to reach the blind and it's not unusual to see birds at close proximity as you walk.

Once inside the blind, you are right on the lake with ducks, grebes and coots very close for viewing and photography. The first birds we saw were a pair of Ruddy Ducks. The male looked like he was trying to attract attention.


Ruddy Duck - Frank Lake Conservation Area, High River AB

Suddenly, he made his lunge.


Ruddy Duck - Frank Lake Conservation Area, High River AB

She was not all that interested, it's quite possible she had gone through a breeding cycle already by this time.


Ruddy Duck (F) - Frank Lake Conservation Area, High River AB

The next bird that caught my eye was a Western Grebe, my first of the year. We normally visit Alberta in early July, and the grebes often have their babies riding on their backs at that time.We were more than 3 weeks later this year and did not see any grebe chicks.


Western Grebe - Frank Lake Conservation Area, High River AB

The other Grebe that is common here is the Eared Grebe. Normally they are close to the blind with their chicks, but they were quite far out this year, again with no chicks.

Eared Grebe - Frank Lake Conservation Area, High River AB

There were young American Coots around, they tend to stay close to the blind. Unlike the reddish hatchlings I'd seen in the Okanagan, these were a gray colour by this stage. Eventually, they take on the dark blackish colour of the adults.

American Coot (Imm) - Frank Lake Conservation Area, High River AB

We were very lucky to get a good look at a Muskrat swimming by. As mentioned, this blind really puts you in the action.

Muskrat - Frank Lake Conservation Area, High River AB

I left the blind and visited an area where you can walk up to the lake's edge. This is a good spot to see White-faced Ibis overhead, and Forster's Tern diving. There were less Ibis than usual, but I managed to catch a good shot of one.

White-faced Ibis - Frank Lake Conservation Area, High River AB

However, it was the Forster's Tern that put on a show. This species is similar to the Common Tern, but has an orange-ish bill vs the red of the Common. There are other subtle differences.

This one was actively fishing, it would hover until it spotted something in the water.

Forster's Tern - Frank Lake Conservation Area, High River AB

Here's the start of a dive:

Forster's Tern - Frank Lake Conservation Area, High River AB

And the end result:

Forster's Tern - Frank Lake Conservation Area, High River AB

On my way back to the car I saw this Savannah Sparrow. On reviewing the photo, I thought it might be a Vesper Sparrow, but I believe Savannah is correct. It may be a member of an Eastern sub-species that is considerably darker than the Western sub-species. See further down in the blog examples of that group.

Savannah Sparrow - Frank Lake Conservation Area, High River AB

The other birders had mentioned that there were shorebirds by a sewage outfall on the road out of the area. They specifically mentioned American Avocet with juveniles, so I had to go look.

Here's an adult with one of the juveniles.

American Avocet - Frank Lake Conservation Area, High River AB

This one looks a bit younger:

American Avocet - Frank Lake Conservation Area, High River AB

I also saw a couple of Wilson's Phalaropes. I suspect they are both juveniles based on the fresh looking plumage. Non-breeding adults are quite grayish.

 

Wilson's Phalarope (Imm) - Frank Lake Conservation Area, High River AB

There were more Savannah Sparrows about, these are the Western group for sure. The first shot was taken with the Nikon Coolpix.

Savannah Sparrow - Frank Lake Conservation Area, High River AB

This was taken with my Canon DSLR.

Savannah Sparrow - Frank Lake Conservation Area, High River AB

Finally, just before the Highway, we stopped to examine a bird on a post. It turned out to be a female Brown-headed Cowbird.

Brown-headed Cowbird - Frank Lake Conservation Area, High River AB

July 25 Afternoon - Wyndham-Carseland Provincial Park

This was a new location for me, one I'd read about in a Birds of Calgary book bought many years ago. From Frank Lake, we drove west on Highway 23, and then north on 24. If you take 24 south you end up in Vulcan, which has an impressive Star Trek attraction.

We stopped at the Carseland General store and bought a hot dog and fries for lunch. The Provincial park is bi-sected by the Bow river, we headed for the camp-ground on the south side. There was a day use parking area right by the river with a trail alongside. It was a beautiful sunny day.


Bow River at Wyndham-Carseland Provincial Park

As soon as we got out of the car, I could hear a Western Wood-pewee calling. I located it but it was not in a good spot for a photo. I'd be luckier a bit later.

The first bird I saw was a Double-crested Cormorant, a bird I normally associate with salt water. I think this is probably my first ever in Alberta.


Double-crested Cormorant - Wyndham-Carseland Provincial Park

I started out on the trail by the river and a small bird immediately caught my eye close by. It looked like a flycatcher of some sort. It did not mind my presence too much and I was able to take a number of shots from close range. I used my birding app on my phone and confirmed that it was a Least Flycatcher.


Least Flycatcher - Wyndham-Carseland Provincial Park

This Flycatcher is identified by its bold eye-ring, the short projection of the primary wing feathers, and its habit of foraging low in brushy areas and thickets.

I caught this shot as it flew from one perch to another.


Least Flycatcher - Wyndham-Carseland Provincial Park

Not far down the path I heard the Pewee calling again and located it in a nearby tree. Unlike the Least Flycatcher, it was fairly high up. This flycatcher is quite different from the Least and our familiar Willow Flycatcher.

Western Wood-pewee - Wyndham-Carseland Provincial Park

Something overhead caught my attention, a flock of American White Pelicans. I had seen one at a great distance at Frank Lake, but I count this as my first real sighting of the year.

American White Pelican - Wyndham-Carseland Provincial Park

This was turning into one of those rare magical excursions where birds are popping out all over the place. The next bird I saw was a common one, but there was something unusual in this sighting as well. First off is a photo of a lone Cedar Waxwing.

Cedar Waxwing - Wyndham-Carseland Provincial Park

I then noticed another bird in the same area and it seemed to be looking at the Waxwing. I believe it was a young Brown Cowbird and that the Waxwing was it's surrogate parent. Cowbirds practice nest parasitism where they deposit their eggs in the nest of other species of birds, quite often replacing one or more of the existing eggs. The host parents unsuspectingly raise the young Cowbird until it fledges. In the worst case, the Cowbird will kill it's smaller nest mates so it can get all the parental attention.

Cedar Waxwing and Brown-headed Cowbird (Imm) - Wyndham-Carseland Provincial Park

Nearby I could hear a bird singing a melodic repetitive song. It took me a while to locate it, but once I did I was able to snap off some good shots.

I suspected what it was and again used the phone birding app to confirm it was a Warbling Vireo.

Warbling Vireo - Wyndham-Carseland Provincial Park

Here's another shot that shows the field marks a bit better. To quote the Sibley field guides:

"Vireos are small, relatively stocky birds with stout, hooked bills and short, strong legs." The Warbling Vireo has a white throat and yellow on the sides. I suspect this is a young bird as it does not have a prominent eye-stripe yet.

Warbling Vireo - Wyndham-Carseland Provincial Park

Another bird in the same vicinity caused me some ID problems. I am sure it is a Wren based on the tail pattern, probably an immature House Wren.

House Wren - Wyndham-Carseland Provincial Park

The last bird I photographed is a Song Sparrow, Although common. it is interesting to note how this bird is somewhat different from the same species on the West Coast. There is more contrast between the streaked white chest and less gray overall. This is an adult of the Interior West subspecies, we see the Pacific Northwest subspecies at home.

Song Sparrow - Wyndham-Carseland Provincial Park

Overall, it was an excellent 90 minutes at this beautiful site. I'll be back here next year.

Bow River at Wyndham-Carseland Provincial Park