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.
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