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
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