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| Cold morning at Fish Creek White-tailed Deer(Odocoileus virginianus) |
This was for sure, one of the coldest mornings I have ever
felt. The weather app on my phone said
it was 10oC (33.8oF).
It was so cold that I added another layer of clothing, a large jacket. So I was now wearing a vest-shirt, a t-shirt,
a long-sleeved sweater shirt, and a jacket.
As I spoke a mist came out of my mouth like the puff of smoke from a
smoking man. At Burnsmead the
evaporation fog from the ponds resembled steam rising from a volcanic lake, but
I am sure the water was freezing. On
this cold, cold morning my goal was to find the owls at the Ranch, then to check
out a man-made lake at Sikome Aquatic Facility. I also wanted to investigate a few ponds I saw
on Google
Maps that were just past the Stony Trails overpast.
About 6:30 am I started my brisk walk from Burnsmead to the
Ranch, birding along the way. At one
point I noticed that all of the gulls took to the air. As I scanned the surroundings to see what
caused the disturbance, I saw the number one bird on my “really wanted to see”
list, an adult Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus). This bird was massive! It glided slowly and deliberately down the
river, getting the attention of everything in its path. What a magnificent creature
it was, what a bird - my first eagle!
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| Common Raven |
At the ranch, I searched high and low for the owls; I even
met two other birders looking for them, but I could not find them. I did have a brief sighting of another one of
my must-see birds, Blue Jay (Cyanocitta cristata) and a Common Raven (Corvus corax) which was
larger than I imagined. Both birds were
lifers.
I spent an hour and a half at the ranch and then moved on
through the woods to Sikome Aquatic Facility which was about a mile away. I recorded another lifer in the woods, a Western Wood-Pewee (Contopus sordidulus). Sorry to say, but I was not too impressed by Sikome
Aquatic Facility, it was really a large pond with beach sand around it but I
guess that was because I come from an island that is known for its beautiful
beaches and white sand. I checked the
ponds just after the Sikome, then went under the highway and took the
pedestrian overpass to the other side of the river, then continued along the
trail until I came to a series of large ponds.
There were many ducks in the ponds, Redheads
(Aythya Americana), Common Goldeneyes (Bucephala clangula) and a single Canvasback (Aythya valisineria), a lifer for me.
This would normally have ended my day of birding but in the
afternoon we had an excursion to a place called Sheep River Falls on the
outskirts of Calgary, about an hour and a half of driving. The drive really emphasized the beauty of
Alberta, the mixture of wide-open fields, wooded areas as far as the eye can
see, to towering mountains and gorgeous views of the Canadian Rockies. I did see a few raptors high above the hills,
I even got a poor image of one when we made a stop in a place called Okotoks. Gavin later identified it as a Swainson's Hawk (Buteo swainsoni). I also saw a few Red-tailed hawks sitting on
fence posts and street lights. I saw
very few birds at Sheep River Falls, I
did hear one that I was unable to locate or identify by sound. The river and the waterfall were a perfect
replacement for the low number of birds I saw there. It was truly beautiful.
At the end of day 4, I added 7 new species for the trip, 6
of which were lifers.
Tally
New Species for the Day: 7
New Lifers for the Day: 6
Total Species for the Trip: 64
Total Lifers for the Trip: 48
New Lifers for the Day: 6
Total Species for the Trip: 64
Total Lifers for the Trip: 48
Checklist
Bald Eagle; Blue Jay;
Common Raven; Western Wood-Pewee; Canvasback; Swainson's Hawk; American
Coot
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