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| American Robin (Turdus migratorius) |
In my preparation, I used ebird hotspots
in conjunction with Google Maps and mapped a route to the nearest
hotspot, Fish Creek – Burnmeade. The route, which was just under ¾ of a
mile, took me across the playground of the Deermead School, exiting onto Deer Park Road SE, crossing the road into
Deer Side Drive SE and into Fish
Creek Provatal Park at Burnmeade. This is the path I took for most of my morning
outings. Of course, my birding started
as soon as I exited the house and as expected, most of the birds I saw were
lifers. My first Canadian bird, a lifer,
was the Black-billed Magpie (Pica hudsonia). Twelve of
these birds were on the field of the school along with two other lifers - American Crow (Corvus
brachyrhynchos) and American Robin (Turdus
migratorius). Yellow Warbler (Setophaga
petechial) and House Sparrow (Passer domesticus) topped off my first
checklist in Canada – in North America as a matter of fact.
Fish Creek – Burnmead
 |
| Double-crested Cormorant (Phalacrocorax auratus) |
Burnmeade has a mixture of habitats that attracted various
types of birds and wildlife. Wetlands,
both still ponds, and the flowing Bow River, grasslands and woods of both
deciduous
and coniferous trees(mainly Spruce variety).
I entered Fish Creek
from Deer Side Drive SE into an area
of young White Spruce. First I heard the calls and then I saw the
bird. This would become my favourite
bird of the trip, a Black-capped
Chickadee (Poecile atricapillus), I found these birds to be very inquisitive,
almost tamed. Later that morning, a
jogger saw my fascination with them and offered to bring me bird seeds the
following day so I could try feeding them from my hands, but Gavin made me
aware that it was illegal to feed animals in the parks. I recorded a few more lifers by the ponds Canada Goose (Branta Canadensis), Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) and Double-crested Cormorant (Phalacrocorax
auritus) to mention a few. From the
grassy areas, I saw my first Sparrow, the sweet singing Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia), the ubiquitous Red-winged Blackbird (Agelaius
phoeniceus) and many more. I crossed the
bridge to the golf course side, recording Eastern
Kingbird (Tyrannus tyrannus), Ring-billed
Gull (Larus delawarensis) and American
White Pelican (Pelecanus erythrorhynchos).
Other exciting birds I saw that morning were Downy Woodpecker (Dryobates pubescens), Northern Flicker (Colaptes auratus), Common Merganser (Mergus merganser) and a beautiful male Ring-necked Pheasant (Phasianus
colchicus).
I spent close to 4 hours covering over 5 miles and recorded
32 species of which 23 were lifers. On
my way back home I made a wrong turn at Deer
Side Drive SE and got a little lost but was quickly redirected to the
correct path thanks to a guy who was busy taking care of his lawn. He took me to the correct junction and
directed me up the correct path. Thank
you, kind sir! When I got home, I found
persons were just about to go looking for me, but I knew my way thanks to
Google.
Later that afternoon I visited another location in Fish
Creek, Bankside. I started about 6:30 pm and returned home
around 8:00 pm and it was still bright outside. This was another new experience for me. At home in Barbados, the sun sets around 6:00
pm, but in Calgary, it sets after 9:00 pm. In my afternoon birding, I added two more
species which brought my total for the day to 33.
My Tally
- Number of Species recorded: 33
- Number of Lifers recorded: 23
Checklist
Ring-billed Gull; Black-billed Magpie; American Crow;
American Robin; House Sparrow; Yellow Warbler; Canada Goose; Northern Shoveler; Mallard; Common Merganser; Ring-necked Pheasant; Franklin's Gull; Double-crested Cormorant; American White
Pelican; Osprey; Downy Woodpecker;
Northern Flicker; Least Flycatcher; Eastern Kingbird; Black-capped Chickadee;
Northern Rough-winged Swallow; House Wren; Cedar Waxwing; American Goldfinch; Clay-colored Sparrow; Song Sparrow;
Lincoln's Sparrow; Red-winged Blackbird; Brown-headed Cowbird; Northern
Waterthrush; Yellow-rumped Warbler;
Red-tailed Hawk; Merlin
Images
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