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Thursday Birdwatching
Jun. 19th, 2021 09:35 amMy friend and I went birdwatching on Thursday morning. It was a real treat as she felt comfortable enough to have me ride along in her car. We went to the 68th Street Wetlands and I was so unprepared for a summer outing. I got a touch of sunburn because I couldn’t find the sunscreen. I also forgot the camera battery on the charger, so I only have cell phone pics to share. Fortunately, I didn’t pack the big lens, whew. I would have needed the big lens to get decent bird pictures though.
Calgary’s Southeast, somewhat like the Northeast, is a weirdsville zone. The community of Forest Lawn used to be it’s own town and was incorporated into Calgary in 1961. There’s a wide avenue, 17th Avenue SE, that was essentially Forest Lawn’s main street. There’s a mish mash of old and new and industrial. The wetlands are bordered by Elliston Park, new condos and the East Calgary landfill. My friend said that if the wind was blowing the right way, we would smell the dump, but as every birder knows, dumps are great places to spot birds!
Part of the pathway around the wetlands is paved and the rest is a gravel access road around the dump’s storm ponds for those who want to go off-trail. We saw a stunning variety of birds in the 3km walk that took us about three hours. The trick is standing in place long enough for the birds to appear :-)
We saw 42 different species and many of them were lifers for me. I edited the list to show lifers in italics:
Canada Goose, Blue-winged Teal, Cinnamon Teal, Northern Shoveler, Gadwall, American Wigeon, Mallard, Canvasback, Redhead, Lesser Scaup, Ruddy Duck
Pied-billed Grebe, Horned Grebe, Red-necked Grebe, American Coot, Black-necked Stilt, American Avocet, Killdeer, Wilson's Phalarope, Spotted Sandpiper
Franklin's Gull, California Gull, Black Tern, Double-crested Cormorant, Great Blue Heron, Black-crowned Night-Heron, Black-billed Magpie, American Crow
Common Raven, Tree Swallow, Barn Swallow, European Starling, American Robin, Clay-colored Sparrow, Savannah Sparrow, Song Sparrow, Yellow-headed Blackbird
Red-winged Blackbird, Brown-headed Cowbird, Brewer's Blackbird, Common Grackle, Common Yellowthroat
Calgary’s Southeast, somewhat like the Northeast, is a weirdsville zone. The community of Forest Lawn used to be it’s own town and was incorporated into Calgary in 1961. There’s a wide avenue, 17th Avenue SE, that was essentially Forest Lawn’s main street. There’s a mish mash of old and new and industrial. The wetlands are bordered by Elliston Park, new condos and the East Calgary landfill. My friend said that if the wind was blowing the right way, we would smell the dump, but as every birder knows, dumps are great places to spot birds!
Part of the pathway around the wetlands is paved and the rest is a gravel access road around the dump’s storm ponds for those who want to go off-trail. We saw a stunning variety of birds in the 3km walk that took us about three hours. The trick is standing in place long enough for the birds to appear :-)
We saw 42 different species and many of them were lifers for me. I edited the list to show lifers in italics:
Canada Goose, Blue-winged Teal, Cinnamon Teal, Northern Shoveler, Gadwall, American Wigeon, Mallard, Canvasback, Redhead, Lesser Scaup, Ruddy Duck
Pied-billed Grebe, Horned Grebe, Red-necked Grebe, American Coot, Black-necked Stilt, American Avocet, Killdeer, Wilson's Phalarope, Spotted Sandpiper
Franklin's Gull, California Gull, Black Tern, Double-crested Cormorant, Great Blue Heron, Black-crowned Night-Heron, Black-billed Magpie, American Crow
Common Raven, Tree Swallow, Barn Swallow, European Starling, American Robin, Clay-colored Sparrow, Savannah Sparrow, Song Sparrow, Yellow-headed Blackbird
Red-winged Blackbird, Brown-headed Cowbird, Brewer's Blackbird, Common Grackle, Common Yellowthroat
