Birding Notes

I forced myself to go for a morning walk in the coulee, even though the wind was up. This would both give me a semi-strenuous walk as well as an opportunity to see if there were any birds appearing. There was quite a racket from the spruce trees in Lafayette park (I assume they were sparrows) on the way to the coulee. I took a number of photos, primarily of the coulee as there was almost no bird activity. I did see a couple of magpies, four Canada geese flying up the river, and a few nds (non-descript) sparrow-like birds. That was the extent of the bird life. There was no sign of any blackbirds (either Red-wing or Yellow-headed) in the cat tails near the university. There were more people than birds on the trail - joggers as well as walkers, and one mountain biker. The wind was quite strong from the west but the sun was shining, the sky was a bright blue, and the temperature was about +8 C, so it was a fine time to be out. The ice was off the Oldman river and the water relatively clear as the spring runnoff has yet to begin. I managed to work up a sweat coming back up the coulee which should help me with my fitness. I must make these coulee jaunts a regular part of my routine.

Start of the trail into the coulee. (15 min walk from home)	Weir on the Oldman river.
Trail along the bottom of the coulee.	Black-billed Magpie
Trail heading up out of the coulee.	Looking down on another trail.
Grassland at top of coulee.	Clay-colored Sparrow
University wind gauges.	Cassin's Finch near O'Donnell's house.

Here is a table summarizing my observations so far.

Name	Photo	Time	Location	ID#	2007 #	Lifer
Clay-colored Sparrow	Yes	March 8	coulee	104	001	Yes
Ring-necked Pheasant	Yes	March 9	university	007	002	.
Cassin's Finch	Yes	March 10	West Lethbridge	103	003	.

SUMMARY of the session: I took photos of three birds: Black-billed Magpie (very common), Clay-colored Sparrow & Cassin's Finch. From a birding perspective this is a low count. But from an enjoyment perspective it was a success. The coulee literally sparkled in the sunshine and I obtained a good look at the vegetation with the snow gone but the spring budding still in the future.