We began serious birding on the road to Allison Creek where we expected to see some Montain Bluebirds. We were right, although we were surprised to see more Tree Swallows than bluebirds. It appears that they are taking over the birdhouses that have been erected along the property fences in this area. Both birds gave us a great photo opportunity.
|
|
Tree Swallow |
Mountain Bluebird |
We continued up the road to Chinook Lake where we saw a Common Merganser swimming in the open margin between the ice and the shore.
Chinook Lake
We then drove over to Waterton Lake National Park. We were hoping to see a Dipper at Cameron Falls as well as a Stellar's Jay in the townsite, but were disappointed on both counts. We did see a Black-capped Chickadee while having a saskatoon pie at Kilmorey Lodge.
On the way home we stopped at a lookout just past the park gate overlooking some marshland.
Almost immediately we noticed 9 Sandhill Cranes below us. These were lifers for us (!) but even more exciting we were able to set up the Zhummel spotting scope that had arrived earlier that morning and use it to see them close-up (including the red mark on the top of its head). We watched them for over 30 minutes. We also got to watch two American Bald Eagles play above us for about 5 minutes. Finally, one of the Sandhill Cranes flew directly over us. What a fantastic ending to what had been a rather weak day of bird watching.
Unfortunately I have not yet learned how to attach my digital camera to the spotting scope so I do not have pictures to go with this. I did manage to take a couple of photos using my zoom lens on the camera.
Sandhill Crane below
Sandhill Crane above
Here is a table summarizing the day's observations.
Name |
Photo |
Time |
Location |
ID# |
2007 # |
Lifer |
| White-crowned Sparrow |
. |
11:45 am |
across from Coleman museum |
11 |
82 |
. |
| Tree Swallow |
Yes |
12:00 PM |
road to Allison Creek |
38 |
79 |
. |
| Mountain Bluebird |
Yes |
12:01 PM |
" |
13 |
83 |
. |
| Red-tailed Hawk |
. |
12:20 PM |
Chinook Lake |
41 |
21 |
. |
| Common Merganser |
Yes |
12:30 PM |
" |
10 |
84 |
. |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Broad-winged Hawk |
. |
15:00 PM |
Road to Waterton from Pincher Creek |
86 |
85 |
. |
| Barrow's Goldeneye |
Yes |
15:25 PM |
Waterton Park entrance |
108 |
29 |
. |
| Black-capped Chickadee |
. |
17:00 PM |
Kilmorey Lodge |
64 |
18 |
. |
| Sandhill Crane |
Yes |
17:20 PM |
Waterton Park entrance |
135 |
86 |
Yes |
| American Bald Eagle |
Yes |
17:34 PM |
" |
27 |
27 |
. |
