Birding Notes

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	.

SUMMARY of the session: Not a lot of birds, but the Sandhill Cranes made the day well worthwhile! I have my database up to date for our Canadian sightings. The Sandhill Cranes were the 135th unique bird we have seen in Canada and they were the 86th unique bird in Canada in 2007. Spring is prime time for birding as many birds are passing through as they migrate further north. We are making an extra effort to get out when the weather permits.