Birding Notes

The outing was a good one and we both agree that we want to return to this area before the end of the month. However the photography was below par. Many of the images were out of focus as the camera tended to focus on the background. I have changed a setting on the camera and hope that helps.

Our first stop was a small slough on the side of the road. I quickly took three photos of the birds in the immediate vicinity: a Willet, a Wilson's Pharalope, and three Blue-winged Teals. The Wilson's Pharalope was the first time that we had seen it wading rather than swimming. There were a number of Barn Swallows flying about - I think they had nests under a small bridge over the road. We also saw a Tree Swallow perched on a fence near a bird house.

Here are a few images:

Wilson's Phalarope

Willet

This was the first time we had seen a Willet in Canada but we had seen it a number of times earlier this year in Mexico.

Here is a table summarizing the day's observations.

Name	Photo	Time	Location	ID#	2007 #	Lifer
Willet	Yes	8:20 am	Marsh near Beaverhill Lake	147	108	.
Wilson's Pharalope	Yes	8:21 am	"	.	.	.
Blue-winged Teal	Yes	8:22 am	"	.	.	.
Barn Swallow	.	8:25 am	"	.	.	.
Tree Swallow	Yes	8:25 am	"	.	.	.
Northern Shoveler	Yes	8:26 am	"	.	.	.
Cinnamon Teal	.	8:27 am	"	.	.	.
Redhead	.	8:27 am	"	.	.	.
Mallard	.	8:27 am	"	.	.	.
Ruddy Duck	.	8:27 am	"	.	.	.
Greater Scaub	.	8:27 am	"	.	.	.
Coot	.	8:27 am	"	.	.	.
Mountain Bluebird	Yes	8:28 am	"	.	.	.
Red-winged Blackbird	Yes	8:30 am	"	.	.	.
Black Tern	Yes	8:35 am	"	148	109	Yes
Horned Grebe	Yes	9:50 am	"	.	.	.

SUMMARY of the session: The intent was to see the birding near Beaverhill Lake. We actually failed to find the main viewing area but were delighted with the sloughs and marshland nearby. We also now know exactly how to get to Beaverhill Lake for our next trip. Good. I would like to try visiting this area and having a few hours to set up my spotting scope. This trip brought home the importance of preparing for a trip. We were both a little rusty and quickly identifying the many different ducks as well as a few new birds. I was also disappointed in the images I took with my digital camera. One area I need to improve on is high speed movement of birds in flight. The trick here is twofold (one is focus - but the answer is to manually focus on infinity; the other is to increase the shutter speed to the maximum that the exposure will allow). Our total for Canadian birds in 2007 is now 109 and our lifer list for Canada is 148.