Thursday, April 21, 2011 Lethbridge

6:45 am

The temperature is -1 C, with a high predicted of +8 C.

From the Environment Canada website:

Today Sunny with cloudy periods. High 8. UV index 7 or high. Tonight A few clouds. Low minus 11. Normals Max: 15°C Min: 1°C

9:00 PM Birding

The weather has finally improved: positive temperatures and no wind. We decided to drive to Taber Lake and try the spring birding there. Along the way we planned to stop at Coaldale to have a look at some small wetlands near the Alberta Birds of Prey center. Then, depending on the time and how the day was going we might stop at Pitcher Butte on the way home.

Here are the reports I submitted to eBird.

Location: near hwy 3 Observation date: 21/04/11
Notes: Seen from the car while driving to Coaldale.
Number of species: 1

• Swainson's Hawk 1

Location: Birds of Prey wetlands Observation date: 21/04/11
Number of species: 7

• Canada Goose 40
• Mallard 10
• Canvasback 6
• American White Pelican 11
• American Coot 6
• American Robin 2
• Red-winged Blackbird 2

Location: Taber Lake Observation date: 21/04/11
Notes: The Trumpeter Swans flew directly overhead in a glorious V. I have an excellent photo of the Caspian Tern as it flew overhead.
Number of species: 17

• Trumpeter Swan 30
• Gadwall 3
• Northern Shoveler 6
• Green-winged Teal 2
• Greater Scaup 3
• Lesser Scaup 6
• Bufflehead 3
• Common Goldeneye 12
• Ring-necked Pheasant 1
• Horned Grebe 1
• Double-crested Cormorant 1
• American Coot 10
• Killdeer 1
• Black-necked Stilt 2
• Franklin's Gull 1
• Caspian Tern 1
• Yellow-headed Blackbird 2

Location: Pitcher Butte reservoir Observation date: 21/04/11

Notes: I have clear photos of both the Western and Clark's Grebe showing the difference of the eye placement relative to the black crown.

Number of species: 7

• Snow Goose 20
• Lesser Scaup 6
• Bufflehead 2
• Common Goldeneye 4
• Red-necked Grebe 1
• Western Grebe 1
• Clark's Grebe 1

This was a great trip! Trying to keep track of what we see is a new experience. Not only do we note each species but we make a serious effort at trying to estimate the number. The primary idea is to help provided useful information to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and National Audubon Society.

A couple of additional personal notes. Spotting the Ring-necked Pheasant as soon as we got out of the car at Taber Lake was a nice start. There were a lot of birds on the water but as soon as we stopped the car they began swimming away so it was difficult to get good photos. At least they didn't fly away. It was still morning so the sun was not in a great position for photos. Many of the birds ended up being silhouettes.

After trying to identify a number of the birds that were at our limit of observation, even with a spotting scope, we realized that there was some water on the other side of the road with birds in it. This was much better for lighting as the sun was now behind us. We spent some time trying to identify 3 black-headed gulls but were unable to get a clear sense of their bills and at the time we didn't key on the color of their legs. One of the photos seemed to show a yellow tip to one of the beaks which would have meant it was a rare Sabine's Gull, but none of the other photos supported this. A couple of the photos strongly suggested that the legs were black which also would have supported the Sabine's identification but we finally decided it was to iffy to call. Two of the photos showed a white ring around the eyes which did support the idea that at least one of the gulls was a Franklin's Gull.

While watching the birds, and trying to identify them, a large group of swans flew overhead in a huge V formation. Since Trumpeter Swans are much more common that Tundra Swans we identified these as Trumpeters. A little later a couple of gulls and a tern flew near us. I tried to get a photo of them and was successful with the tern. When we looked at the photo later it was clearly a Caspian Tern, a rare bird for Alberta and a lifer for us for Canada although we had seen them in Panama.

The surprise was seeing 2 Black-necked Stilts. We saw them in large numbers in Mexico and had seen them on one previous occasion in Alberta, but I was not expecting them this early. The following birds were all "Alberta firsts" for us for 2011: Trumpeter Swan, Gadwell, Northern Shoveler, Green-winged Teal, Greater Scaup, Lesser Scaup, Bufflehead, Ring-necked Pheasant, Killdeer, Black-necked Stilt, Caspian Tern and Yellow-headed Blackbird. This is one of the nice things about spring birding as the waterfowl migrate north. Lots of renewals of birds that are often difficult to spot once summer arrives.

We then decided to stop at Pitcher Butte on our way home as we had once seen a large number of birds at this location a few years ago. We were disappointed as we pulled up as there were only a few birds but we decided to spend a few minutes trying to identify them. I'm glad we did.

We spotted a pair of grebes that were swimming together and were able to get a few good photos. I was pretty sure they were Western Grebes but I knew from previous sightings (at this same location) that one should always focus on the area around the eye as the Western Grebe had the eye well within the dark cap of the head whereas the Clark's Grebe had the eye definitely below this dark area. My photos revealed that one of the grebes was indeed a Clark's Grebe. This is also considered a rare bird for Alberta and is a new lifer for us.

Here are a few of the better photos:

Canvasback

 

American White Pelican

 

Trumpeter Swans overhead

 

V formation

 

Caspian Tern

 

Red-necked Grebe

 

Clark's Grebe

 

Western Grebe

 

Finally, here are 2 photos of our front yard:

The last snows of winter (I hope)

 

Crocuses heralding Spring!