Today we surpassed their 131 total, albeit for 50 days and
counting mammals as well as birds. Ray
and I birded along the Bow River – Bowness Park, Edworthy Park and Inglewood
Bird Sanctuary – before heading east in search of falcons.
Bowness had its usual group of winter birds including
Pileated Woodpecker (a catch-up species for me) and Brown Creeper. We were looking for a Red Crossbill – there were
lots of cones but no crossbills. At
Edworthy, our target was Townsend’s Solitaire which we found fairly quickly for
a new team bird. We then went to
Inglewood where we saw a distant male Harlequin Duck … another new bird for us.
There have been scattered reports of a Gyrfalcon SE of Calgary
and we cruised the backroads without success.
As a consolation, Ray spotted a Prairie Falcon which was another
catch-up bird for me.
Prairie Falcon |
Our totals are now 121 birds and 11 mammals for a total of
132. I also photographed 3 new species
but unfortunately, the birds were all quite distant.
Brian
If ever you need Red Crossbills, check the community of Willow Park in SE Calgary; when I was up there for Christmas, I saw quite a few Red Crossbills. For more specific details, contact me. Keep these great posts and photos coming!
ReplyDeleteMatthew Sim
Thanks for the suggestion, Matthew. I know the area you refer to and will check it out in the next few days. In December, there were quite a few Red Crossbills in Calgary but most, if not all, seem to have disappeared.
DeleteBrian