2014 Birding Blog: 2014 Summer Vacation - July 2

Once again, Edith took Austin while I went birding. This time it was Spruce Meadows for a National Show Jumping competition. This was my chance to spend a few hours at Frank Lake to see some birds I missed on my first visit and get some better photos (hopefully) of ones I did see.

July 2 - High River, Alberta - Frank Lake Part 2

Frank Lake is located east of High River just off of Highway 23. Once you leave the highway, there is a parallel gravel road with a 90 degree turn towards the lake and blind. The parallel road is a good place to look for swallows, kingbirds and sparrows perched on the barbed wire fence alongside the road.

Going in, it was not too active except for this Savannah Sparrow.

Savannah Sparrow

After turning to head toward the lake, I saw some large birds in the sky to my left. I was hoping to see some American Pelicans, this was my only glimpse of them.

American Pelicans

Once I parked and headed for the bird blind, I was greeted once again by a Wilson's Phalarope.

Wilson's Phalarope

As I approached the blind a Sora (a type of Rail) ran across the path. Rails are usually very shy, but this one was crossing the path every five minutes or so, probably bringing food to a nest. I managed a couple of good shots after a few crossings.

Sora

The approach to the blind is a floating boardwalk, so you are very close to water birds as you go along. Here are some American Coot chicks near the boardwalk..

American Coot Chicks

This bird blind is on of the few I've used where there is always something to see up close Of course. I'm always here in nesting season, it's probably quiet the rest of the year.

Inside the blind there was another birder, a lady from California. She pointed out to me some Western Grebes off in the distance and said that the babies were still on the parent's back. She had a very expensive camera lens with a 1.4 tele-converter and had taken a good photo of them. I was able to get a real nice view with my spotting scope and took a couple of photos. The best one is shown below, heavily cropped. My next expenditure is going to be a digi-scoping adapter to use with either an IPhone or with my camera.

Western Grebe with baby on board (left)

Inside the blind we could see Barn Swallows coming and going over the lake. The nest was on the lake side of the blind just out of our viewing range. This is my best capture of one of the parents leaving the nest.

Barn Swallow

Much more accommodating was a male Ruddy Duck about 20' away. These two photos show it before and after a dive. When it surfaced, it came up in a particularly grassy spot in the lake.

Ruddy Duck

Also close by were two Eared Grebes, a parent and juvenile. This is just after a dive for food and the effect in the first photo is alien-like with the bug-eyed chick. I love the red eye of the parent in the second photo.

Eared Grebes

I then left the blind to explore other areas. I was still hoping to see a Tern, either Common or Forster's. Along the boardwalk I got a decent shot of a Yellow-headed Blackbird, a very common bird at Frank Lake.

Yellow-headed Blackbird

Of course the Sora was still crossing the path and I was able to capture it a bit more in the open. I also briefly encountered a small blackish bird about 50 metres away which might have been a fledged Sora. No time to get a photo unfortunately.

Sora

Next was the spot by the lake shore where I had good luck with the Ibis in 2013. As I approached the area, I saw some terns in flight. Then they started coming in my direction and hovering over me, I was probably close to a nest. I grabbed the next two shots quickly and then moved away from the area.

Forster's Tern

Also over head was a Franklin's Gull. In this plumage it is one striking looking gull.

Franklin's Gull

Then I spotted a California Gull in flight. These are more like the gulls we see on the coast. The key ID factors for this gull are the Black and Red spot on the bill and the amount of pure black in the wingtip.

California Gull

Like last year, there were some White-faced Ibis in this area and I caught these ones in flight.

The last bird I saw before heading back to the car was a Lesser Yellowlegs, a common visitor to the West Coast as well. The first photo shows the size difference between the Ibis and the Yellowlegs.