The third day started with a complete waste of time as I headed up high above Okanagan Falls hoping to see Boreal Chickadee and other alpine birds. However I saw nothing to speak of on the way up. When I reached KM marker 34 which my guide book stated it was the best place in BC to see the bird, it was completely logged out.
I had a date in Chilliwack to do the Ryder Lake Ramble in Chilliwack with my friend Mary-Jean and needed to get there pronto. I did stop at Manning Park on the way back briefly where I added a year list species.
#170 Hairy Woodpecker: Date - June 14. Location: Beaver Pond, Manning Provincial Park, BC.
I made a quick stop a the Beaver Pond hoping for more warbler photos, but nothing doing. I did manage to spot a Hairy Woodpecker, which was a species that I was glad to see. It's a common enough bird, but I was almost half-way through the year already. I snapped a couple of poor photos. As luck would have it, I saw my next one that afternoon up above Chilliwack on Ryder Lake. That's where this shot was taken.
#171 Pine Siskin: Date - June 14. Location: Ryder Lake, Chilliwack BC.
This year's Ryder Lake Ramble was shortened by me coming from the Okanagan, and also by rain. We only went to the two places that had a variety of birds last year. We did see some good ones, some of which are featured in earlier posts (Black-headed Grosbeak and baby Dark-eyed Junco for example.) The Pine Siskin is another common bird that I had missed so far this year. Here it is with the same Hairy Woodpecker.
#172 Western Scrub-Jay: Date - June 23. Location: Maple Ridge BC.
I took the day off as a prelude to our upcoming trip to Grand Forks and Calgary. After birding Pitt Lake, I headed into Maple Ridge to see these birds which had been reported recently. You can read the whole story in this blog post: 2014 Summer Vacation - June 23, 2014 - Western Scrub Jays in Maple Ridge
#173 American Crow: Date - June 25. Location: Grand Forks, BC.
I may have seen this bird earlier in one of the trips to the Okanagan, but I did not record it with a photo. This bird is slightly bigger than the Northwestern Crow seen in the Pacific Northwest. It's almost like cheating to be able to count both crows. Although I had one fabulous afternoon birding in Grand Forks, this is the only year list species I saw there. This blog post details the Grand Forks birding: 2014 Summer Vacation - June 25 to 28 - Castlegar, Grand Forks and Creston
#174 Swainson's Hawk: Date - June 29. Location: Fort MacLeod, Alberta.
I usually see a few of these raptors around Calgary, but this is the only one I recorded. This was taken as we were turning off Highway 2 to head for Head Smashed in Buffalo Jump. The focus is poor, but this is the 10,000th photo taken with my new camera purchased in April 2013.
Frank Lake Visit #1
We had some time to kill on our way to Calgary, so we stopped for a visit at the Frank Lake Conservation area. This is one of my favourite birding spots as it is always has plenty of birds and has a blind ideally situated for photography. I paid another solo visit here again on July 2nd. Some of the following photos were taken on that visit.I visited Frank Lake for many years before I saw this species here. They were probably around, I just was not looking in the right spot. They come up to the southern edges of the prairie provinces to breed. This is one of my favourite birds, the colours make for interesting photos.
#176 Wilson's Phalarope: Date - June 29. Location: Frank Lake near High River Alberta.
With these sandpipers the females are the dominant gender. They leave the males to sit on the nest and raise the young while they find other partners. They migrate south first, with the males and juveniles following later.
#177 Franklin's Gull: Date - June 29. Location: Frank Lake near High River Alberta.
These black-headed gulls are unmistakeable in breeding season. They nest in the tall grasses that surround the lake. Here's one carrying some nesting material.
#178 Eared Grebe: Date - June 29. Location: Frank Lake near High River Alberta.
This grebe is rarely seen on the west coast in winter, so I always count on seeing them at Frank Lake. In early July, the young grebes are swimming by themselves, but stay very close to a parent. I love the eyes of both birds in this photo.
#179 Sora: Date - June 29. Location: Frank Lake near High River Alberta.
The Sora is a member of the Rail family. They are normally very secretive and hard to spot. However, the one I saw at Frank Lake was crossing the board walk every few minutes, probably transporting food to nestlings. This photo was taken at Reifel Bird Sanctuary on the last day in August on a rare day when both the Sora and Virginia Rails were visible. I believe this is a first year bird as it does not have the adult colouring around the face.
#180 Cliff Swallow: Date - June 30. Location: Glenmore Weaselhead Reserve, Calgary Alberta.
I always head to this location as I am guaranteed to see Cliff Swallows nesting under a large bridge that spans the Elbow River. Like the Bank Swallow in the June Part 1 post, it is very difficult to get a good photo of this species. They are in constant motion. This shot was taken by focusing on a nest, putting the camera into multi-shot mode and firing when motion was detected.
#181 White-throated Sparrow: Date - June 30. Location: Glenmore Weaselhead Reserve, Calgary Alberta.
This is a very common sparrow east of the Rockies, and is being seen more frequently in the Lower Mainland. However, this is the first one I have seen since Point Pelee in 2012. I only saw it briefly and thought it was a Savannah Sparrow. I did not realize what I had seen until I downloaded the photos from my camera six days later.
#182 Clay-colored Sparrow: Date - June 30. Location: Glenmore Weaselhead Reserve, Calgary Alberta.
I had a bit of time to kill so I took a path that I had not tried before on the way back to the car. I heard a buzzy noise on the wind and searched for the source. Eventually I found it and got a couple of nice shots. This was the first time I had seen this bird since I was in Calgary in 2007. With a few more additions in July and November, this was a very good sparrow year.
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