May 25th Waterton and some rain

May 25^th:

Heavy rain overnight and still dull with low cloud at dawn but calm at 8C warming up to 12C by midday with light rain showers then heavy rain arrived from midday and back problems meant the afternoon spent in car reading and sleeping!  

At Dungarvan early the usual birds were on the pond with a Lincoln’s Sparrowin the bushes. We then headed down to Waterton Park and looked at the marsh on the way in before walking up the Red Rock canyon road still closed to traffic after the 2017 fires. The first marshy area had a pair of Sandhill Cranesand a pair of Common Loons with one bird clearly visible on its nest with another bird calling from the lake the other side of the road. Marsh Wrenswere particularly noisy and obvious but in the cool cloudy conditions it was the flock of 300+Cliff Swallowsroosting in the willows that was most impressive. A few Tree Swallows joined the throng and three Trumpeter Swanswere on the large lake. Two singing Gray Catbirds, Warbling Vireo and Common Yellowthroat plus Great Blue Heron and displaying Wilson’s Snipes were a precursor to the walk up the canyon road. The air remained heavy with spits and spots of rain but a fine array of flowers in the meadows were a beautiful sight. Birds included singing Vesper Sparrows, White-crowned Sparrows and Clay-coloured Sparrows. Audubon’s Warbler and a singing Ruby-crowned Kinglet were in the burnt areas with an empidpossibly Alder Flycatcher on song, Northern Flicker but pride of place went initially to a pair of Mountain Bluebirdsfeeding in the colourful meadows. Five birds were seen in total but Julia kept saying she could hear hummingbirds! Eventually cloth ears found a miniscule hummer perched atop a 30-foot thin pine tree and it proved to be lifer number five a male Calliope Hummingbird. After this we managed to lock onto at least 10 birds feeding on the pinker flowers mainly the fireweed (Rosebay Willow Herb) but the cloud was getting thicker and the rain drops bigger. Two Pine Siskins, the first of many on the trip on the way back to the car, a fly-by male American Kestrel,  a drumming Ruffed Grouseheard only, Spotted Sandpiper and a pair of Harlequin Duckson the river by the car park were the last birds before the rain set in and with bad back pains we hit the dry car. After lunch in Waterton at Trappers we looked at the lakes from the vehicle adding Bald Eagle, two Common Mergansers and a pair of Red-naped Sapsuckers. Mammal sightings included 20+ Elk, Columbian Ground Squirrels, Coyote, White-tailed Deer and a number of Beaver Lodges but no actual beavers. Evening meal at Zums in Waterton and back for an early night in the heavy rain that was still falling and forecast for another 24 hours. 

purple 90 minutes

after some nice birds around Moose Meadows and further close encounters with our Columbian friends we headed down a side track into the forest; rounding a bend I glanced into an open area on the right and sat there on the edge was a beautiful Lynx! surely it would not stand the braking and wait for me to grab the camera-- it did but then in panic realised I was on totally the wrong exposure -- rapid change and before it slunk off back into the trees managed a few images -- amazed by the experience we set off again when a Gray Jay flew across the track followed by a woodpecker that landed on a small tree right on the side of the track -- an American Three-toed a new bird for me-- tried shooting through the screen, no good, hung out of the window, pretty poor but then the sun broke through and it actually started sunbathing and falling asleep so slowly got out of the vehicle and got some shots then amazingly was able to walk much closer and take of the converter ending up just using the 300 lens -- this was staggering -- when it eventually flew into the trees we headed further down the track to celebrate with an apple, a banana and a bag of crisps (not god lunch planning) as we sat on a big rock in the sun -- after about 10 minutes I glanced left and a large Coyote or Wolf came out of the trees and started to trot across the edge of the parking area -- blind panic set in and I ran to the car for my camera only to discover it was on the ground behind the rock!!! it disappeared behind some trees but I could see where it would reappear though by then it was crossing a path several hundred metres away and all I got was a shot of its bum! now that day a beer was well deserved

the weather gets better

after an obligatory stop at the Lake Louise visitor centre, always a good idea as staff seldom know the difference between empid songs but they are often a good source of info on what big stuff has been along what road recently, and a nice meal at the restaurant it was a slow drive back to Canmore on the Bow Valley Parkway --a few passerines started to appear in the scrub as the rain finally stopped and the sun broke through including Tennessee, proved to be one of the most numerous songsters though seldom easy to see, Yellow Warbler, Audubon's warbler, Warbling Vireo, Lincoln's and White-crowned Sparrows and more Ruby-crowned Kinglets in song -- from there a visit to Vermillion Lakes turned up Osprey, Bald Eagle, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Green-winged Teal, Ring-necked Duck, a fine Horned Grebe and some Northern Rough-winged Swallows with an obliging Song Sparrow, Pine Siskins, Least Chipmunk and Elk completing the afternoon/evening roll call.