May 31st -- El Nido, Lake Louise area and Peter Lougheed Park late evening

May 31^st:

It starts out at 12C but warms up during the day. Around the B&B before we leave are two male and 3 female immature Cassin’s Finches and a male Purple Finch, Rufous Hummingbirds and a male and female Black-chinned Hummingbird that land on the feeder briefly then zoom off without showing its true colours. We drive to the Lake Louise Gondola where we are somewhat ripped off to the cost of $75 being told there is a trail at the top that is walkable with lots of birds; in fact you can only walk about 100m in an area with a high electric fence around it to keep out bears! We see a couple of Audubon’s Warblers and a Snowshoe Hare and then as we get off at the bottom a Buff-bellied Pipit with a leg injury is walking about on the snow at the bottom of the lift. Brunch at Lake Louise then we stop briefly at Vermillion Lakes but as its hot there are way too many people so go to Jack Peak where its also busy and a Boreal Chickadee plus Audubon’s Warbler are the only birds of note. With temperatures rising to 23C the weather takes a turn for the worse with thunderstorms arriving mid-afternoon so we head to our Hotel, the Best Western Pocaterra Plus at Canmore and chill until dinner at nearby Craig’s. After dinner we drive east and then down HWay 40 down the Kananaskis Trail then back along the Spray Lakes road. Weather is still a bit iffy with rain hovering and lots of cloud. The road is generally a bit disappointing but a pair of Barrow’s Goldeneye on one of the upper lakes are our first of the trip and the finale comes when a Grizzly is spotted feeding on the roadside. It allows a close approach and continues feeding as we drive off for a rather long trawl back to Canmore. 

May 30th Columbia Wetlands

May 30^th:

The weather forecast is for another very hot day but they get is seriously wrong. At El Nido early morning a singing Orange-crowned Warbler is the first of the trip but I may have overlooked the song, Lincoln’s Sparrow and Rufous Hummingbirds plus a family of Dark-eyed Juncos are all at the feeders but also at least five different finches one of which appears to be a male Cassin’s Finch and a brown singing male also sounds like a Cassin’s but a male on the feeders appears to be a Purple Finch as does a female. With the forecast heat we drive south from Golden down the Columbia wetlands stopping at anywhere with access points. Bald Eagles, several pairs of American Ospreys nesting on poles on the roadsides and Turkey Vultures are roadside birds along with some Wild Turkeys but I almost miss a Ruffed Grouse standing on the grass verge and make a hash of reversing as it flushes into the nearby vegetation. A grey morph male its visible and audible walking about under the trees but in dense cover and no photos are possible. It is not hot in fact temperatures are hovering around 14C far from the 26C forecast. The various lakes along the wetlands produce out first Wood Ducks and Hooded Mergansers, Spotted Sandpipers, various other wildfowl including Trumpeter Swans with young and a Common Loon with a chick on its back while passerines include our first Northern Rough-winged Swallows, Eastern Kingbirds nest building and one landing on the back of a passing Raven plus singing Least Flycatchers and another empid which I again fail to ID. Odes on the valley include an Emerald which seems to be either Muskeg or Whitehouses and a Whiteface. Temperatures rise to 22C by early afternoon but with showers when we take the 93 road through Kootenay National Park but there are no stopping signs, bears on roadside, we see none and most of the trails and car parks are closed after wildfires in recent years so a single Audubon’s Warbler and a singing Chipping Sparrow are a rather poor reward for a long drive. We return to Field for lunch at Truffle Pigs then head back to Golden.

Audubon's Warbler, Bald eagle, Cassin's Finches, Common Loon, Dark-eyed Junco., Eastern Kingbird, Muskeg or Whitehouses Emerald, Wood Duck, Hooded Merganser, Purple Finch, Red Squirrel, Rufous-Hummingbird, Steller's Jay, Trumpeter Swans, Whiteface sp, 

Purple Finches

another species from the well stocked Algonquin feeders