A Quiet Day at Carburn
Back at the end of January, I took a quick trip to Carburn Park in Calgary, AB. It is one of the best spots to go to for Winter birding. And they have a resident pair of porcupines living in a tree there which is always fun to check out. Unfortunately, it was a fairly quiet day that day so this will be a fairly short blog post.
As I started walking on the path, a massive Bald Eagle flew past me. I didn’t get a photo as it was gone in the blink of an eye, but it is always a pleasure to see those majestic birds of prey. There is a mating pair that have a nest in the park and have reproducing young for quite a few years. Along the pathway, I have seen some Great Horned Owls in the trees, but they were not to be found that day.
When I got to the Bow River, where most of the birds are found, I saw mostly Canada Geese and a variety of ducks. Mallards, Common Goldeneyes, Buffleheads, and more. I walked down the pathway and spoke with another photographer who was looking for a Harlequin duck which got me excited so as I walked, I scanned the water looking for that. The photos I have of it aren’t great so it would be nice to try and get some more photos. I saw some ducks in the water as I headed towards the bridge to the North of the park, but when it was getting hard to get decent photos, I just turned around.
When I got to the main park area I saw a bunch of Trumpeter Swans out on the water. They are always fun to watch. I spotted a group of people all looking at something and they pointed out some other critters out on the water. There was a muskrat sitting on the eat munching on some food as well as a beaver swimming along the water.
I stayed there watching the those beautiful swans, snapping as many photos as I could. They must have spotted the muskrat on the ice because a couple of them made their way over to it. They surrounded that little guy and he must have been kicked out of that spot because it jumped in the water and swam off.
After enjoying that bit of drama out on the water, I continued my way along the path. I met up with a different photographer who frequents the parks and he mentioned that Harlequin duck hasn’t been seen for a few days. It must have taken off to a different part of the river or maybe even left Calgary. You never know what they do. One thing I did see was a Hooded Merganser along the bank hunting for crayfish. I got to see it catch a large crayfish and shake it around to try to eat it. I am thinking it may have been too large for it as it disappeared from its beak when it swam its way further along the bank.
After that cool sighting, I never really saw anything else. I was going to go into dense bush area, but I didn’t bring my crampons as the main path was dry and that pathway looked like a skating rink. That meant that I couldn’t go see the resident porcupines, but I will see them another time. I headed back to the parking lot and made my way home. I was only there for about an hour, but that is all you really need in the Winter at that park.
