Birding Highlights and More
Yes, I had taken a break from bird blogs, but I was still birding. Here are some quick highlights of some things I have done since the last bird blog:
First off was a trip I had done with a group of birders to a town called Medicine Hat. At a park there, a Screech Owl had been seen and we were hoping to go find it. Unfortunately, we had some absolutely terrible weather. It was so windy out that almost no birds were around including that owl. We are pretty sure it was hunkered down in the tree it stays in hiding from the wind. And the drive back was terrible too as it started snowing. I do want to go back sometime, but on a much nicer day when it won’t be crazy windy and I don’t have to deal with snow.
Next, in the past month I have seen two new species I hadn’t seen before. The first one was on a trip to Carburn Park with a couple birder friends. We were just expecting the usual Wintering culprits at the park, but were surprised to see a Canvasback duck. It was pretty cool to see one at the park that day.
The next bird I saw was on a snowy day with a photographer friend. We first went to Carburn Park and got to see the bald eagle and a bunch of birds, but it was too challenging to try and get some proper photos with all the falling snow. I did get a nice chickadee photo though. After checking stuff out there, my friend wanted to show me a walking trail he likes to go on by his house. So we headed over there and luckily the snow stopped so we were able to take real photos again. We didn’t see anything walking down the trail, but as we were trudging back through the newly fallen snow, we spotted an eagle flying around and on an island in the river he could see a gull. I didn’t believe him until I saw it through my camera. Gulls shouldn’t be here yet. Not for another few weeks anyway. So I snapped the best photos as I could as it was quite a distance away. And it matched the colour of the environment so the camera was having trouble focusing on it easily. Anyway, I put it through Merlin when I got home and it told me it was actually a Herring Gull which I am told is a common winter gull. So that was a pretty cool find.
The last bird encounter isn’t necessarily a new bird, but it was my latest birding trip. I again went to Carburn Park (my favourite Winter birding locale) and I was just expecting to do a quick couple hour walk around. But when I arrived, I found a fellow birder I hadn’t seen since the end of Summer last year and he was waiting for another guy. So the three of us ended up walking and talking and it became a full day adventure. We saw common mergansers flying about, bald eagles nesting in a tree and swapping out for hunts, and a Canada goose who didn’t like where we were watching birds from. But the coolest encounter (which I do not have photos of) was when we were walking through the bushes to go around a massive puddle. As were making our way through, the guy up front has us wait. He tells us he spots an owl up ahead. He figures we have a chance to get closer so we can get a nice photo. Unfortunately, the owl had a different idea. It flew off right away. We decided to walk in its direction as we wanted to head to the shore that way anyway, but it was long gone. All we saw was a flash of its feathers and it fly silently through the forest and then out of sight. It was a Great Horned Owl which I have seen many times, but it would have been cool to get a photo of one not in a usual spot.
The next thing I have done recently is pretty much completing a catalogue of all the different wildlife species I have found over my lifetime. From the pelicans I saw in Florida as a teenager to the koala’s in Australia, and all the numerous birds I have seen the past couple years when I took birding on a little more seriously. Between the birds, reptiles, insects, and more, I have a total of 256 species in that book. And I am hoping to add even more to it this year and the coming years. It has definitely been quite interesting putting it all together.
Lastly, I want to tease a little bit about my upcoming project that I will be working on over the next few months. I have always wanted to introduce all these different birds and animals I have seen to young kids. Exposing kids to wildlife opens their eyes to the world around them which in turn encourages them even more to take care of the world they live in. So I am going to be working on a small magazine about just that and it will contain all my own photography, fun games, a short story related to that magazines topic, and possibly other surprised. I am pretty excited to start working on it and have lots of ideas cooking in my head. Keep an eye on my social media on updates, but this is something I plan to complete far down the road.
