Travel Tuesdays Archives - Page 2 of 2

Our travelling birders, Alan and Marg, have sent us some pictures of a species that has never appeared on the blog. They were driving along RR181 near Twp 172 when they spotted this bird.

Lark Buntings are very much a bird of the southeastern portion of the province, and breed on the native prairie grasslands. Adult males in breeding plumage are black with large white wing patches, and can’t be mistaken for any other members of the sparrow family. His bill is blueish, and the bottom mandible is paler than the top one. Adult females resemble the other brown, streaked sparrows.

You have to be fairly lucky to see these birds, and the Status of Birds In Canada explains why.

Lark Bunting populations are highly nomadic from year to year, avoiding areas of drought and seeking out areas with adequate rainfall.

This is a difficult species to survey, with populations shifting around the grasslands of North America in response to annual variations in climate. Data from the Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) in Canada show large fluctuations and it is not possible to determine the direction of the population trend. BBS data from throughout their range suggest a moderate decline since about 1970, but again, the nomadic nature of the species creates uncertainty in this trend estimate.

Because of marked fluctuations and contradications among the available data sources, it is not possible to determine the population status in Canada.

Today marks the start of a new feature on Birds Calgary. While there are many great birding locations within the city, southern Alberta is awash with birds of all kinds that can be seen during an afternoon drive. The problem is, people who are new to birdwatching, or new to our area, don’t have any idea where to go. If you’re someone who enjoys a rural birding drive with camera in hand, we would love to hear about your route and the birds seen.

A huge thank you to Marg Matheson and Alan Plumb who gave us this idea when they told us about their drives last weekend, so they have the honour of our first Travel Tuesday post!

Pat Bumstead

April 28th
From Vulcan to Frank Lake is a 30 min drive then another 5 min drive to High River and the park. After leaving High River we went south on a secondary highway meeting and crossing Highway 2 just north of Nanton continuing straight east on gravel then paved to Vulcan..so thats 40 mins total driving time, 1 hour 15 mins with many stops enroute (3 hours) so a nice afternoon out with the puppies.

Curlew was in a field devoid of water about 8km north of Vulcan, Tree Swallows were nesting in the bird boxes beside gravel road to hide at Frank,Yellow-rumped Warbler was at the park in High River, Black necked Stilt was beside Highway 2 about 6km north of Nanton. We enjoy these trips together alot and do them regulary,wish there was a serious birder close to us that we could tag along with sometime and thanks so much for all your help. I do most of the driving, and able most times to be the spotter and not the photographer though I do contribute there also but not as much. Alan

Long-billed Curlew

Lesser Yellowlegs

Red-tailed Hawk

Tree Swallow

American Coot

Snow Goose

Northern Shoveler

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Barn Swallow

Very cute Barn Swallow

OK – we know this is a hawk. Anyone care to tell us what species this is? 🙂

April 29

Today we travelled from Vulcan East on Highway 534. Continued on Highway 531. Went onto RR 210 south to Highway 529. Then went west to Champion (Sunday brunch at the hotel is very nice, Western and Chinese). We then made our way back to Vulcan.