Posted by Dan Arndt
Canmore’s Christmas Bird Count is was held this year on December 15th, the day before Calgary’s. While I’ve lived in and around Calgary for almost my entire life, I’ve never really spent much time birding around Canmore. Hiking, mountain biking, and road-tripping, sure, but just looking for birds? Never before. Quarry Lake is also an area that I hadn’t ever set foot in, so it was an adventure to explore and learn more about the native birds to the front ranges of the Rocky Mountains.
My Canmore Christmas Bird Count area
The added bonus about birding in Canmore is the amazing scenery.
EEOR, or East End of Rundle peak, just west of Canmore
Left to right: Princess Margaret Mountain, Mount Charles Stewart, Mount Lady Macdonald
My total area was about 1.5 square kilometers, and within that area I tallied up nearly 8km of traverses back and forth in the park, and up and down the streets of the adjoining neighborhood. I was fairly impressed too, with 14 species, including a couple that I would be very lucky to have on any Calgary list.
I did manage to get a few decent shots of some absolutely gorgeous birds in my morning out, and I hope you had as much fun on your Christmas Bird Count adventures as I have this year!
Boreal Chickadee
female White-winged Crossbill
male White-winged Crossbill
male Pine Grosbeak
Clark’s Nutcracker
Townsend’s Solitaire
Hi Dan ,wonderful pictures,we are staying in canmore in sept 2015,so I hope to do a bit of bird watching then ,hope I can spot some of these,thanks again Rob.
Gorgeous light on the boreal chickadee. Some of your best photos, yet!
You must have been really happy to get these! Also I love your Common Goldeneyes in flight photo! And you Brown Creeper photo in a later post is exquisite, too!
Great Crossbill shots, Dan! Have never got remotely close to these guys…will have to try your technique. Thanks for sharing.
These pictures are fantastic. What type of camera takes such great clear close up?
Hi Daphne,
I use a Pentax K-5 body with a Sigma 150-500mm 5.0-6.3 lens. Most of these shots are at the 500mm end, and the birds themselves, in this case, were at the extreme close end of my minimum focal distance of 8 feet. The Boreal Chickadees and White-winged crossbills that I was able to get so close to were drawn in when I started walking by, and came even closer when I started “pishing”.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pish