Posted by Dan Arndt

 

After being away in Ucluelet, B.C. last week to take part in Wild Research’s annual pelagic birding trip, which I posted about over at Bird Canada, this week I’m back home and enjoying the first full day of fall with the Friends of Fish Creek.

Almost immediately after I arrived, we headed west from the parking lot, as Bob had seen a good number of warblers working their way around a small pond and trees at the very edge of the park, which none of us had ever really noticed before. After spending a good half hour and turning up a small flock of Wilson’s Snipe and nearly fifty Yellow-rumped Warblers, a pair of White-throated Sparrows, and a lone Orange-crowned and Palm Warbler, we headed back to the lake proper to attend to our usual route.

Just down from the parking lot we had a couple of other great finds, with a pair of Pied-billed Grebes, and a good number of Double-crested Cormorants, and this young one gave us a close fly-by.

As we slowly circled the lake, it quickly became clear to us that, in an unusual turn of events, there were actually more Bonaparte’s Gulls around the lake than Franklin’s. The Bonaparte’s Gulls were flying at eye level around the edge of the lake, and feeding off the surface of the lake. While we were stopped, we took a few minutes to scan the center of the lake, and happened to find a small group of Hooded Mergansers quite a ways out, but the male Hooded Mergansers are so distinct that they were easy to pick out. We did have some fairly distant views of both Eared and Horned Grebes as well as a few Ruddy Ducks, but nothing close enough to get a half decent photo.

A little further around the lake we found our fourth grebe species, as we got nice and close to a Red-necked Grebe as it surfaced nice and close to us, and while we watched it dive a few times, the clear chattery calls of a flock of twenty-five or so Common Grackles flew overhead, and a few of them paused atop a poplar to pose for a photo.

Further to the south, at the far southeast corner of the lake, a pair of Horned Grebes allowed us to get in nice and close. I find them really quite a challenge in their non-breeding plumage. and get the IDs wrong at least 75% of the time!

Our last really good looks at any of the birds on the lake was this immature Ring-billed Gull, which we suspect was injured, as it swam close to shore while we all got the closest views of this bird we’ve had all year.

All in all, it was a great morning out, and a bit of a different time of year to visit Elliston Park than our usual timing in the fall course, but it was worth the change in schedule!

Next week we’re off to South Glenmore Park, and hopefully we find some unusual species on the reservoir, or at least see a few more fall migrants on their way through.

Good birding, and have a great week!