I had hoped it would be Early Autumn Birding but farming often gets in the way of my travelling desires, so we ended up leaving home on the 24th of October.
Being unseasonably cold everywhere we went, the smart birds were hiding or down south.
But that left a few.
This first bird was seen before reaching the mountains. We see a lot of Sharp-tailed Grouse around home but they are generally on the ground. This one was in a leafless tree where it stood out very well.
We visited Lethbridge first where we saw no birds to speak of, though being the serious sort of birders that we are, we still take note of starlings, magpies and crows.
Things got much more interesting when we reached Creston where my sister and brother-in-law have a Mountain Ash tree leaning over the fence at eye level to their kitchen windows. We spent a lot of time and pixels admiring House Finches
Dark-eyed Juncos
Black-capped Chickadees
and American Goldfinches.
We took long walks up and down the streets of Creston (it's built on a mountainside) where each day we saw a larch tree full of Wild Turkeys. The same tree each day.
One day they left sooner than planned when a hawk flew in to disturb them. It may have been a Rough-legged Hawk, but please recall I am really bad at identifying hawks.
I had a couple of birds I really, really wanted to see on this trip. One was the Pileated Woodpecker which has managed to elude us wherever we've gone. The other was a Steller's Jay of which I have only a poor photo though we have seen one two or three times.
Fortunately my sister of the sharp eyes spotted the Pileated flying over us on one of our discover Creston walks. I snapped off a couple of shots really fast but still sought it among all the trees thoughout the rest of the trip, hoping for one I could just admire for a while. However, this brief look was all we got.
The Steller's Jay we managed to see every day, but I will still be seeking a better photo of it as well .
We were also privileged to see Eurasian Collared Doves at eye level in the back yard. This was good as all my other photos are taken with them ten or more feet above my head.
Our drives into the areas around Creston presented us with geese, ducks and American Coots as well as this immature Bald Eagle
and several Snow Buntings that hopped down the road ahead of us moving so slowly I finally got out of the car to take their picture.
On our last day we visited a creek (or do they call them rivers out there?) where we watched three or four American Dippers hunting and appearing to not mind the icy water.
The bird I was most surprised, and possibly the most pleased, to see occurred on a walk up the mountain behind the Ainsworth Hot Springs. That is where we saw several Varied Thrush, a bird that I have wanted to see ever since I slept through the visit of a single bird to our yard in May of last year. To see that bird, go
here.
I was hoping to see a Grey Jay, but it didn't happen. I guess we'll just have to go back sometime. Perhaps sometime when it is not quite so cold.
