Easter Weekend

So I didn't get out birding as much as I hoped to this weekend mostly because I had cousins come to visit that I haven't seen in a year and a half, but I did still manage to add a few birds to my year list.

On Thursday afternoon I headed from Lethbridge back home to Redcliff and made a coupe quick stops along the way. At Fincastle lake all of the common ducks were present; good numbers of Mallards, Northern Shovelers, Northern Pintails, Green-winged Teal, Common Goldeneye, American Wigeon etc. were all there along with the usual Canada Geese and a few Tundra Swans. Underneath the large man-made heron nesting structure there were hundreds of gulls which as far as I could tell consisted of California Gulls and Ring-billed Gulls. There easily could have been a few Herrings in the mix, but most were too far off to ID with my binoculars. Just before leaving I decided to try one more time to find a heron or cormorant underneath the structure and sure enough, with a little patience I found 2 Double-crested Cormorants! According to eBird they are the first for the province this year.

Poor quality shot of the heron nesting structure at Fincastle Lake

A quick stop at Murray Lake yielded many of the same species with the highlight being my fourth Western Meadowlark of the year. At home the bird feeders were very quiet with only one Common Redpoll visiting all weekend. Friday and Saturday were basically birdless as I was spending time catching up with family.

On Sunday, my brother Curtis, his girlfriend Taylor, my mom, and I went out to the Cypress Hills for a drift triking excursion (if you don't know what that is, look it up on youtube). I had ulterior motive as I was hoping to add Mountain Bluebird to my year list. Curtis pointed out the first bluebird on Eagle Butte Road south of Medicine Hat and we quickly added 8 more on Jackpot Road along with a Northern Shrike and a Red-tailed Hawk. We found a second Red-tailed Hawk, this time a dark morph, at the Reesor Lake outlook and a pair of Ruffed Grouse walked across the road in front of us at Spruce Coulee. There were few other birds around and after spending a couple hours looking for and finally finding Taylor's phone that she dropped in a ditch, we were all ready to go home.

View from Reesor Lake with my film camera

Today I made a quick trip to Police Point Park hoping to add Great Blue Heron to my year list. I didn't have to even enter the park as there were 16 in a tree right at the gate. I decided to walk around anyway and was rewarded with my lifer Herring Gull (I know...that's sad) and my first Franklin's Gull of the year. The Franklin's may be the first of the year in Alberta, but I feel like one may have been reported on the Albertabird message board last week. Either way, they will be all over in no time. Those three species put my year list at 88, that's one ahead of my pace last year.

Great Blue Herons lifting off taken with my Yashica FX-3

The drive back to Lethbridge tonight was fairly uneventful other than 2 Great Horned Owls on signposts. I should be able to add a couple more species without trying too hard this week and hopefully will have time for a trip to Waterton in the near future.