All About the Birds--Canada Edition

One just shouldn’t travel without their binoculars.  Luckily, I didn’t.  Of course, being a birder, one does travel with purpose.  In Canada, there were birds to be seen at every venue.



 

We noticed that there were several communities where houses were placed to attract and provide shelter for particular species.  In Golden, BC, we found a house near the airstrip housing a Tree Swallow.

 

 

Again, the community of Brule, AB placed a number of houses and nearly every one was occupied by Tree Swallows.  We concluded this must be a specific conservation effort.

Did you know that the Canadian Dollar is known as the Loonie?  Common Loons are found on the lakes and ponds all over Canada.



One of the birds everyone and every piece of literature told us for who to look was Barrow’s Goldeneye.  We found a hen and her brood on a quiet roadside pond.

 

Clark’s Nutcrackers are not shy around people.  This one was found at Lake Louise.

 

Finally, Hinton, AB has developed a system of trails that wander through beaver ponds.  On the main pond sat a Ring Necked Duck and his mate.



Crater Lake and Clark's Nutcracker

 We’ve returned to Crater Lake in Oregon this June 14th. We found our arrival a bit too early. The park has been hit with 649 inches of snow this year, and there was plenty still on the ground. All the trails were snow covered. Only the south entrance to the park (Hwy 62) was open.


Why so much snow? Meteorologists are talking about “La Nina” a cooling of the waters about the equator. Such cooling pulls artic air further south, hence, more snowfall. Next year, the expectation is for a more mild winter—only 528 inches of snow. Mild, huh?

We did not waste the experience, though. We made our way to Discovery Point in order to gaze on the Phantom Ship, Wizard Island and the vast body of water that defines the lake. It is hard to imagine a lake as large (33 miles around), deep (1943 feet at its maximum), but still as pure and blue as any body of water you can find.

While there we took note of a few of the birds.  This, of course, is a Clark’s Nutcracker.