Birding in Bowmont Park

Last weekend I joined a small group of intrepid birders in braving the rain and heading out to explore Bowmont Natural Environment Park.  This park is on the north bank of the Bow River, below the community of Varsity in northwest Calgary (click on the location above for a map).  There is some great birding habitat in this area: riparian habitat, small ponds, deciduous woodland, and shrubby ravines.  The area is actually scheduled for redevelopment to reduce the impact of dogs on the river and to reintegrate the old gravel pit into the natural park, among other goals.  You can check out the redevelopment plan and, for the next couple of weeks, provide feedback on the City of Calgary website.

As was to be expected with the intermittent, at times heavy rain, the light was not very good for photography but I did get a few decent shots, as captioned below.  There's also a species list at the bottom of this post which is probably fairly typical for this area at this time of year, although Violet-Green Swallow and Common Yellowthroat were nice treats and we were surprised not to hear any Warbling Vireo.

Osprey, Pandion haliaetus, bringing nesting material back to a platform beside the riverbank 

Lincoln's Sparrow, Melospiza lincolnii, is differentiated from other Melospiza sparrows by gray "eyebrow" and slightly buffy sides, finer streaking on the breast, and of course voice. 

Downy Woodpeckers, Picoides pubescens, don't always come to the hand even in the winter, so it was a nice surprise to have a visit from this male.

This White-crowned Sparrow, Zonotricha leucophrys, was clearly a male - indistinguishable by appearance but singing boldly while his mate was keeping a low profile further down in the bush.

There were lots of Grey Catbirds, Dumetella carolinensis, mewing from inside the silverberry bushes.  They don't just do cat impressions either - also Robin, Flycatcher, Kinglet, and on and on.  Check this out...

Species List for this outing...

1. Canada Goose
2. Mallard
3. Blue-winged Teal
4. Common Goldeneye
5. Common Merganser
6. Ring-necked Pheasant
7. Osprey
8. Spotted Sandpiper
9. Rock Pigeon
10. Downy Woodpecker
11. Western Wood-Pewee
12. Alder Flycatcher
13. Least Flycatcher
14. Eastern Kingbird
15. Black-billed Magpie
16. American Crow
17. Common Raven
18. Northern Rough-winged Swallow
19. Tree Swallow
20. Violet-green Swallow
21. Bank Swallow
22. Black-capped Chickadee
23. Red-breasted Nuthatch
24. White-breasted Nuthatch
25. House Wren
26. American Robin
27. Gray Catbird
28. European Starling
29. Cedar Waxwing
30. Orange-crowned Warbler
31. Common Yellowthroat
32. Yellow Warbler
33. Chipping Sparrow
34. Clay-colored Sparrow
35. Savannah Sparrow
36. Song Sparrow
37. Lincoln's Sparrow
38. White-crowned Sparrow
39. Red-winged Blackbird
40. Brown-headed Cowbird
41. House Finch
42. American Goldfinch
43. House Sparrow