Post by kastern on Jun 27, 2008 12:47:02 GMT -8
Am going to quickly finish this up as husband is on his way home for an extra long, long weekend.
I have always considered American White Pelicans to be a rather scarce bird, but obviously they aren't as we saw them on pretty much every lake we were at.
At Garner Lake I watched this group make a great fuss of splashing and carrying on......
and then proceed to 'herd' what I assume was a school of fish, gradually driving the school into shallows, where they proceeded to 'scoop them up'. There was one of those 'rocks' in Garner Lake too, although further out, so I imagine they were nesting there.
This was also taken at Garner Lake...the nest is that of a Red Neck Grebe (with 2 eggs), the Grebe vacated when I approached and the Spotted Sandpiper quickly ran onto the nest and started to madly pick up bugs...perhaps some sort of symbionic relationship?
Also at Garner Lake, this is the best image I managed of a Baltimore Oriole. There was a little marsh at the entrance of the park and there was a constant stream of birds coming to it to bath.....if only I had had more time to just set myself up there and sit for a day or two I'm sure I could have got some amazing pictures....but I didn't.
We move on to Elk Island National Park which is just east of Edmonton. This lake (can't remember it's name) is the main lake in the park, the campground is close to it. It would be a perfect lake to canoe or Kayak on. You can see there are Pelicans here too!
This photo was taken at the edge of the above lake. You can see there is a large flock of mixed Franklin and Ring-bill Gulls. Some of the Franklin don't have a completely black head and I suspect they weren't yet in full breeding color (it was early June).
This was another lake within the park system. There were literally thousands of birds on this lake. There is a viewing platform but I think water levels must have been lower than normal as you really couldn't see anything from the platform. We walked around the side of the lake and found and area where we could get closer to where the shorebirds were....although not close enough and we had forgotton the Spotting scope back at the trailer so I really couldn't identify everything. There were American Avocets and Wilson's Phalarope and I think Dunlin but not sure what some of the others were. There was a pair of Trumpeter Swan here and lots of water fowl. We had planned to come back with the scope when the sun was in a better position, but never made it.
A closer view of one of the Avocets. They were nesting there.
This will be the last picture for this bunch. A Blue Wing Teal, and only because it is the best picture I've managed of one. The area we were in is obviously the favored nesting area for both Blue Wing Teal and Northern Shoveler as they were the most abundant duck species we saw. Blue Wing Teal I find to be very 'spooky' so getting a good close picture isn't easy.
Kathy
I have always considered American White Pelicans to be a rather scarce bird, but obviously they aren't as we saw them on pretty much every lake we were at.
At Garner Lake I watched this group make a great fuss of splashing and carrying on......
and then proceed to 'herd' what I assume was a school of fish, gradually driving the school into shallows, where they proceeded to 'scoop them up'. There was one of those 'rocks' in Garner Lake too, although further out, so I imagine they were nesting there.
This was also taken at Garner Lake...the nest is that of a Red Neck Grebe (with 2 eggs), the Grebe vacated when I approached and the Spotted Sandpiper quickly ran onto the nest and started to madly pick up bugs...perhaps some sort of symbionic relationship?
Also at Garner Lake, this is the best image I managed of a Baltimore Oriole. There was a little marsh at the entrance of the park and there was a constant stream of birds coming to it to bath.....if only I had had more time to just set myself up there and sit for a day or two I'm sure I could have got some amazing pictures....but I didn't.
We move on to Elk Island National Park which is just east of Edmonton. This lake (can't remember it's name) is the main lake in the park, the campground is close to it. It would be a perfect lake to canoe or Kayak on. You can see there are Pelicans here too!
This photo was taken at the edge of the above lake. You can see there is a large flock of mixed Franklin and Ring-bill Gulls. Some of the Franklin don't have a completely black head and I suspect they weren't yet in full breeding color (it was early June).
This was another lake within the park system. There were literally thousands of birds on this lake. There is a viewing platform but I think water levels must have been lower than normal as you really couldn't see anything from the platform. We walked around the side of the lake and found and area where we could get closer to where the shorebirds were....although not close enough and we had forgotton the Spotting scope back at the trailer so I really couldn't identify everything. There were American Avocets and Wilson's Phalarope and I think Dunlin but not sure what some of the others were. There was a pair of Trumpeter Swan here and lots of water fowl. We had planned to come back with the scope when the sun was in a better position, but never made it.
A closer view of one of the Avocets. They were nesting there.
This will be the last picture for this bunch. A Blue Wing Teal, and only because it is the best picture I've managed of one. The area we were in is obviously the favored nesting area for both Blue Wing Teal and Northern Shoveler as they were the most abundant duck species we saw. Blue Wing Teal I find to be very 'spooky' so getting a good close picture isn't easy.
Kathy
