Evening Grosbeaks / Coccothraustes vespertinus

This is the Memorial Day long weekend in the US and for Americans living elsewhere.

All three photos posted today were taken yesterday morning, 23 May 2015. The main focus of the trip was someone's property SW of Calgary, a place that we always call in at when we take part in the May Species Count. This isn't held till next weekend, so this visit was an extra one - and extra long, too, which was pure delight! I think we spent something like two hours, watching especially Barb's feeder area for some of the birds that have been showing up. We are always thrilled to bits to see the Evening Grosbeaks and the Baltimore Orioles - the first male Oriole to arrive at Barb's was on 15 May, and one showed up for us yesterday.

Though I'm not keen on feeder photos, I still take them, as well as when the birds are in the nearby trees. These Evening Grosbeaks (female in foreground and blurry male in background) gave me the chance to at least get closer shots. All the birds were very fast-moving, so gave us a challenge for two hours. The Goldfinch and the Pine Siskins also were quick, but not totally impossible to photograph.

"A heavyset finch of northern coniferous forests, the Evening Grosbeak adds a splash of color to winter bird feeders every few years, when large flocks depart their northern breeding grounds en masse to seek food to the south. The yellow-bodied, dusky-headed male has an imposing air thanks to his massive bill and fierce eyebrow stripe. The female is more subtly marked, with golden highlights on her soft gray plumage. This declining species is becoming uncommon, particularly in the eastern United States." From AllAboutBirds.

www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Evening_Grosbeak/id

After our time at Barb's, we went to Brown-Lowery Provincial Park, mainly to look for Calypso Orchids, which we did find. Some people continued walking the trails, others returned home. I did part of the walk, but then went back to where the cars were parked and wandered through the forest around the parking lot. Tennessee Warblers sang continuously but were almost impossible to see. I was happy to find one single Coltsfoot plant - love the tight cluster of white flowers at the top of a tall stem.

From Brown-Lowery, we started our journey home, stopping at a couple of wetlands on the way. Even though this was mainly a morning trip, it had started at the meeting place at 7:00 am. Can't remember if it has been three or four nights this week that I have ended up getting only a couple of hours sleep, which really doesn't help!

I will add the list compiled by Andrew Hart, who kindly drove three of us around for the morning and early afternoon and then sent us his list that he submitted to ebird. Many thanks for both the ride and the final list, Andrew!

"Here is the elist of Birds seen at B. Castell's S of Priddis; Plummers & Priddis Valley Rd.; and Brown-Lowery PP, 23May2015. 24 participants

Number of Checklists: 3
Number of Species: 46

Checklists included in this summary:
(1): CA-AB-Priddis. Barb Castell
Date: May 23, 2015, 7:34 AM
(2): CA-Priddis Valley road
Date: May 23, 2015, 9:53 AM
(3): Brown-Lowery Provincial Park
Date: May 23, 2015, 10:28 AM

2 Canada Goose -- (1)
2 American Wigeon -- (1)
1 Mallard -- (1)
3 Blue-winged Teal -- (1)
3 Northern Shoveler -- (1),(2)
3 Green-winged Teal -- (1)
4 Lesser Scaup -- (1)
2 Common Goldeneye -- (1)
1 Swainson's Hawk -- (1)
1 Red-tailed Hawk -- (2)
4 Sora -- (2)
1 Spotted Sandpiper -- (1)
2 Wilson's Snipe -- (1)
7 Wilson's Phalarope -- (2)
1 Mourning Dove -- (1)
1 Rufous Hummingbird -- (1)
1 Red-naped Sapsucker -- (1)
2 Downy Woodpecker -- (1)
1 Hairy Woodpecker -- (1)
2 Least Flycatcher -- (2)
1 Eastern Kingbird -- (2)
1 Blue Jay -- (1)
3 Black-billed Magpie -- (1)
2 American Crow -- (1)
2 Common Raven -- (2)
11 Tree Swallow -- (1),(2)
1 Barn Swallow -- (2)
6 Black-capped Chickadee -- (1),(3)
3 House Wren -- (1),(2)
2 Golden-crowned Kinglet -- (3)
2 Ruby-crowned Kinglet -- (2),(3)
9 Mountain Bluebird -- (1),(2)
6 American Robin -- (1),(2),(3)
4 Tennessee Warbler -- (3)
2 Yellow Warbler -- (1),(2)
8 Clay-colored Sparrow -- (1),(2)
6 Savannah Sparrow -- (1),(2)
1 Lincoln's Sparrow -- (1)
1 White-throated Sparrow -- (1)
1 Dark-eyed Junco -- (3)
23 Red-winged Blackbird -- (1),(2)
3 Brown-headed Cowbird -- (1)
1 Baltimore Oriole -- (1)
17 Pine Siskin -- (1),(3)
5 American Goldfinch -- (1)
5 Evening Grosbeak -- (1),(3)"