01 Middle Lake, Bow Valley Provincial Park

Two days ago, on 24 July, I went with a couple of friends to Bow Valley Provincial Park to see what birds were to be seen. Only three of us turned up at the meeting place. A fourth person met us out at the park. Fortunately, the other three are very good birders : ) The weather forecast was for a sunny day with a temperature of 28C in the afternoon.

We followed the Flowing Waters trail after walking to the trailhead from the Willow Rock Campground. One of the first sightings we had was a juvenile Brown-headed Cowbird being fed its foster parent, a much smaller bird, an American Redstart. Later, on the return walk, we saw another Redstart, a male - way ahead of us along the path in the dark forest. I've been on quite a few city walks where people have spotted a Redstart, but this was the first time I could actually see the bird I don't use binoculars, so I know I miss a lot of sightings! I got one rapid shot, but suspect it will be just too blurry to post.

"Brown-headed Cowbird females forgo building nests and instead put all their energy into producing eggs, sometimes more than three dozen a summer. These they lay in the nests of other birds, abandoning their young to foster parents, usually at the expense of at least some of the host’s own chicks." From AllAboutBirds.

www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Brown-headed_Cowbird/id

From the Flowing Waters trail, we drove further into the park, to Many Springs trail, where we walked the loop. The wildflowers were not as colourful or abundant as they were on my last visit there.

Lunch was eaten at our next stop - a relaxing spot down by the Bow River. Then, we called in at the final location, Middle Lake. It was hot and we had already done a lot of walking, so we just walked down to the edge of the lake.

I will add our leader's list of bird species - many thanks for another enjoyable walk at Bow Valley Provincial Park, Andrew! I was happy to see a Northern Waterthrush and to get a tiny glimpse of the American Redstart, both in the forest along the Flowing Waters trail. Got a blurry shot of each bird, that I may still post on Flickr, just for the record.

Andrew Hart
eBird Checklist Summary for: Jul 24, 2016

Number of Checklists: 3
Number of Taxa: 26

Checklists included in this summary:
(1): Bow Valley PP - Flowing Waters Trails
Date: Jul 24, 2016, 8:35 AM
(2): Bow Valley PP--Many Springs Trail
Date: Jul 24, 2016, 11:15 AM
(3): Whitefish
Date: Jul 24, 2016, 12:45 PM

1 Common Merganser -- (3)
1 Bald Eagle -- (2)
7 Spotted Sandpiper -- (2),(3)
1 Ring-billed Gull -- (3)
106 California Gull -- (2),(3)
2 Willow Flycatcher -- (2)
1 Alder/Willow Flycatcher (Traill's Flycatcher) -- (1)
2 American Crow -- (3)
5 Tree Swallow -- (2),(3)
4 Mountain Chickadee -- (1)
1 Boreal Chickadee -- (1)
4 Red-breasted Nuthatch -- (1)
2 Ruby-crowned Kinglet -- (1),(2)
1 Swainson's Thrush -- (2)
4 American Robin -- (1),(2)
4 Cedar Waxwing -- (1),(2),(3)
2 Northern Waterthrush -- (1)
1 Orange-crowned Warbler -- (1)
1 Common Yellowthroat -- (1)
2 American Redstart -- (1)
1 Yellow Warbler -- (1)
4 Yellow-rumped Warbler -- (1)
2 Dark-eyed Junco -- (2)
1 White-throated Sparrow -- (2)
1 Red-winged Blackbird -- (2)
1 Brown-headed Cowbird -- (1)

Plus Mallard, Goldeneye, Buffleheads, Ring-necked Duck.