White-crowned Sparrow

This is a White-crowned Sparrow that we saw on our way south to Waterton on 11 June 2018. We took the 'back' way rather than travel on the main highway south. A dusty, gravel road, that we knew would be more rewarding and without all the traffic.

Waterton Lakes National Park is where three friends (Anne B, Janet and Shirley) and I went for two days, 11 and 12 June 2018. Part of Monday was spent travelling south to Waterton, stopping at several places en route, including Lundbreck Falls. Our first short stop was in Kananaskis, where we enjoyed watching two or three tiny Hummingbirds and a pair of colourful Barn Swallows. We actually got to witness two Hummingbirds fighting, down on the ground - too far for me to get photos, other than one very distant, blurry shot. I am not a fan of taking photos at feeders, but will still do so if it offers me a good view of a bird.

With no stops, it takes roughly three hours to get to Waterton. We stayed on Monday night at the Bear Mountain Motel in Waterton town. Tuesday morning, we drove around the Waterton area, hoping to maybe see more bears, and then made out way back north, reaching Calgary late afternoon/early evening. As it was, we were so lucky to see a gorgeous Cinnamon Black Bear early evening on Monday, at first from a great distance across the lake and then unexpectedly close. Also spotted a Black Bear in among the blackened, burned trees that were near the edge of the road. It was very difficult to see and impossible to see an open spot through which to take photos - but it was our second bear.

I had been hoping to someday get a chance to get down to Waterton, especially to see how it looked after the devastating Kenow wildfire that damaged or destroyed so much of the park in 2017. Most of the park is still closed, but the whole town site and Chief Mountain Parkway and area are open. To me, the park looked beautiful, with enough green areas to contrast with the dead trees on the mountain sides. Firefighters did such a brilliant job last year of saving the whole town, and a team of firefighters form Calgary had been given the task of doing all they could to save the historic Prince of Wales Hotel. There it still stands, untouched. One can see how close to the town and iconic Hotel the fire had come - right up to the very edge, where a sprinkler system had been set up before the fire got close.

Supper on Monday was at Zum's restaurant - an interesting place with walls covered with old vehicle licence plates. Apparently, people send them to the restaurant from so many places, near and far. The food was good and, next morning, after a short drive to see what we could find, we returned there for a good breakfast.

Apart from the wind, we were very lucky with the weather for our two days. No rain, thank goodness. The morning was chilly and so was the night. On Tuesday, the temperature got up to 20C on our way home. Amazing how much one can see in just a couple of days!