Trip
Information
Date: May
21 - 25, 2008
Duration: 5
days
Leader:
Richard Knapton
Limit: 12
people
Cost: $1275
USD/CDN, Single supplement $275 USD/CDN (prices include
5% GST)
From: Calgary,
Alberta
Featured birds:
• Mountain Plover
•
McCown's Longspur
•
Sprague's Pipit
•
Ferruginous Hawk
•
Baird's Sparrow
•
Grasshopper Sparrow
•
Long-billed Curlew
•
Burrowing Owl
Trip Summary:
• Easy to moderate walking
•Warm to hot summer weather
• Good quality accommodation
• Lots of photographic opportunities
• Several long drives
• 4-8 participants with one leader, 9-12 with two
• 15 passenger van(s)
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Southeast
Alberta is a superb area for short-grass prairie and grassland birds,
including a good chance of seeing one of the rarest breeding birds in
Canada, the Mountain Plover. The community of aptly-named prairie birds
coined the “prairie bells’ will be a focus; McCown’s
and Chestnut-collared Longspurs in their musical display flights, Sprague’s
Pipits singing overhead, Baird’s and Vesper Sparrows in the taller grass,
Grasshopper Sparrows trilling from exposed perches, with Western Meadowlarks
and Lark Buntings filling the air with their songs. Swainson’s
and Ferruginous Hawks soar, Prairie Falcons and Merlins dash by, waterfowl
fill the potholes, and shorebirds are numerous – Marbled Godwit,
Upland Sandpiper and Long-billed Curlew, and the prize target, the
Mountain Plover, the prairie ghost!
See detailed
itinerary below.
Click
here to download a registration form.
Mountain Plover and Ferruginous Hawk images © Gordon Court
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Itinerary
Day
1 - Arrival in Calgary
Participants will be arriving in Calgary throughout the day. For those
that arrive early enough, there are opportunities for birding in and
around Calgary. The Inglewood Bird Sanctuary along the Bow River is an
excellent area for foothills and riverine species and is easily accessible
within the city of Calgary itself. Alternatively, there are some great
museums worth visiting in the city. Contact the tour leader for helpful
suggestions.
We will meet in the evening at our hotel for a get-together and to discuss
the next day’s activities.
Night in Calgary.
Day 2 - Dinosaur Provincial Park and Suffield
Prairie
After breakfast we leave the hotel, with our luggage.
We head east along the TransCanada Highway and onto the open short-grass
plains characteristic of southeastern Alberta. We will stop along the
way should we spot one of our targets, such as a Ferruginous or Swainson's
Hawk. Our first location is Dinosaur Provincial Park, which is a fine
example of eroded badlands along the Red Deer River. Grasslands around
the park support Sprague's Pipits, the badlands are home to Say's Phoebes,
Rock Wrens, Lark Sparrows, Prairie Falcons and Mountain Bluebirds, and
the cottonwood riparian habitats support Spotted Towhees, Yellow-breasted
Chats and other interesting woodland and scrub species. We will have
a picnic lunch here, in the shades of the cottonwoods.
Next we head further southeast, and drive along the western border of
Suffield, a huge 2700 square kilometer military range noted for some
of the finest remaining tracts of native prairie left in Canada.Virtually
all of the prairie specialties can be located at Suffield - McCown's
and Chestnut-collared Longspurs, Sprague's Pipit, Grasshopper Sparrow,
Lark Bunting, Baird's Sparrow. We may luck into Sharp-tailed Grouse en
route, and there should be groups of Pronghorns on the open plains.
We arrive at dinnertime at our lodge in the Cypress Hills Provincial
Park at the charming little town of Elkwater, where we will spend the
next two nights.
Days 3 – Cypress Hills and Wild
Horse
The Cypress Hills are an island of boreal forest in a sea of prairie,
and have a unique and isolated avifauna. Here we could find Red Crossbills,
Lazuli Bunting, MacGillivray's Warbler, Dusky Flycatcher and Red-naped
Sapsucker, and............ there are moose in these hills.
We head down to the diverse prairie region around Wild Horse along the
Montana and Saskatchewan border. Our main target is the Mountain Plover;
this is the only known breeding location in Canada for this endangered
species, and we take every precaution not to disturb the birds. They
are nesting on a private ranch, on flat open barren prairie, and, if
they have returned, we should be able to scope them from the road that
passes along the ranch. The dry prairies here also support longspurs
and pipits, and several pairs of Ferruginous Hawks are in the area. More
lush areas have Upland Sandpipers. Prairie sloughs have Yellow-headed
Blackbirds and Black Terns, and several fields support pairs of Burrowing
Owls. This area is particularly good for catching a glimpse of Swift
Fox. Night in Elkwater.
Day
4 - Cypress Hills and Pakowki Lake
On Day 4, should we not have found Mountain Plovers yesterday, we return
to Wild Horse for a second attempt. We then head west, taking in prairie
sloughs and eroded badlands for waterbirds and Prairie Falcons, maybe
to Pakowki Lake where Clark's Grebes breed. Time permitting, we may visit
Writing-on-Stone Provincial Park where we'll look for Yellow-breasted
Chat, Bullock's Oriole, Spotted Towhee, Brown Thrasher and other riparian
inhabitants.
We make our way back to Calgary, stopping at locations in search of species
that we may have missed up to this point. Night in Calgary.
Day 5 - Departure
Our tour ends after breakfast.
What to Expect
We start our day with an early breakfast and then head off
for most of the day, having a picnic lunch around noon. Days are long at
this time of the year, and we will make the best use of our time accordingly.
Driving will be in moderate to long stretches, but we will have frequent
stops and breaks.
Southeastern Alberta is likely to be warm or even hot during the day, with
a possibility of rain. It can be quite windy at times. However, being the
northern prairies, there could be a cold front that moves through, so it
is best to be prepared for changeable weather. Evenings are likely to be
cool, nights can be quite chilly, and early mornings can likewise be cool,
before it warms up.
It is unlikely to snow. Nevertheless, participants should layer their clothing
as conditions can change quickly while we are in the field. Mosquitos are
equally unpredictable in early June. We may encounter just a few, or rather
a lot. Participants should include bug repellent and perhaps a head net
in their luggage, just in case! An umbrella would be useful.
Each evening a log-call will follow the evening meal. We review the day’s
events, birds, mammals and other observations and look forward to the next
day of activity. |
