June 8 - Inglewood Bird Sanctuary

We saved Inglewood Bird Sanctuary for the last day. Located near downtown Calgary, it was close to where Mary-Jean was staying. I was flying out in the early evening, so I was able to take my luggage with me and have a quick trip to the airport later in the afternoon.

It's also a great spot to see a good variety of birds at close quarters.

The sanctuary is bordered by the Bow River and has several large inlets and ponds on the grounds, as the map below shows

Here's a view from ground level.




My first photo of the day was that invasive urban bird, the European Starling. I have to say that the Starling photos in this post all turned out quite nicely.


European Starling - Inglewood Bird Sanctuary, Calgary AB

The native House Wren is also a troublesome bird. It practices nest parasitism, and has the nasty habit of filling up unused next boxes with twigs to prevent other birds from nesting in the vicinity. However, I'm always happy to see them as they are not that common on the Coast.

House Wren - Inglewood Bird Sanctuary, Calgary AB

Over the Bow River, I got a nice flight shot of a Franklin's Gull.

Franklin's Gull - Inglewood Bird Sanctuary, Calgary AB

About 10 minutes later we found a Great Horned Owl out in the open along the trail. My photo below seems to indicate that it had just woken up.

Great Horned Owl - Inglewood Bird Sanctuary, Calgary AB

Mary-Jean took this shot about a few minutes later and it looked more alert.

Great Horned Owl - Inglewood Bird Sanctuary, Calgary AB - Photo by Mary-Jean Payeur

Lower down in the same tree, Mary-Jean got a great look at a House Wren. The oval eye ring is quite interesting in this shot.


House Wren - Inglewood Bird Sanctuary, Calgary AB - Photo by Mary-Jean Payeur

As we walked along, we got some shots of some commonly seen birds.

Canada Geese - Inglewood Bird Sanctuary, Calgary AB

Mallard (F) - Inglewood Bird Sanctuary, Calgary AB

I really like this shot of a Starling approaching a nest with some food for the nestling(s).

European Starling - Inglewood Bird Sanctuary, Calgary AB

I normally see Osprey on the coast, but this is only my second one of the year. The first was in the Okanagan in April.

Osprey - Inglewood Bird Sanctuary, Calgary AB

Here's a good look at a Yellow Warbler, and as usual, it's singing.

Yellow Warbler - Inglewood Bird Sanctuary, Calgary AB

As we neared the pond, Mary-Jean photographed a Mama Mallard and her collection of ducklings.


Mallards - Inglewood Bird Sanctuary, Calgary AB - Photo by Mary-Jean Payeur

The next two photos are of a Downy Woodpecker. Notice the knothole in the first shot, this is the entrance to a next cavity.

Downy Woodpecker - Inglewood Bird Sanctuary, Calgary AB

The second shot was taken about half a minute later as it exited the next.

Downy Woodpecker - Inglewood Bird Sanctuary, Calgary AB

We were back in the pond area where the ducks were on the water. In the first shot, there was a significant amount of Cottonwood fuzz on the water. This Wood Duck is probably in eclipse plumage, but it's hard to tell with the fuzz.

Wood Duck - Inglewood Bird Sanctuary, Calgary AB

This male American Wigeon is definitely molting.

American Wigeon - Inglewood Bird Sanctuary, Calgary AB

Here's a movie of the Wigeon:

This next series of photos all feature Eastern Kingbirds. The first shows an adult.

Eastern Kingbird - Inglewood Bird Sanctuary, Calgary AB

The next two shots show an interaction between what I believe is a juvenile bird and an adult. It appears that the young bird is begging for food, but the adult seems to attack it and knock it off it's feet. 

After that interaction, it appears that the two adults are together. All of this happened in a couple of seconds.

Eastern Kingbirds - Inglewood Bird Sanctuary, Calgary AB

The next two shots show a much different interaction, two tree swallows mating. This also highlights the difference between the plumage of the male and female. I leave it to the reader to determine which is which.

Tree Swallows - Inglewood Bird Sanctuary, Calgary AB

There's not only birds at Inglewood, it's home to deer as well. This Mule Deer lives a short distance from downtown Calgary.



Mule Deer - Inglewood Bird Sanctuary, Calgary AB - Photo by Mary-Jean Payeur

Below is the Colonel Walker house, built in 1910. Colonel Walker was very influential in Calgary's early history. I've had some good luck over the years with a couple of lifers in this area.

We carried on with our walk around the sanctuary. About 30 minutes after our last sightings, we saw some Swallows near the river. As luck would have it, they were Bank Swallows, my first for 2018.

Bank Swallows - Inglewood Bird Sanctuary, Calgary AB - 2018 Bird #179

The Bank Swallow is identified by its brownish appearance, and primarily by the brown band in the chest area.

Bank Swallows - Inglewood Bird Sanctuary, Calgary AB

They also don't seem to mind the water:

Mary-Jean got a couple of more shots of a pair of local birds to round out our day.

Black-billed Magpie - Inglewood Bird Sanctuary, Calgary AB - Photo by Mary-Jean Payeur

Red-winged Blackbird - Inglewood Bird Sanctuary, Calgary AB

Photo by Mary-Jean Payeur

Our last bird of the day was seen as we were leaving. I believe it is a Swainson's Hawk, possibly a very young one.

Swainson's Hawk - Inglewood Bird Sanctuary, Calgary AB

This was the last shot of the day and for the weeklong trip. I suspect we may return in 2019 and do it again.

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