Elizabeth Hall Wetlands (1 Viewer)

So I've been going to this marsh for a couple months now, and it's turned out to be quite a good birding spot with some good variety. Being my day off today I decided what better way to spend the morning than to go birding, right? It turned out to be a fairly fruitful day. Here's a list of the birds that were around:

- american white pelican
- wood duck: 5 juveniles, rare for lethbridge
- mallards: of course
- osprey: another rarity for the area
- ring-necked pheasent
- killdeer
- lesser yellowlegs: 5
- solitary sandpiper
- spotted sandpiper
- mourning dove
- belted kingfisher
- downy woodpecker
- flicker
- western wood-pewee
- least flycatcher
- western kingbird
- eastern kingbird
- bank swallow
- bc chickadee
- red-breasted nuthatch
- house wren
- robin
- catbird
- cedar waxwing
- yellow warbler
- chipping sparrow
- clay-colored sparrow
- brewer's sparrow
- lark sparrow
- song sparrow
- red-winged blackbird
- brewer's blackbird
- baltimore oriole: female
- american goldfinch

It actually turned out to be quite a fruitful day. Hoping I'll get some migrating shorbirds through here pretty soon. I'm still hoping to find a Rail wandering through the reeds, so far I've been able to find a Sora though.

What's amazed me is the lack of raptors in this particular area, so far the only one is the Orprey and he was high overhead. You'd think that with all the small birds hanging around there'd at least be an accipiter hanging out close by. Maybe there are better places to hunt. No sign of owls yet either. Maybe it's just a safe-haven, a fledgling nursery if you will.

Well sounds great Craig and I hope you find that rail and the migrating shorebirds that you want.
Thats wierd you dont see any raptors.

Great list, Craig!

I, too, have been puzzled by the lack of raptors and owls where I live, which is in mixed conifer forest about 7,000 ft. ele. with scattered lakes. There are raptors and owls all around us but not where the forest apparently is taller and thicker than either likes. We do get the occasional sharp-shinned that stays for a few weeks (literally in our back yard!), but none of the more common red-tails and only rarely will a Swainson's, bald eagle, or northern goshawk fly overhead. Owls, I was told by the local forest service "bird-ologist" tend to favor steeper canyon-type habitat, not the flatter forested areas. Wonder if a similar habitat preference is at work where you are as well?