Birding in Medicine Hat and Waterton (1 Viewer)

[RJSeargent]

I am from the UK but have not birded in Alberta beforehand. I will be working in Alberta and BC for two months starting on 1 June and finishing end of July. Inititally I will be in Suffield, 45 minutes or so from Medicine Hat, but will have some sort of R&R where I intend to visit BC via Waterton. Can anyone suggest birding sites in the envorins of Medicine Hat and then in Waterton where I expect to spend two days? After that I have a planned route around the Rockies where I hope to bird and backwoods camp on the way around.

I have heard of Police Point in Medicine Hat and am aware of areas around CFB Suffield where I might expect some good birds.

Thanks in advance.

Rich

 

[DMKSlater]

I might bump into you! Look for a confused looking Scottish birder with a sibley field guide!

Good luck.

Dave

 

[RJSeargent]

I might bump into you! Look for a confused looking Scottish birder with a sibley field guide!

Good luck.

Dave

and a confused English one! I've birded the east seaboard before but never in the west! Can't wait.

 

[RJSeargent]

I might bump into you! Look for a confused looking Scottish birder with a sibley field guide!

Good luck.

Dave

Dave,

Please PM me with your email address - I have some info on Waterton and have a list of birds seen around BC and Alberta a couple of years back.

Rich

 

[RJSeargent]

Dave, I am now in Suffield, Alberta. Two non birding days have produced 71 species, 25 of which are lifers. Full days birding at Police Point, Medicine Hat tomorrow should produce loads more. I'm like a kid in a sweet shop!

 

[RJSeargent]

Dave, don't know if you'll read this but if you are in Lethbridge head SW for two hours and go to Waterton and its National Park. Just come back with a further 17 lifers including Steller's Jay, Vaux's Swift, Rufous Hummingbird to name a few. Sandhill Cranes at the entrance lake and Harlequin duck possible.

Rich

 

[DMKSlater]

Hi Rich, sorry for lack of correspondance but didn't have internet for two weeks!

Thanks for all the info, I got the Harlequin at Waterton, just below the waterfall, a real surprise! Also did you do the cruise? Got Bald Eagle and American pipit just at the border lookout.

Mine was a non-birding holiday but still managed 46 lifers, but amount of places we flew past was heartbreaking, especially heading from Stettler down to Brooks, looks like some mega pools right by the roadside.

Good views of Killdeer and Clarks Nuthatch in the car par at Glacier park.

Heading back next year, but will schedulle some proper birding into next trip, girlfriend was just as frustrated as i was...... and believe it or not didnt get my only target bird of black capped chickadee!! (Got mountain chickadee so that will have to do till next year!)

Let me know how your getting on, and thanks once again.

Dave

PS off tomorrow to try for white winged scoter off aberdeen, must have followed me home!

 

[RJSeargent]

Dave,

my list thus far. Finding it extremely difficult to get out and bird - work is getting in the way.

Great Northern Diver
Pied-billed Grebe
Red-necked Grebe
Horned Grebe
Black-necked Grebe
Western Grebe
American White Pelican
Double-crested Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Black-crowned Night Heron
Turkey Vulture
Trumpeter Swan
Cackling Goose
Canada Goose
Lesser Canada Goose
American Wigeon
Gadwall
Green-winged Teal
Mallard
Northern Pintail
Blue-winged Teal
Northern Shoveler
Canvasback
Redhead
Ring-necked Duck
Lesser Scaup
Bufflehead
Barrow's Goldeneye
Common Goldeneye
Hooded Merganser
Goosander
Ruddy Duck
Osprey
Bald Eagle
Northern Harrier
Sharp-shinned Hawk
Cooper's Hawk
Northern Goshawk
Broad-winged Hawk
Swainson's Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
Ferruginous Hawk
American Kestrel
Merlin
Prairie Falcon
Sharp-tailed Grouse
Common Pheasant
Sandhill Crane
Yellow Rail
Sora
American Coot
Black-necked Stilt
American Avocet
Killdeer
Wilson's Snipe
Marbled Godwit
Long-billed Curlew
Upland Sandpiper
Spotted Sandpiper
Solitary Sandpiper
Greater Yellowlegs
Lesser Yellowlegs
Willet
Buff-breasted Sandpiper
Wilson's Phalarope
Bonaparte's Gull
California Gull
American Herring Gull
Ring-billed Gull
Mew Gull
Franklin's Gull
Black Tern
Common Tern
Forster's Tern
Eurasian Collared Dove
Mourning Dove
Great Horned Owl
Short-eared Owl
Common Nighthawk
Vaux's Swift
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Rufous Hummingbird
Belted Kingfisher
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
Red-naped Sapsucker
Downy Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Pileated Woodpecker
Alder Flycatcher
Least Flycatcher
Dusky Flycatcher
Western Wood Pewee
Eastern Phoebe
Western Kingbird
Eastern Kingbird
Horned Lark
Sprague's Pipit
Tree Swallow
Violet-green Swallow
Purple Martin
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Barn Swallow
Cliff Swallow
Cedar Waxwing
Sedge Wren
Marsh Wren
Western Winter Wren
House Wren
Grey Catbird
Brown Thrasher
Mountain Bluebird
Western American Robin
Varied Thrush
Veery
Swainson's Thrush
Hermit Thrush
Black-capped Chickadee
Boreal Chickadee
Red-breasted Nuthatch
Loggerhead Shrike
Blue Jay
Steller's Jay
Grey Jay
Black-billed Magpie
American Crow
Common Raven
Common Starling
House Sparrow
Warbling Vireo
Red-eyed Vireo
Purple Finch
Pine Siskin
American Goldfinch
Yellow Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Black-throated Green Warbler
Townsend's Warbler
Blackpoll Warbler
Ovenbird
Common Yellowthroat
Wilson's Warbler
Chipping Sparrow
Clay-coloured Sparrow
Vesper Sparrow
Savannah Sparrow
Le Conte's Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Lincoln's Sparrow
Swamp Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
McCown's Longspur
Chestnut-collared Longspur
Western Tanager
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Lazuli Buning
Red-winged Blackbird
Western Meadowlark
Yellow-headed Blackbird
Brewer's Blackbird
Common Grackle
Brown-headed Cowbird
Baltimore Oriole
Bullock's Oriole

 

[DMKSlater]

How jealous am I!! I'm currently at home in a damp and driech Scotland with an ear infection so can't even get out birding!!
How long you got left out there?