floraphile

My first NRWS! 🙂

The sweetgum balls also look huge! lol. I blame the telephoto.

So I also probably need a confirmation on what I ID'd as male Summer Tanager 😀.

I was calling it Summer Tanager, not Scarlet. I didn't think about AGF--it looked big and I didn't see the white bars on the wings.

Hi, All. Taken 09/18/2019, lakeside, central Alabama. 1. ?Female Summer Tanager (male was seen earlier) 2. &3. ?Rough-Winged Swallow

I am looking back over my photos from the Calgary trip, and I agree with you that #3 is a YSNF. I have additional photos of a RSNF, so I think he is the one that flashed red for us. Here is a pic for confirmation on the RSNF. Red mustache, no nape crescent.

Wow! Great trip! I saw my first American Dipper at Ribbon Falls on the floor of the Grand Canyon. An interesting fact is that was pointed out to me by an Albertan. 🙂

possibility of Black Swifts, Cordilleran Flycatchers, Winter Wrens and warblers, and Bow Summit for ptarmigans, rosy-finches, and Varied Thrushes. Since we were anyway going to Lake Louise, are there any other notable birds in the Minnestema Lakes? Thanks again for your experience. just to clarify--it was I, rather than the birds, hiking the Larch Valley. 😄

Hi! Sorry for the delay--I'm just seeing this message. We were in a hiking group and couldn't really bird to any extent so as not to hold up the group, and I'm still a novice, so there were many species that I didn't note. But some I remember seeing in and around Calgary, Canmore, Banff NP, Banff Town, and Yoho include, in addition to the ones I previously posted for ID confirmation: Osprey (mostly around Canmore. We saw no raptors at higher elevations), Double Crested Cormorant, Great Blue Heron, Spruce Grouse poop (we didn't see the actual bird, but we saw plenty of poop, confirmed by our naturalist guide), some species of hummingbird (not a Ruby-throat), Belted Kingfisher, Rock Pigeon, Gray Jay, Common Raven, Black-billed Magpie, Red-Winged Black Bird, Clark's Nutcracker, Common Grackle, American Dipper, House Sparrow, what I believe to be a Yellow Warbler (no photo), Black Swift, some type of waterfowl that was not a Mallard, Loon, or Coot, and, around Calgary, a flat-winged raptor that was not an eagle (no photo). An accomplished birder would have a literal field day 😄 in Banff and Yojo NPs.

We saw a NF fly and it flashed red--not certain if it was the same one in photograph, but thought it was.

Hi, Akandula! Our trip was a hiking (rather than a birding) trip, and we were with a group, so I couldn't spend as much time as I wanted birding & photographing. Based on our time there, I would say any of the trails off the beaten path would be excellent for birding--but go at daybreak before anybody gets there. And be sure you hike in groups of at least 4, due to bears. I saw quite a few birds hiking the The Larch Valley/Valley of the Ten Peaks/Minnestema Lakes. Also, if you go to the Town of Banff, it was incredibly commercialized and not to my taste (kind of the Gatlinburg of the North to this Southerner 🙄) but there was a great little trail off the Cave & Basin Museum that led into a marsh with a bird blind.

1. Spotted Sandpiper. Town of Banff, Cave & Basin Marsh Trail. 2. ?Thrasher ?Thrush I need help with this one. Shape, stance, and streaks rather than spots made me think Brown Thrasher, but it has that eyebrow, and maybe the tail is too long for a Thrasher? Town of Banff Cave & Basin Marsh Walk Trail 3. Gray Crowned Rosy Finch--it was literally diving into the snow. Minnestema Lakes, Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada (elevation ~7500')

July 2019 All photos taken in a large cemetery 1. ?House Finch 2. Based on location, I suppose this is a Black-Capped Chickadee. A fledgling? Or just damp feathers? Living in the southeast, I've only seen Carolinas up to this point. 3. Red-shafted Northern Flickers. I've only seen the yellows before. 4. Female house finch? 5. ?Junvenile American Robin

1. ?House Wren. Elbow River Camp, Calgary Stampede grounds 2. ?Tree Swallow Elbow River Camp, Calgary Stampede grounds 3. ?Franklin's Gull. Stampede Grounds, Calgary

The friend who sent it said it seemed much larger than the hawks they usually see on the farm & so he thought it might be something he was not as familiar with.