After a very mild start to winter, Calgary paid for it in spades during February and early March with temps consistently in the -20C range. With that and general family activities, I haven’t got up to much birding locally, but nonetheless got to enjoy some birds that seem to be more conspicuous in the winter such as the cute Golden-crowned Kinglet:
And a few White-winged Crossbills:
That were accompanied by a couple of Red-breasted Nuthatches:
On one very cold morning outing, I came across a small flock of House Finches in a frost-laden tree:
It is so nice to hear them singing again now…spring must be near!
I also made a trip out west to Kananaskis Country where I spent a very pleasant 30 minutes watching a confiding American Dipper scour the rocks in a frigid river for insect larvae:
Another trip to the outskirts of Calgary netted this lone Boreal Chickadee amongst a large flock of Black-capped Chickadees:
However, the highlight was a single male American Three-toed Woodpecker that a pair of fellow birders alerted me to:
Finally, it wouldn’t be winter for me unless we had some Redpolls….
but I had to wait until March to see a few, but it was worth it. I just love their colouring, especially the males!:
Beautiful
WOW! Thank you for these. That third Golden-crowned Kinglet pic took my breath away!
Stunning photos Tim, love the kinglets, around there they’re too fast for me, my photos are often a bit blurry. Thanks for sharing your lovely work!