‘Spring of the Bluebird’ – An Unexpected Birding Surprise!

With a local long cold winter here in Calgary, Spring seems to have taken forever to arrive and then suddenly the migrant birds are arriving at a frenetic pace and green colours and warm temperatures seem to occur overnight! Indeed, only a month ago Calgary was still enduring significant snowfall and some of the winter residents had yet to leave, such as the ever-cute Common Redpolls:

And smartly-plumaged Bohemian Waxwings:

But to keep that plumage in tip-top condition, it is important to bathe…even if it is an ice-bath!:

Early April saw the first signs of summer arrivals and one of the most gorgeous at that: the Mountain Bluebird. With their electric blue feathering, a Mountain Bluebird is always a sight to behold so I was quite thrilled when I was able to follow-up on a local report and locate a single pair at the Weaselhead Natural Area just as the snow began to fall:

However, I was completely in awe when just a week later I had the amazing experience of enjoying close up views of not one pair, but a flock of around 50 (fifty!) in a local park. Having read yet another report of bluebirds in Calgary’s Bowmont Park:

during the week, I decided to pay a visit in the hopes that some of these birds had, due to the continuing snowy weather, not yet moved on. And indeed they hadn’t!:

There are at least 15 bluebirds in this image…not a sight I expect to see again any time soon!

Upon arriving at Bowmont I quickly found a couple dozen bluebirds high up in a cottonwood and, to my delight, the entire flock soon descended down to the park shrubs and bushes and began to forage!:

The bluebirds were extremely accommodating and not particularly shy and soon I was surrounded by them affording me some wonderful photographic opportunities:

This afternoon truly was one of those memorable experiences when you just walk away thinking ‘wow!’.

No mean feat to achieve, but a pair of striking Hooded Mergansers were somewhat over-shadowed by the Mountain Bluebird show:

Nevertheless, ‘Hoodies’ are definitely a treat to behold and getting some portraits was the icing on the cake for this special day in my birding life!

However, it would be remiss of me not to also include some shots of the lovely Common Goldeneyes that were also present at the pond:

And why not one more image of the spectacular Mountain Bluebird 🙂 :