MacGillivray's Warbler, Lighthouse Country Regional Trail, Qualicum Bay, BC, Canada, Jun 29, 2024
Back from a trip to Canada to celebrate our 20th wedding anniversary and although it was not a birding trip I was able to get at least some birding in most every day. We flew from Boston to Calgary and then drove up into the Canadian Rockies where we spent four days before flying over to Vancouver Island where we stayed for six days before a red eye flight back to Boston. The flight out was a little delayed and the airline we were using for the flight out and within Canada had multiple labor strikes that threatened to cancel our flights but strikes were averted right before our flights. We stayed our first night in Calgary as we didn’t arrive there until late in the night.
Wilson's Warbler, Moose Meadows, Banff NP, Alberta, Canada, Jun 24, 2024
Northern Waterthrush, Moose Meadows, Banff NP, Alberta, Canada, Jun 24, 2024
Townsend's Warbler, Moose Meadows, Banff NP, Alberta, Canada, Jun 24, 2024
Yellow rumped Warbler 'audubon's', Castle Junction, Banff NP, Alberta, Canada, Jun 24, 2024
Yellow rumped Warbler 'audubon's', Castle Junction, Banff NP, Alberta, Canada, Jun 24, 2024
Castle Junction, Banff NP, Alberta, Canada, Jun 24, 2024
Peyto Lake, Banff NP, Alberta, Canada, Jun 24, 2024
On the first day of the trip we took the long drive from Calgary up to Banff NP and then further north toward Jasper and then down through Yoho NP to Golden and finally to our lodging in Radium Hot Springs. The first warbler for the day turned out to be a Wilson’s Warbler at Banff followed quickly by Northern Waterthrush, all before leaving the parking lot for our first hike. The first hike was at Moose Meadows and eventually I turned up two more species with Townsend’s Warbler and Yellow rumped Warbler (Audubon’s subspecies). The several other stops for the day as we made our way through Banff NP up the Icefields Parkway toward Jasper and then down through Yoho NP to Golden and finally to our lodging in Radium Hot Springs didn’t produce any new species so I ended the day with a total of four warblers.
MacGillivray's Warbler, Sinclair Trail, Radium Hot Springs, BC, Canada, Jun 25, 2024
On the second full day we stayed closer to our lodging to get a break from all the driving we did the day before. I was out before dawn on a cool morning (low 40’s) and headed to the nearby Sinclair Trail where I found my first MacGillivray’s Warblers and Orange crowned Warbler for the trip (plus a couple other species). We then walked a few other trails nearby plus took a paddle through some wetlands on kayaks. With the variety of habitats over the course of the day I found a total of eight species of warblers with the other new ones for the trip being Common Yellowthroat and Yellow Warbler.
Yellow rumped Warbler 'audubon's', Emerald Lake, Yoho NP, BC, Canada, Jun 26, 2024
Yellow rumped Warbler 'myrtle', Emerald Lake, Yoho NP, BC, Canada, Jun 26, 2024
Townsend's Warbler, Emerald Lake, Yoho NP, BC, Canada, Jun 26, 2024
Emerald Lake, Yoho NP, BC, Canada, Jun 26, 2024
Tennessee Warbler, Boom Lake, Banff NP, Alberta, Canada, Jun 26, 2024
Tennessee Warbler, Boom Lake, Banff NP, Alberta, Canada, Jun 26, 2024
We got an early start on Wednesday when we headed out to make it up to Yoho NP early in then morning before the crowds arrived. Our first stop was up to
Emerald Lake and we did indeed arrive before the crowds. We walked along the entire lake and turned up five species of warblers. We then made a few other stops in Yoho NP before heading down to a few more stops in Kootenay NP. One stop at the Boom Lake Trail produced a new warbler for the trip with a singing Tennessee Warbler. This added a new warbler for the trip and became the ninth warbler species for the trip. Overall for the day I had five species of warblers.
American Redstart, Sinclair Trail, Radium Hot Springs, BC, Canada, Jun 27, 2024
Yellow Warbler, Saw Mill Pond, Radium Hot Springs, BC, Canada, Jun 27, 2024
The final day in the Rockies turned out to be the worst as far as weather was concerned with occasionally rain all day. At least it was not constant and I got a few walks in early just down the street from our lodging. Not many photo opportunities due to the rain although I did get a few. After trying to decide where to go to try to beat the rain we decided on making a stop near the town of Banff which would split the drive up on the way to Calgary where we would stay the night before a morning flight on Friday. Once again the threat of a strike at WestJet added some stress to the day (thankfully the strike was averted once again around dinner time). The walk at the
Fenland Nature Trail turned out to be quite productive, even with some very light rain with nine warbler species tallied. Overall the day turned out to produce my highest warbler count for the trip with ten species.
MacGillivray's Warbler, Lighthouse Country Regional Trail, Qualicum Bay, BC, Canada, Jun 29, 2024
MacGillivray's Warbler, Lighthouse Country Regional Trail, Qualicum Bay, BC, Canada, Jun 29, 2024
MacGillivray's Warbler, Lighthouse Country Regional Trail, Qualicum Bay, BC, Canada, Jun 29, 2024
Orange crowned Warbler, Lighthouse Country Regional Trail, Qualicum Bay, BC, Canada, Jun 29, 2024
Wilson's Warbler, Lighthouse Country Regional Trail, Qualicum Bay, BC, Canada, Jun 29, 2024
Friday was mainly a day of traveling as we flew from Calgary to Victoria in the morning and then drove up to our new lodging in Qualicum Beach, about a third of the way up Vancouver Island. We made some non birding stops along the way and arrived late afternoon at our lodging and that is when I had the only warbler for the day when a Wilson’s Warbler popped out briefly.
Although the forecast for Saturday called for just a few showers later in the morning the rain started up by mid morning and continued on and off throughout the remainder of the day. I beat the rain a bit by getting out before dawn and I choose the nearby
Lighthouse Country Regional Trail. I spent about three hours there during which I turned up half a dozen species of warbler including my first Black throated Gray Warbler of the trip. Some of the birds cooperated enough for some photos. After finishing up my walk and heading back to the lodging some light rain started and continued at varying intensity the rest of the morning so we stayed in until midday when we drove north to visit some wineries and take a short walk if the rain would stop for a bit. Unfortunately the rain never stopped for long and our short walk got cut short by more rain. I did manage to add one more warbler species for the day with a Yellow Warbler at one of the wineries.
Black throated Gray Warbler, McColl Rd, Bowser, BC, Canada, Jun 30, 2024
Black throated Gray Warbler fledgling, McColl Rd, Bowser, BC, Canada, Jun 30, 2024
Black throated Gray Warbler, McColl Rd, Bowser, BC, Canada, Jun 30, 2024
MacGillivray's Warbler, McColl Rd, Bowser, BC, Canada, Jun 30, 2024
Orange crowned Warbler, Rathtrevor Beach Provincial Park, Parksville, BC, Canada, Jun 30, 2024
Orange crowned Warbler, Rathtrevor Beach Provincial Park, Parksville, BC, Canada, Jun 30, 2024
Sunday turned out to be a much better weather day than the day before with a mix of sun and clouds all day. I was once again out before dawn and my first stop was to a location a few minutes to the north,
McCall Road in the tiny town of Bowser. Although a bit quiet to start eventually the warblers showed themselves and I ended up with five species there with quite a few MacGillivray’s Warblers and several Black throated Gray Warblers (including fledglings). After nearly three hours there I headed back to our lodging and then we headed to Rathtrevor Beach in Parksville. After a walk on the beach I headed to some trails through the woods and had some warblers. We then headed to the Parksville Wetlands trail where I turned up a couple new warblers for the day with Common Yellowthroat and Yellow Warbler. We then slowly worked our way back to our lodging by early afternoon and stayed there the rest of the day. Overall the day produced eight species of warblers.
Wilson's Warbler, Lighthouse Country Regional Trail, Qualicum Bay, BC, Canada, Jul 1, 2024
MacGillivray's Warbler, Lighthouse Country Regional Trail, Qualicum Bay, BC, Canada, Jul 1, 2024
On Canada Day we had a whale watch scheduled in Campbell River (about an hour north of our lodging) for 9AM so we had to be on the road by 7:30. I managed to get out a little before dawn once again to track down warblers as the month of July began. I headed to the
Lighthouse Country Regional Trail again and stayed there for almost two hours and found half a dozen species of warblers.
MacGillivray's Warbler, Lighthouse Country Regional Trail, Bowser, BC, Canada, Jul 2, 2024
MacGillivray's Warbler, Lighthouse Country Regional Trail, Bowser, BC, Canada, Jul 2, 2024
MacGillivray's Warbler, Lighthouse Country Regional Trail, Bowser, BC, Canada, Jul 2, 2024
MacGillivray's Warbler, McCall Road, Bowser, BC, Canada, Jul 2, 2024
Yellow rumped Warbler 'audubon's', McCall Road, Bowser, BC, Canada, Jul 2, 2024
For our last full day in Canada we decided to stay local again to relax a bit and keep driving to a minimum. The morning consisted of a number of walks covering several miles and finding seven species of warblers
Common Yellowthroat, Hamilton Marsh, Coombs, BC, Canada, Jul 3, 2024
MacGillivray's Warbler, McColl Road, Bowser, BC, Canada, Jul 3, 2024
July 3rd would be a travel day back toward home with a ferry trip from Vancouver Island over to the mainland and then on to Vancouver Airport with a red eye flight back to Boston. Before we would have to start the trip home late in the morning I made a stops including Hamilton Marsh, Dudley Marsh and McCall’s Road. These stops produced seven species of warblers and I finally got some photos of Common Yellowthroats.
Overall for the trip to Canada I had eleven species of warblers with seven of those being new for me in Canada and three being new for the year for me. I have now seen 15 species of warblers in Canada.
