Along Canada Highway 93
The tour continued north on Canada Highway 93. The icefields and glaciers became more numerous and the mountains became more dramatic as we headed to Jasper National Park. I saw a Pine Siskin at one of the scenery stops.
Along Canada Highway 93
Along Canada Highway 93
Pine Siskin
We arrived at Jasper National Park late in the afternoon, and were treated to a beautiful view of Mount Edith Cavell as we entered the park.
|
Soon after getting off of the tour bus, one of the many friendly elks that "own" the park greeted us with a smile. Black-billed Magpies, American Crows, and Canada Geese were abundant there, and an Osprey flew overhead. A White-crowned Sparrow was foraging right in front of our cabin door.
Elk
Black-billed Magpies
I took a quick hike around part of the lake, Lac Beauvert, that was in front of the lodge, and I saw a pair of Common Loons feeding a young Loon and teaching it how to fish. When mama and papa dove under the water, junior stayed on the surface, but with its head under the water so it could watch how to fish.
Common Loons
Common Loons
I saw several Yellow-rumped Warblers. The adult of the eastern North American sub-species, Myrtle, has a white throat and is uncommon in the west, whereas the western sub-species, Audubon's has a yellow throat. I saw adults of both species, but the juveniles were harder to distinguish as many of them had either a white throat or just a trace of yellow in it.
Juvenile Yellow-rumped Warbler with a Damsel Fly
Myrtle Yellow-rumped Warbler
Juvenile Yellow-rumped Warbler
Myrtle Yellow-rumped Warbler
Juvenile Yellow-rumped Warbler
Myrtle Yellow-rumped Warbler
Juvenile/first year Yellow-rumped Warbler
The next morning, Tom Krop and I did a five mile hike along the Athabasca River and then around the other three lakes near the lodge: Edith, Annette, and Mildred Lakes. Tom whistled some great show tunes while we hiked to alert bears to our being there, and part of the trails of our planned hiked were closed because of recent grizzly sightings. We saw a Spotted Sandpiper along the river, heard a Pileated Woodpecker near Lake Edith, and encountered some red squirrels, a couple of Common Ravens, and quite a few smaller birds. On the hike we saw a few American Robins, several juvenile Dark-eyed Juncos, and some juvenile sparrows.
Spotted Sandpiper
Juvenile Dark-eyed Junco
Juvenile Dark-eyed Junco
Juvenile Dark-eyed Junco
Juvenile Dark-eyed Junco
Juvenile Dark-eyed Junco
Juvenile Chipping Sparrow
Squirrel
After lunch, I headed back along Lac Beauvert. It was quite "birdy," and I thought that I might have gotten two more new life birds. However, after researching the photos, I think that these two bird species were juveniles of species I had already seen many times here in Virginia, but only as adults during winter months. The first one was a Red-breasted Nuthatch, and the other a Ruby-crowned Kinglet. The Kinglet was the most confusing of the two, as the adult of this species had a short, black bill. The birds I saw in Jasper had longer, yellow bills, but I can now see that on some of the birds, their bills were starting to turn black.
Juvenile Red-breasted Nuthatch
Juvenile Red-breasted Nuthatch
Juvenile Red-breasted Nuthatch
Juvenile Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Juvenile Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Juvenile Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Juvenile Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Juvenile Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Juvenile Ruby-crowned Kinglet
We left Jasper the next morning. When we stopped at a nearby gift shop, I once again scanned the tops of trees to search for Crossbills (advice given to me by my Virginia birding pal, Walt Childs). I had previosuly seen Red Crossbills in Virginia, but had never gotten a photo of one. Crossbills use their crossed bills to pry open pine cones so that they can extract the pine seed with their tongue. Finally, success! Although high up and a good distance away, I saw the yellow back of a juvenile Red Crossbill. When It turned to face my direction, the streaked breast of a juvenile and the crossed bill was easily viewable.
Red Crossbill
Red Crossbill
Red Crossbill
Red Crossbill
Red Crossbill
Farther down the highway, traffic was stopped for more Black Bears. This time it was a mother and her cub. Some people had gotten out of their cars and were clearly too close to the bears for comfort, but a noise above the bears caused both of them to stand up and look before resuming their gorging on berries.
Black Bear cub
Black Bear cub
Black Bear cub
Black Bear cub
Mama Black Bear
Mama Black Bear
Mama Black Bear
When we stopped for lunch, an immature Ring-billed Gull made several passes over the parking lot.
Ring-billed Gull
