Red Deer River Naturalists Bird Focus Group Walk Field Trip November 9, 2024

The lakes of central Lacombe - Barnett, Elizabeth and Cranna proved to be a popular destination and 16 birders joined together on November 9, 2024 for the Bird Focus Group Walk. Thanks to Jane for the suggestion, and especially to Cathy for guiding our walk around Barnett and Elizabeth lakes. The trails are well-maintained and traverse diverse rich habitats - you seldom see slopes of mature birch and white spruce and there are some beautiful examples here. Throughout, the understory was super rich with mountain ash, red elderberry, snowberry, and beaked hazelnut. Less welcome were occasional patches of invasive common buckthorn. Nonetheless, this will be a great place for winter birds this year, and also a destination for spring birding!

Waters on the lakes were partially frozen, but we did see some waterfowl, beaver and numerous Muskrats. Two Bald Eagles, several Common Ravens and small flocks of Canada Geese were observed overhead. We saw two groups of Common Flickers and a large flock of House Finches. Notable observations otherwise were a Golden-crowned Kinglet and at the last a small flock of Pine Grosbeaks feeding on a lone green ash tree.

Chris Olsen

Here is the eBird report:

Barnett Lake, Red Deer, Alberta, CA
Nov 9, 2024 9:57 AM - 12:58 PM
Protocol: Traveling
6.259 kilometres
Checklist Comments: Red Deer River Naturalists, Bird Focus Group outing.
17 species
16 Participants
Canada Goose (Branta canadensis)  55
Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos)  4
Bufflehead (Bucephala albeola)  2
Common Goldeneye (Bucephala clangula)  4
Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus)  2
Downy Woodpecker (Dryobates pubescens)  5
Hairy Woodpecker (Dryobates villosus)  1
Northern Flicker (Colaptes auratus)  5
Black-billed Magpie (Pica hudsonia)  1
Common Raven (Corvus corax)  6
Black-capped Chickadee (Poecile atricapillus)  48
Golden-crowned Kinglet (Regulus satrapa)  1
White-breasted Nuthatch (Sitta carolinensis)  2
Red-breasted Nuthatch (Sitta canadensis)  2
American Robin (Turdus migratorius)  2
Pine Grosbeak (Pinicola enucleator)  5
House Finch (Haemorhous mexicanus)  25
View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S201933161