Red Deer River Naturalists Bird Focus Group Field Trip April 27, 2024

Chris Olsen reports that the Sharp-tailed Grouse Watch on April 27, 2024 exceeded all the RDRN Bird Focus Group expectations. There were 14 participants and we can’t say enough about the amazing work that Sheldon, Laurence, Randy and the team from the Wainwright Wildlife Society do each spring!! We were comfortably seated in the blinds near Czar by about 5:00 a.m., and within minutes there were grouse back on the lek. We were surrounded by dancing, strutting, rattling and vocalizing birds, some only meters away. Counts ranged from 40 to 50+ Sharp-tail’s depending on your line of sight, and we saw up to a dozen females on the lek. There was low cloud that drew back from the horizon just as the sun rose, bathing the lek in golden light - a photographer’s dream! This is a birder’s bucket list priority if you have not seen it yet!

Driving to and from Wainwright and/or at the Snow Goose Festival, held the same weekend in Tofield, we were treated to skies and fields of Snow Geese, Greater White-front’s, Canada’s and Cackling, Ross’s Geese, Sandhill Cranes, and nearly every kind of migrating shore bird. At breakfast (thanks to the Wainwright Legion!), we even got directions to nearby Fabien where twitchers (a birdwatcher whose main aim is to collect sightings of rare birds) could see a Eurasian Tree Sparrow.

A Chris Olsen Photo