My annual birding trip for 2026 featured extended stops in 3 Canadian provinces and territories:
- Alberta (AB) - 3 days concentrating in and around Calgary and Edmonton,
- Northwest Territories (NWT) - 3 days centered on Yellowknife, and
- Nunavut (NU) - 4 days in Cambridge Bay with a brief stop in Kugluktuk.
My goal in AB was to fill gaps in my province list which stood at 173 before
the trip, hoping for perhaps 17 additions. This was my first trip to NWT and NU, so my
goals there were to maximize the number of species I could find in each
territory, hopefully at least 60 in NWT and 40 in NU. All in all, I hoped for 117 new
"ticks".
I was joined by my local NC birding friend Bill Hooker for the entire trip, and
his wife Anita for the first 2 days. And
AB birding expert David Grinevitch joined us for the last day near Edmonton.
By all accounts the trip was a great success! Among the 198 species we had on
the trip, 41 were new for my AB list, thanks to a large degree to David's help.
That brings my province total to 214. We had 76 species in NWT, and 40 in NU
including all our realistic Arctic targets. That gave me 157 new ticks for the trip, well
over my goal. Four of these species were
new for my Canada list, now at 393. Plus, we got to experience a little slice of
Inuit culture among the nice people of Cambridge Bay.
My top 5 favorite sightings of the trip were:
- 3 Yellow Rails calling midday from an Edmonton wetlands
- 3 Yellow-billed Loons in Cambridge Bay
- A remarkable 19 Long-tailed Jaegers across multiple stops in Cambridge Bay
- 120 Sabine's Gulls tallied in several Cambridge Bay locations
- Baby sandpipers and waterfowl throughout the tundra and Arctic ponds
The eBird Trip Report can be found here: ebird.org/tripreport/546824
There’s now only 1 Canadian territory that I’ve yet to bird
– Yukon Territory. Whitehorse, the
largest city in the Yukon, is located in the southwest part of the territory
near British Columbia and close to the Alaska panhandle. Would make for a nice trip in 2027!
This post summarizes the AB portion of the trip. Other blog posts focus on the NWT and NU
portions.
July 1 – Calgary and Eastern Prairies
Our first stops of the day were in the native prairie grasslands
east of Calgary where our key targets included species like Baird’s and
Grasshopper Sparrows, Ferruginous Hawk, and Upland Sandpiper. After an early departure from our Airbnb in
Calgary, we headed east on Highway 561, eventually coming to Range Road 173
where Baird’s and Grasshoppers had been reported in spring. Within minutes we were being serenaded by
Horned Larks, and Savannah, Vesper and Clay-colored Sparrows calling from seemingly
every direction. Then we started to hear
Sprague’s Pipits as they sang invisibly high overhead. And a couple attractive but distant Chestnut-collared
Longspurs joined in.
Then after a couple more stops along Range Road 173 we finally heard our first Baird’s Sparrow, eventually finding one singing from a low shrub (New AB Province Bird #1). I’ve been told that back in the day when bison roamed the prairie, Baird’s Sparrows preferred the short grasses that were growing back a year or two after bison had grazed the area. And sure enough, the Baird’s we heard were in this shorter grass prairie.
We made several more stops along the road but didn’t find the taller grass habitat of Grasshopper Sparrows. So we turned around and headed on to our next target – Ferruginous Hawk. eBird reports from the last couple years suggested that there was an active hawk nest in a lone cottonwood just to the east along 561. It was easy enough to find the tree in question.
The nest was easy to locate as well, but it was empty. Chances are the birds had already fledged.
Consolation prizes went to a pair of Western Kingbirds nesting in the cottonwood, and a Harrier just across the road that got us excited briefly. But luck was on our side as less than a mile to the east we spotted our first Ferruginous Hawk flying low over the prairie, undoubtedly one of the birds from this family (AB Bird #2).
We continued east a short distance to one of the locations
where Upland Sandpiper had been reported this spring. Although we didn’t have luck with the Upland,
we spotted what was likely our best mammal of the trip – this Badger nicely
photographed by Anita.
Soon we were back on 561 heading east
when we flushed a Gray Partridge off the side of the road (AB Bird #3). We
followed it down Range Road 161, and saw it land in some brush.
It briefly responded to recordings, but then flushed when a truck went by, giving us extended but distant views of the bird in flight. Sure was nice to find this elusive species. Loggerhead Shrike was another nice bird at this location.
My province map for Gray Partridge is inserted below. The light blue shaded provinces are those
where I’ve seen this species in its regular range. The cross-hatched provinces are those where
I’ve yet to see Partridge in its normal range – I still need this challenging
species in quite a number of provinces.
We drove farther east on 561, turning south on Range Road 155 near where an Upland Sandpiper had been reported a couple months earlier. Local birders have lamented how difficult it was to find this species in the area recently, so we needed to check each area where they had been found this year. And sure enough, as we neared the location of the recent sighting, we spotted an Upland perched on a fence post right along the roadside (AB Bird #4). Soon it was joined by 3 others – perhaps a family group? At a later nearby stop we found another pair of Uplands. They weren’t as difficult to find as I thought they would be. AB was my 6th province for this species.
Throughout the vast expanse of
native prairie there were numerous small pothole ponds, each with a few pairs
of nesting waterfowl. Soon we had the
first of many Black Terns feeding on the ponds and just flying by (AB Bird #5).
And at one pond we found this Willet
parent with at least 2 camera-shy little chicks.
But back to the grasslands… Our last grassland target was Grasshopper Sparrow. There were numerous recent eBird sightings from the University of Alberta Mattheis Ranch which looked promising. However, the location title included the phrase: “restricted access”. Undeterred, we thought we’d give it a try. However, when we reached the entrance there were numerous No Trespassing signs. So we decided to try our luck just outside the entrance in some patches of taller grasses, but to no avail. It was one of our few AB targets that we would end up missing.
It was time to start heading back toward Calgary, though of
course we kept our eyes open for birds along the way. At one point we noticed a few Swainson’s
Hawks walking on the ground in a cattle pen.
We pulled over and counted an amazing 20 Swainson’s, all either on the
ground or on fence posts. And all were
immature birds, including several dark phase birds. It reminded me of the times you would find a
flock of Vultures feeding in an agricultural field on a large carcass. I shared this story with my good birding
friend David Donsker, and he passed along this quote on Swainson’s Hawks from Cornell’s
Birds of the World: “Post-fledging flocks: As juveniles become independent from
their parents in late summer, they gather in moderately large flocks of first
and second-year birds near areas with abundant food such as agricultural
fields”. Learn something new every day…
We were no sooner back on the road when we spotted a flooded
field with a flock of White-faced Ibis. It
was a busy roadway, but we still pulled off to check it out.
We counted 40 Ibis and 75 Franklin’s Gulls. Then on closer inspection we spotted a pair of Black-necked Stilts and an Avocet. And then scope views revealed 4 Long-billed Dowitchers and a Greater Yellowlegs (AB Birds #6 and #7). Not bad for a small flooded field. Here’s one of Anita’s shots showing the Dowitchers and a couple Ibis among the Franklin’s flock.
We finally made our way back to Calgary, and headed to Inglewood Bird Sanctuary near the center of the city. Our 2 targets here were Wood Ducks which were reported on most checklists, and Hooded Mergansers which were recently only reported occasionally. We took a short walk to the oxbow lake in the park and began to scan the edges. Soon we picked up this group of sleeping birds on a downed log (AB Bird #8).
Later we found a female Goldeneye and a female Common Merganser protecting a very young chick. But we had no luck with Hooded Merganser.
Our next target was Trumpeter Swan, seen at a number of different locations northwest of Calgary. I prioritized the sites based not only on how recent the observations had been, but also whether cygnets had been noticed. I picked Oxyoke Nature Preserve as our first spot to try, with a family of 10 reported just 4 days earlier. I hoped that we would just pull up to the lake and instantly see the large white birds, but no such luck. We scanned the late from several angles without picking up the Swans. Then Bill suggested we try the lake headwaters, though it was only partly in view. So after climbing over a gate and a bit of a hike through a cattle pasture, we got this view of the marshy headwaters (to the right in this picture) complete with 2 very distant Trumpeter Swans (AB Bird #9).
I’ve now seen Trumpeter Swan across 5 provinces, including the dark-shaded Manitoba where I’ve seen it as a rarity (per Sibley’s range maps).
Hoping for better views, we headed onto my secondary Swan
location along Grand Valley Road. We
pulled up and almost instantly found this family of 7 Swans. (Alas, we never saw all 7 of them “a swimming”.) We didn’t need to take the long hike at
Oxyoke afterall.
Just after snapping the Swan pictures I noticed a lone small
diving duck swimming nearby. With a
quick scope view I confirmed my initial suspicion – it was a female or immature
Hooded Merganser (AB Bird #10). That was
unexpected.
The last stop of the day was at Winchell Lake and Slough where
a pair of Sandhill Cranes had been reported recently. Despite lots of scanning of the marshes and
grasslands we were unsuccessful relocating them. But the trip was still young.
July 2 – Elk Island National Park and Edmonton
Our birding focus on the 2nd was Elk Island National Park, where recent checklists had included as many as 15 of my targets. Perhaps the best recent checklist was from David Grinevitch, and since his e-mail address was included in his eBird profile, I reached out to him to ask for strategies to bird the Park. He sent back a very detailed set of suggestions for each of my targets. And most notably he suggested birding along the main road through the Park rather than birding too many trails. Armed with David’s advice, we headed out early from Calgary, encountering this amazing sunrise soon after our departure.
Our first stop once reaching the Park was the Visitor Center looking for Phoebe nests.
We found a likely Phoebe nest on the guard building, but the birds had fledged so no Phoebes were in the area. But while searching we heard the first of several Pileated Woodpeckers and the first of many Ovenbirds (AB Birds #11 and #12). And we came upon our first Bison of the trip.
The record wet summer in the Edmonton area in 2026 meant
that the wetland vegetation was lush, and the wetland birds were numerous. We had singing Swamp Sparrows in nearly every
wetland we passed (AB Bird #13). Interestingly they seemed to have redder
crowns and less buff and streaking on the flanks than the birds I’m used to in
the east. We were also able to find a
singing Sedge Wren around the slightly drier edge of one of the wetlands (AB
Bird #14).
We were successful in finding a number of targets in the
woodlands as well. Black-and-white
Warbler was another one of our expected targets, though we only heard one singing
bird (AB Bird #15). Just have 1 more
province (plus the Territories) to see this species.
Our next stop, as suggested by David, was an area of spruce/fir forest. Here we had 2 singing Mourning Warblers, and a flyover flock of 4 White-winged Crossbills (AB Birds #16 and 17). Other common warblers in the woodlands included Tennessee, Yellow, and Yellow-rumped. Though abundant mosquitoes kept us from walking too far into the woodlands.
We were now near the northern end of the Park and took a
turn into Astotin Lake. We first headed
to the campground (there are always good birds in campgrounds!) to walk around
a bit and see what we might run into. Soon
we were hearing calling Eastern Phoebes, and tracked them down to a likely
nesting site at one of the picnic pavilions (AB Bird #18).
And as we were walking back to the car I heard a distant call that sounded like a Great Crested Flycatcher. We doubled back a bit and could now clearly hear the calling bird. (AB Bird #19). They had been observed a number of times in the Park in the first half of June, but were only rarely observed recently, so they weren’t on my radar screen. I’ve now seen Great Crested in each province where it is regular except for Nova Scotia.
Our last stop was at the eastern edge of Lake Astotin. We heard another Great Crested calling in the distance, but saw few birds on the lake. However, the scenery was spectacular.
I picked up 9 new province birds at Elk Island, even though we
didn’t start until mid-morning. A nice
way to start the day for sure!
Next, we were on to the Edmonton home of Sean and Marnie
Evans in search of Ruby-throated Hummingbirds.
Hummers had been regular at their feeders in 2025, so fully expecting
them to return in 2026, I contacted the Evans early in 2026 to see if we might
come by to see them. The Evans invited
us to visit when we were in town, so we were all set. At least we thought we were. The problem was the Evans only had 1 Hummingbird
visit all of 2026 through June. But just
as I started to think about alternate arrangements the Evans started to see their
Ruby-throats again. So we were hopeful that
we might get lucky.
We got to the Evans’s back yard and sat on the back deck as
suggested. The Hummingbirds were
especially coming to these purple flowers (Salvia?) in planters on the deck.
As we were settling in we heard a Broad-winged Hawk call (AB Bird #20). That was most unexpected. We had just spent 5 hours at Elk Island in excellent habitat and didn’t have one. And then to have a Broad-wing within minutes in a somewhat marginal suburban habitat was most surprising.
Then just a couple minutes later a female-plumaged
Ruby-throated Hummingbird flew in and fed from the purple flowers (AB Bird
#21). Sure is nice when a plan comes
together. I’ve now seen this species in
each of its regular provinces except Newfoundland. Plus I found one as a rarity in British
Columbia.
The last target of the day was a family of Peregrine Falcons nesting in a nest box on the University of Alberta campus in downtown Edmonton. With a bit of research and a lot of help from David Grinovitch, I was set to look for the nest box near the top of the east side of the Clinical Sciences Building, with best viewing from the top of the parking garage to the south. We quickly found the correct garage, parked on the roof, and started to scan the buildings to the north. It didn’t take long to find the nest box, though no Peregrines were in sight.
Then we spotted one of the babies peering over the side of the box. And then both adults flew in – one to the box and one perched on the top of the building (AB Bird #22).
The nest is monitored with a camera with the feed aired live
on-line 24/7. I took this screen shot
from the nest cam real-time as we were watching the birds through the scope from
the garage.
What a great way to end the day! And with 22 new province birds, I was already
way over my initial goal of 17. Plus we
still had 1 more full day of birding in AB at the end of the trip.
July 3 - 5 - Yellowknife, Northwest Territories
See my next blog post for a summary of the Northwest Territories
portion of the trip.
July 6 - 10 - Cambridge Bay, Nunavut
The Nunavut portion of the trip is summarized in a third post on my blog.
July 11 - Edmonton
with David Grinevitch
Before our trip I not only reached out to David Grinevitch
for general advice, but also asked if he might want to join us. He graciously agreed to bird with us on the 11th,
and developed a detailed itinerary in and around Edmonton that could net 15 or
more of my targets.
Now we just needed the weather to cooperate. As we closed in on our first stop at Buck Lake southwest of Edmonton, the skies opened up and it poured heavily for perhaps 30 minutes. Finally, as the rain lessened, we quickly picked out many Purple Martins overhead at a little hamlet at the edge of the lake (AB Bird #23). I’ve now seen Martins in each of the provinces where they are regularly seen.
And then a quick scan of the lake yielded 3 fly-by Bonaparte’s Gulls (AB Bird #24). Off to a nice start despite the rain delay…
Then we were off to some woodland birding near the lake and
picked up the first of 3 singing Black-billed Cuckoos (AB Bird #25), which are
rare for the province. There was a major
invasion of tent caterpillars in the area, and the Cuckoos, notorious for
eating “hairy” caterpillars, had invaded the area as well. I’ve also seen this species as a rarity in
Newfoundland.
And speaking of eastern rarities, our next target was an Eastern Wood-Pewee. First discovered just the week before on the east side of the lake, it was just the 4th provincial record per eBird. We pulled up to the stakeout spot and heard the singing Pewee just as we got out of the car (AB Bird #26). I’ve also seen this species in each province in its regular range, which typically is no closer than the southeast corner of Saskatchewan.
We then spent the next several minutes driving slowly on the roads in the area looking for Great Gray Owls. Bill’s picture is representative of the nice habitat we searched.
Despite several recent reports in the area, we couldn’t find our target. It would turn out to be one of our very few misses for the day.
Next David took us to the eastern side of Buck Lake for more
views of the water. Soon after we parked
we head several distant calling Sandhill Cranes – an unexpected find (AB Bird
#27 – and #200 for my province list). And
much closer, we finally heard a singing Blue-headed Vireo (AB Bird #28). Plus on the lake we found this somewhat
unusual raft of 14 adult Common Loons as captured by Bill.
We then headed to Range Road 73 near Moon Lake west of
Edmonton where a stakeout Indigo Bunting had been residing for the past couple
weeks. And just like our Eastern Pewee
experience, almost instantly after exiting the car we heard the male Indigo
singing nearby (AP Bird #29). I got this
terrible backlit photo of the bird.
A short distance down the road our focus changed to a recently reported Connecticut Warbler. On our second stop we heard one singing right next to the road (AB Bird #30). Despite playing some recordings, we couldn’t get a visual as it remained low in this thick tangle.
Our next target was a family of Merlins likely nesting in a spruce tree in a suburban Mobile City Estate west of Edmonton. As soon as we pulled up we heard the Merlins squawking, and soon had a visual of this juvenile up in a spruce (AB Bird #31).
I guess it’s appropriate that since the bird was screaming
almost constantly that its mouth was open in the picture.
Our next somewhat speculative stop was along Range Road 252 north
of Edmonton where a few shorebirds had been recently reported. I needed a lot of shorebird species for my
province list, and had originally planned that shorebirds would be key targets
for me on July 11. But record June
rainfalls near Edmonton had resulted in flooded fields everywhere. There was just too much shorebird habitat and
many of the traditional sites (like the Beaverhill Bird Observatory) were
flooded. As a result, these early
migrants weren’t concentrated anywhere.
That is until we found the Range Road 252 site, which
initially just looked like another of those flooded farm fields.
Soon after we arrived we had a couple flocks of 10-20 shorebirds fly back and forth as if looking for a spot to land. Most didn’t land, but instead flew off to the west and disappeared. But these were replaced by more and more flocks, some allowing for IDs especially if multiple species were in the flocks so we could tell size and plumage differences. We eventually found a large foraging flock just a bit to the southwest, containing over 500 birds, including 350 Long-billed Dowitchers. During our 2 1/2 hours at the site, we estimated we had another 400 birds in flyby flocks. Overall, we had 13 species of shorebirds, including 7 new for my province list – Pectoral, Baird’s, Least, Stilt, and Semipalmated Sandpipers, Semipalmated Plover, and Red-necked Phalarope (AB birds #32 – #38). Semi Plover was my 2000th Canada Total Tick (sum of my province and territory lists).
We also had 11 waterfowl species, not to mention a Merlin
that made a run at one of the fly-by flocks.
One of the other targets at this site was an American
Bittern that was a stakeout in a nearby grassy wetland. It took a while, but I finally was able to
hear it give an abbreviated call soon after the passing of a massive thunderstorm
(AB Bird #39). (Did I mention record
rainfalls?)
Next we were off to the Fort Saskatchewan Gravel Pits northeast of Edmonton in search of Pied-billed Grebes. After just a bit of searching we found one adult with 4 babies (AB Bird #40).
I’ve now seen this species in each province; just need it in 2 territories.
Our last stop of the day was at the Range Road 230 wetland east of Leduc in search of Yellow Rails. That’s a species that I’ve only seen 3 times and heard once before, but never in Canada. And it would be a lifer for Bill. So we were excited to give it a try. It had apparently been a good year for Yellow Rails since the heavy rains had flooded many grassy fields, creating lots of great habitat.
We came up empty at our first 2 stops, but we struck paydirt on our third stop. Almost as soon as we got out of the car, we heard the clicking call of a Yellow Rail (AB Bird #41 and #393 for my Canada list). We would end up hearing 3 birds, though we could not get them to come out and reveal themselves. What an amazing way to end the trip!
We can’t thank David Grinevitch enough for all his help! He not only knows the area extremely well, he’s
also an excellent birder.
In summary, with 41 new birds, my AB list is now at
214. I hoped for 17 additions and got 41
– needless to say greatly exceeding my expectations.
And now a bit of context:
For decades I’ve been working on my US state lists so that
my totals exceed half the total of the species ever reported in that
state. That was the American Birding Association’s
old threshold to be able to report your totals.
In 2022, I exceeded that threshold in Montana, which was the last of the
Lower 48 states (and Washington DC) to reach the threshold. Now I’m working on my Canadian province and
territory lists to exceed their applicable thresholds. To date I’ve exceeded the thresholds for
Saskatchewan and Manitoba. For AB, the
total number of species on the official province list (per the Alberta Bird
Record Committee) is 437; half of that total is 218.5. That means my total is just 5 shy of that
threshold –one more short trip to the province should do it.
