Bird Creek Marsh

After last weekend's successful 12 hour bird count I decided to ride over to Bird Creek Marsh this morning. Larry joined me for the bike ride but didn't stay to look at birds. It's a nice 10km ride which takes you along the Kootenay Canal. The marsh is below the dike on the north side and you can wander several trails through different habitat such as grassy areas, marsh, shoreline, mixed and conifer forest. An active Bald Eagle's nest is located in the area but viewing into the nest is best done from the Corra Lynn area on the other side of the Kootenay River. In fact, I checked the nest yesterday while doing my Osprey survey (I'll post results on another day). I could see one young in the nest. It's possible there were more but one is all I saw for sure.

I like going to Bird Creek Marsh. Mostly because there are lots of birds and no people. The people who come to the area usually walk the dike. Before we got to Bird Creek we spotted 3 Turkey Vultures (108)flying over. Larry knew I still didn't have one for my big year so he alerted me to them flying overhead. Thanks Honey! At the marsh song birds were singing! I knew the first stretch of mixed forest heading down the hill has American Redstarts (109). They are there every year and usually are attracted and show themselves when I pish. Sure enough, there was a pair. I continued and came to some low water areas that are created by the Beaver. A Wilson's Snipe (110) flushed out of the grass. In past years I've found nests but the water is very high this year and might have been flooded out.  I heard several Least Flycatchers (111) and this is one of the few places in the West Kootenays where I hear them regularly. The last new bird for the big year was a double surprise. It was a Say's Phoebe (112). Not an unusual bird but the first time I've seen one here. While I was looking at it I wondered to myself if it was nesting in the area. Normally they are associated with nesting in man-made structures and none were about. Then it opened it's mouth and it was yellow inside. So it was a recently fledged bird! It did look a bit awkward when it moved about and seemed quite tame.  

Other birds heard or seen this morning include: Sora, Yellow Warbler, Song Sparrow, Red-winged Blackbird, Spotted Sandpiper, Red-eyed Vireo, Cassin's Vireo, Bullock's Oriole, Gray Catbird, Northern Flicker, Cedar Waxwing, Common Yellowthroat, Warbling Vireo, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Black-capped Chickadee, Swainson's Thrush, Bald Eagle, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Western Wood Pewee, Cliff Swallow, Hammond's Flycatcher, Common Merganser, Winter Wren, American Robin and Willow Flycatcher.

Some butterflies seen were Western Tiger Swallowtail, Common Ringlet, Silvery Blue and Western-tailed Blue.