With spring soon approaching I decided it was about time I pay a visit to the Weaselhead nature park, a short 15-minute drive from my house in inner-city Calgary. I’d planned to leave about 9am, but the morning was foggy and no good for shooting. So, I waited until the fog began to lift and headed off just after noon. The temperature was slightly below freezing and there was still plenty of snow and ice on the paths. I didn’t see much at all (possibly an immature Bald Eagle very high up) until I came across a small dark bird which I didn’t recognise and was slowly making my way closer for a good shot when a dog came running up the path (it’s owners about 15m behind) and scared it off. I was later able to identify the bird as a Dark-eyed Junco.

I continued on and was intrigued by some bird calls that drew me closer & closer until I located the singer…a squirrel! Finally as I was making my way back to the car on the last leg of the path circuit, as so often seems to happen to me, I came across a ‘hotspot’ of birds and was able to get some pleasing photos of a Downy Woodpecker (f), a flock of Pine Grosbeaks and a couple of Common Redpolls. The birds seemed to have been attracted by a bunch of seed someone had scattered next to the path. Overall, a fruitful 90 minutes and I hope to try my luck at another local park in the next week or two.