After spending a few days in Seattle, Washington, Alice and I flew to Calgary, Canada for our Tauck tour of the Canadian Rockies and Glacier National Park in Montana. We went on our 2011 Australia/New Zealand tour with Tauck and were very happy with their service. The tour map to the right shows our route and stops.
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We had a free day in Calgary before the official start of the tour, and walks within downtown Calgary and along the Bow River produced some interesting wildlife. The people of Calgary are to be congratulated for the excellent clean-up they did after the massive flooding of the Bow and Elbow Rivers that covered large areas in Alberta just one month earlier. The first birds that I noticed were Black-billed Magpies and Rock Pigeons. The Magpies appeared to be very similar to the Eurasian Magpies that I had seen many times in England.
Black-billed Magpie
When we walked in Fort Calgary Park, we saw a Prarie Dog that tried to hide when it saw us. In this park, there were Canada Geese, House Sparrows, a Northern Flicker, and an Eastern Kingbird. Mallards and Ring-billed Gulls were in small ponds left by the flooding.
Prarie Dog
Prarie Dog
Northern Flicker (note the red malar, or mustache, of this western sub-species)
Northern Flicker
Eastern Kingbird
Eastern Kingbird
Mallard
Adult Ring-billed Gull
Immature Ring-billed Gull
The current in the Bow River was very swift, and a pair of female Common Mergansers tried to swim upstream, but finally gave up and floated down the river.
Female Common Mergansers
Female Common Merganser
We left Calgary on the July 24th, and at various places along the route I saw Swainson's Hawks at least five times not far outside of Calgary, but was only able to photograph them through the bus window as we sped by.
Swainson's Hawk
Swainson's Hawk
Probable Swainson's Hawk
On the last day of the tour (July 31st), we took the bus back to Calgary airport. Along the way, I saw another Swainson's Hawk, a couple of large flocks of Canada Geese in flight, and several small flocks of Franklin's Gulls.
Swainson's Hawk
Franklin's Gulls