Southern Alberta May 2026 — Graham Catley Photography

We headed back to southern Alberta again but earlier in the spring to test my theory that different migrants would be available - as it turned out my plan was only partly correct as a lot of birds only arrive in the last week of May or even early June but we had a great time and saw c154 species with some truly memorable moments.

Male Yellow-headed Blackbird Frank Lake May 9th - in previous years I recall Red-winged being the dominant species but everwhere we went Yellow-headed seemed to have taken over the number one spot this year.

Logistics:

Canada is huge - first point - Alberta is pretty big second point an it is easy to spend most of your two weeks driving from spot to spot so we decided on a two-centre trip based at Medicine Hat and Waterton for seven nights each with day trips out from these bases. We flew with KLM from Humberside via Amsterdam to Calgary and vice versa which saves all the hassle of London or Manchester and connections were easy. A small SUV was hired through Rental Cars .com , actually now Booking.com for the 15 days, Accommodation was a night at Okotoks at the Royal Duke Hotel followed by seven nights at https://www.guesthouse71.com/ about 15 minutes outside Medicine Hat and a beautiful cottage with superb surrounding that notched up about 50 species during our stay then seven nights at https://dungarvancreek.com/ another superb spot with its own pond that had birds including Barrow’s Goldeneye, Horned Grebes, Blue-winged Teal, Lesser Scaup and even a female Wilson’s Phalarope. We had stayed at both places before and both are top notch birding spots with birds literally on your doorstep. This free online guide is also a very useful resource https://grasslands-naturalists.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Southeastern-Birding-Trail-Full-Brochure.pdf

I bought a Nomad eSIM 30 days and 10GB before we went for £13:38 and it worked flawlessly even in remote areas with 5G and combined with Apple Maps finding locations was very easy.

Due to a knee problem I cut weight down to an absolute minimum and only took one Canon R62 plus the 100-500 lens and 1.4x converter but in the event I hardly used the converter at all.

White-faced Ibis Frank Lake one of the many waterbirds seen at this superb location.

May 8th

Up at 03:00 for our 06:10 flight Humberside to Amsterdam arriving early: 12:25 flight to Calgary smooth but. 8:40 hours: arrive to 20C! My bag slow to show and long walk to Alamo rental but nice staff and quick pick up, no hard sell and we get a vehicle we had booked a posoitve start. Apple Maps works and after passing many pools with waterfowl and a couple of Swainson’s Hawks arrive at Royal Duke Hotel / pub Okotoks for the night: shower and meal at 17:00 actually of course GB time midnight then short walk nearby before an early night . Birds from the Deerfoot highway through Calgary included Swainson’s Hawks, Black-billed Magpies and various wildfowl and Double-crested Cormorants. The short walk in a rather hot Okotoks after a meal produced our first Northern Flickjers, red-shafted, Franklin’s Gulls overhead , two House Finch, American Robins, House Sparrows and Starlings - almost felt ike home

As we flew into Calgary things were noticeably brown on the ground with little sign of greenery

Lots of American Robins graced the trip but they are stunning

May 9th

We are up fairly early about 06:00 and heading south to High River to pick up a breakfast at Tim Hortons then onward to Frank Lake a birding hot spot. Being only about an hour south of Calgary it attracts birders and photographers and being a Saturday we actually saw quite a few people in contrast to the rest fo the trip. Th elist of birds was long but included: Pied billed, Eared /Black necked 500+ and Western Grebes: Swainsons Hawks, Northern Harrier, Lesser Scaup, Redheads, Blue winged and Green winged Teal, Cinnamon Teal, Yellow headed 100’s and Red winged Blackbirds, Brewers Blackbirds, Brown headed Cowbirds, Savannah Sparrows, Vesper Sparrows, Western Meadowlarks, California Gulls and Franklin’s Gulls with large breeding colonies of both, American White Pelicans, White faced Ibis, Ruddy Duck, Tree Swallows, Forster’s Tern, Marsh Wren, Black-crowned Night Heron, Great Blue Heron, American Avocet, Black necked stilt, Solitary Sandpiper 1, Wilson’s Phalarope 4, Short / Long billed Dowitcher 6, Shoveler, Double crested Cormorant, Mallard, Gadwall, American coot, Killdeer and Muskrat and Richardson ground squirrel

The early morning approach to Frank Lake and the start of the adventure

Birds everywhere and lots of noise a contrast to Britain

Tree Swallows in the nest boxes on the Frank Lake approach track

A selection of images from Frank Lake - Eared Grebes - up to 500 adorned the lake a far cry from UK numbers

My best images of American White Pelican

It seems strange seeing pelicans flying over the prairies searching out lakes and potholes for feeding

Frank Lake was the only location we saw this species

In pursuit of the super abundant insects on the water’s surface

male Wilson’s Phaalrope pursuing insect with female drifting by

Female Wilson’s Phalarope stunning as usual

California Gulls - as I get older I get progressively less interested in big gulls

Ciunnamon Teal pair - I tended to ignore species I had good images of from past trips and this was one of them. - maybe a mistake but time is always in short supply

The Eared Grebes often come very close to the blind but you are then looking down on them and the light was a bit iffy

Western Grebe - the light in the morning of 9th was a bit dull and overcast - Westerns always seemed to be distant but this one was a bit closer

Forster’s Tern - the first of the trip - summer plumaged birds must get overlooked in the UK - unless they call!

Franklin’s Gull is one of the stand out birds of the prairies with the breeding colony at Frank Lake providing superb viewing - quite a few had a nice pink flush to the underparts but it seldom showed well in images

Amonst theri repertoir of call two that kept me looking up were a call rather like a displaying Lapwing and another that sounds very much akin to a displaying male Marsh harrier and as this was often given from up on high it took several days to tell myself what it was

Marsh Wrens were strangely unco-operative throughout the trip

A long time since we lost our Ruddy Ducks to political ridicule

Savannah Spoarrow a grassland specialist

Solitary Sandpiper appropriately the only one of the trip

There was a dark morph Swainson’s Hawk near the entrance to Frank Lake in ay 2019 when we were there - this could surley not be the same bird in the same place?

Yellow-headed Blackbirds seemed to vastly outnumber Red-winged this trip something we have never noticed before and they were found at most wetland locations perhaps indicating a spread - they are very noisy

After a brief lunch stop we headed off towrds Medicine Hat stopping briefly at Bow River, which looked good but produced not a lot other than our first Belted Kingfisher, a Northern Harrier, Marsh Wrens, not showing again, Barn Swallow and a Common Goldeneye pair

Northern Harrier in a dead tree at Bow River - To be honest I had little time to be creative and mainly just took shots as they occurred but I liked this one

Arrived late afternoon at Guesthouse 71 and the garden immediately produced good birds including Swainson’s Thrush, Orange crowned Warbler, Mourning Doves, House Sparrows added for completeness, White crowned Sparrows, Killdeer on adjacent fields, Western Meadowlark the quintessential sound of the prairies and amazing loud, Common Grackles, Wilson’s snipe drumming overhead day and night, Yellow headed and Red winged Blackbirds, numerous American Robins, Northern Harrier, Brown headed Cowbirds, Brewers Blackbird, Clay coloured, Chipping, Lincoln’s and Savannah Sparrows, Great horned Owl and a presumed Loggerhead Shrike seen briefly from the car but seen in the same place later in the week, Butterflies included Mourning Cloak, Whites and Sulphurs

Guesthouse71 - the trees and scrub around the cottage produced over 40 species with several more overhead - a delightful retreat and excellent place to stay

Superb Swainson’s Thrush in the Guesthouse71 surrounds - a good start to the stay

Orange-crowned warbler in the trees by the cottage

A stunning Hunt’s Bumble Bee in the flowering tree by the cottage veranda

Great Horned Owl! Chatting to Dawna she mentioned the owls on hte property and a Great Horned immediately started calling - eagle eyes Julia found it out in the open, apart froma few twigs -my best ever images of this species

They are very common but you cannot ignore a White-crowned Sparrow - this one was in the trees by the cottage

May 10th:

Around the Guesthouse early morning were American Kestrel, an unexpected Pacific Wren and plenty of Grey Partridge which seem to be doing very well in Alberta as opposed to Britain The usual mix of rsident birds also logged bfore we set off for the priaries grasslands near Lake Palowski - we met a birder who was just leaving and he mention a coupl eof pairs of hawks but when quizzed about Chestnut-collred Longspurs he affirmed that they had not arrived which was diappointing but as we drove down the track three flew past us and a walk on the priairie revealed at least 50 in display flights - maybe he was having a bad day: Palowski prairie: The days tally which included a lot of Probhorns also produced some nice birds: Ferruginous Hawk 2, Swainson’s Hawk 2 + 6+, Chestnut collared Longspurs 60+, Horned Lark 50+, Vesper Sparrow 30+, Sprague’s Pipit 2+ (no images but one landed on the road and I failed to get it in focus but to add insult to injury it then landed in the grass by the side of the track and again I messed up befpore it flew off across the grassland - then we heard at least two singing high overhead - I said no images but there is one unrecognisable one - Grasshopper Sparrow, Savannah sparrow, Western Meadowlark 30+, Loggerhead Shrike 2, White crowned Sparrow 20, Cinnamon Teal 4, Blue winged Teal, Pintail, Northern Harrier, Chipping Sparrow, White pelicans en route, Sora heard, Marbled Godwit 2, Grey Partridge 2 - with butterflies being numerous Sulphurs and a stunning Black Swallowtail plus several Red-shanked Grasshoppers