68th Street Wetlands, September 25, 2023

On Monday morning I went for a walk around the 68th Street Wetlands (Calgary--Rotary/Mattamy Wetlands (68 Street SE)). On the way to the wetlands, I passed a tree with a large Swainson's Hawk (Buteo swainsoni) perched in the branches. This was on the east side of Chestermere Lake. 

Olympus OM-1, 100-400mm + MC20, 300mm, ISO 1250, 1/1250, f/13. Sept 25, 2023, 9:50 am.

There continues to be a reduced number of shorebirds in the area now and I only saw a few Greater Yellowlegs. The trees are well into their Fall colours now and some of the views were beautiful. These trees border a pretty little stream that wanders along the east side of the wetlands. 

Olympus M5ii, 14-150mm, 150mm, ISO 250, 1/80, f/11. Sept 25, 2023, 11:35 am.

Next to the stream were a couple of juvenile Black-crowned Night-Heron (Nycticorax nycticorax). They do camouflage quite well in the trees, and I spent a bit of time looking with the binoculars before I found this one. It shouldn't be long before these juveniles join the migration to Mexico for the winter. 

Olympus OM-1, 100-400mm + MC20, 800mm, ISO 1250, 1/320, f/13. Sept 25, 2023, 11:30 am.

There were over a dozen Hooded Mergansers (Lophodytes cucullatus) on the ponds. This is more of these waterfowl in one day than I have seen all year. These are quite a hansom small duck. This species of waterfowl is quite interesting and allaboutbirds.org has quite a bit of information on them. 

Olympus OM-1, 100-400mm + MC20, 800mm, ISO 1250, 1/1000, f/13. Sept 25, 2023, 11:50 am.

It also seems like there are fewer American White Pelicans and Canada Geese right now, but these Canada Geese (Branta canadensis) were coming in for a landing on the pond. 

Olympus OM-1, 100-400mm + MC20, 508mm, ISO 1250, 1/160, f/13. Sept 25, 2023, 10:40 am.

All pictures photo-edited with On1 Photo Raw 2023.