Bird Watching in Southern Alberta
Growing Popularity
UPDATED – June 2023
Bird watching has become very popular in Southern Alberta. Some suggest that it has surpassed gardening in popularity. Riverbend Campground’s setting on the banks of the Sheep River features habitat that is favored by a variety of birds. In addition to the river, we have our small lake and wetlands. Water fowl are obvious, but we have much more. In addition to the species you might see here there are a number of spots nearby that offer great opportunities for birders. We designed a week long bird watching staycation which you can read here
Birding Resources
To help identify birds, download the Merlin app for your smart phone. It has a feature that listens for bird calls and identifies all that it hears. It’s like Shazam fore bird calls. A great resource for information on recent sightings we recommend the eBird website. Their “hotspots page shows recent sightings and you can enter a location to zoom in on your region. That page can be seen here.
Birds Spotted at Riverbend
Here is our partial list of birds that have made an appearance. Birds that have nested at Riverbend are indicated with a diamond (◊). Don’t assume you can view all of these when you come for a visit, we have been compiling this list for many years. If you see something new we would love if you told us.
Common Loon
◊Pie-Billed Grebe
American White Pelican
Trumpeter Swan
◊Canada Goose
◊Mallard
◊Gadwall
American Wigeon
Northern Shoveler
◊Blue-Winged Teal
◊Green-Winged Teal
◊Cinnamon Teal
Wood Duck
◊Canvasback
Ring-Necked Duck
Lesser Scoup
Common Goldeneye
Burrow’s Goldeneye
Hooded Merganser
◊Common Merganser
◊Northern Harrier
◊Red-Tailed Hawk
◊Swanson’s Hawk
Bald Eagle
Osprey
◊American Kestrel
◊Ring-Necked Pheasant
◊Gray Partridge
Great Blue Heron
Black-Crowned Night-Heron
American Bittern
◊Sora
◊American Coot
Semipalmated Plover
◊Killdeer
Lesser Yellowlegs
Solitary Sandpiper
◊Spotted Sandpiper
◊Common Snipe
Franklin’s Gull
Common Tern
Black Tern
◊Mourning Dove
◊Great Horned Owl
◊Downy Woodpecker
◊Eastern Kingbird
◊Barn Swallow
◊Tree Swallow
◊Northern Rough-Winged Swallow
Bluejay
◊Black-Billed Magpie
American Crow
Black-Capped Chickadee
White-Breasted Nuthatch
Red-Breasted Nuthatch
◊House Wren
Brown Thrasher
Gray Catbird
◊American Robin
Swainson’s Thrush
Golden Crowned Kinglet
Water Pipit
◊Cedar Waxwing
Northern Shrike
◊European Starling
Yellow Warbler
Yellow Rumped Warbler
Black Poll Warbler
Palm Warbler
Common Yellow Throat
Oven Bird
Wilson’s Warbler
American Redstart
Western Meadowlark
◊Yellow-Headed Blackbird
◊Red-Winged Blackbird
Common Grackle
◊Brown-Headed Cowbird
Northern Oriole
American Goldfinch
Baird’s Sparrow
Black-Eyed Junco
White-Crowned Sparrow
◊House Sparrow
◊Belted Kingfisher
◊Common Flicker
◊Yellow Bellied Sapsucker
◊Hairy Woodpecker