The great thing about birding is that it’s a low-risk activity. No birds to worry about. Other than the male Spruce Grouse I encountered on the trail a few years back. I still have nightmares about that encounter. It took seconds getting past it. But when you are birding in the mountains, you must be aware of all the other wildlife you can possibly encounter. Luckily, when you’re birding, the ears are working full-time and the eyes are scanning for any sorts of movement. That was the case when doing a bird count one early morning last month. I was walking around the stables when I noticed some of the horses seemed a bit nervous. Ahead, around the corner, was a black bear grazing outside the fence. The local black bear did not care about the horses, but they were staying back from the fence. I decided to use the open field to go around the black bear. Thanks to this action, I got to add two White-breasted Nuthatches to my list. I had not seen this species for a few years. The bear had a quick look toward me as I walked around it, not bothered by me at all. I called to inform Banff NP’s wildlife team of the bear sighting. Because an hour later, there were going to be several birders in the same area. I continued my bird walk, not seeing the bear again that day. I am sure this was not the first bear encounter for the horses, perhaps even seeing this same bear a few times before. As nervous as they were that morning, they were a lot more a week later. But that’s a story for another time.
