Jasper to Banff

Started the day by redriving the route along the Maligne Valley, but only as far as Medicine Lake as we wanted to get to Pyramid Lake. Unfortunately the best part of the drive is beyond Medicine Lake, so it didn’t really add anything to what we’d already seen (Mule Deer, Grey Jays etc.)  Pressing on to Pyramid Lake where there were some very good birdy marshes just south of the lake. If I’d have known how good they potentially looked I’d have spent more time here but we just paid a short visit. However, White-winged Crossbill was added to the list and we had better views of American Three-toed Woodpecker.

White water rafting was fun and we saw a few birds too: Osprey, Spotted Sandpiper, and (probable) Western Sandpipers.

Back in town we met with Michelle who had found a Little Brown Bat roosting, so we took a look at that. And then the weather dramatically changed. The wind picked up and the rain came down forcing us to run to the RV where we had lunch before driving the Icefield Parkway.

The views (when we had them during breaks in the rain) were spectacular. We stopped at the Icefield Parkway centre where we had another try for White-tailed Ptarmigan. Unfortunately the heavens really opened and it ruined any realistic chance of finding them here or further down the road at Parker Ridge. In fact the last couple of hours of the drive weren’t much fun. Torrential rain meant we could see little and roadworks after Lake Louise meant we did not arrive in Banff until around 10pm. Having been up before dawn, everyone was exhausted.