A Fiesty Hummingbird

By Cathy Warwick

The Rufous Hummingbird is one of several hummingbirds that visit Calgary, and certainly the most feisty. They are very territorial and are known to chase away other hummingbirds from feeders, and have also been seen chasing squirrels and chipmunks. Although the idea that such a cute, eight centimeter bird can be frightening is comical, their shocking speed and poky looking beak would have me running for cover!

This summer I had the good luck to watch a Rufous Hummingbird for a solid ten minutes. I watched it stretch its tail feathers and stick its tongue out while it was perched on a branch. Prior to that I had been chasing after it as it flitted around, finally I just decided to sit down and see if it would show itself, a wise decision as they can go about 45 km/hr. I managed to look at it while it took a break from its endless battle with another Rufous Hummingbird. I saw that it had some green on it, as well as the rufous red, it was a female or immature male. The fully grown male is a nice coppery colour all over with a shimmery chin. Hummingbirds are hard to identify, firstly they are so fast you are lucky to see any markings and secondly they often have a range of plumage that is shared with other hummers. I used the Merlin app to be sure.

These tough little birds travel up to 3000 miles during migration. All the way from Southern Mexico to Alaska, so far for a tiny bird, maybe it can just soar on the winds. It doesn’t seem to be the type to let the wind do all the work though, the one I saw was constantly beating its wings while flying. According to All About Birds they fly up through California, then Washington and BC. After that they go east and fly down the Rockies, completing a clockwise circle. So for Calgary they will come through on their way south especially during August.

Rufous Humminbird
A female or immature male Rufous (Photo from Wikimedia Commons/Tom Koerner).

To attract a Rufous Hummingbird to your yard consider planting Honeysuckle, like my sister-in-law who saw them frequently this summer. They will take a while to find it but once they do they will come back yearly. The Atlas of Breeding Birds of British Columbia mentions that they will band Rufous and note the same bird at the same feeder on the same day, year after year! Our Honeysuckle died over the winter and we had a Hummingbird on our deck looking in the back window, as if it wanted to complain to the manager. 

A Hummingbird feeder is also an option. There are a lot of resources on the internet that explain how to set one up and what to use as a solution. I’ll just mention that you need to change the solution at regular intervals to provide optimum fuel for them. A Hummingbird is a finely tuned organism whose heart beats 1,260 times per minute, vs. a human’s 80ish beats. Perhaps consider putting out multiple small feeders so the Rufous lets other hummingbirds also feed.

I hope you had a chance to see this small bird with an outsize personality this summer!

Rufous Humminbird
A male Rufous Hummingbird aka “Mr. Feisty”
(photo from Wikimedia Commons/Tom Koerner/USFWS).

Rufous Hummingbirds can been seen on their breeding grounds in Calgary in the Weaselhead Nature Area, Griffits Wood Park, and other parts of the west end of the city. They arrive here on about May 10 and can be seen until September.

Birds & Beers, Thursday September 12, 2024

With a presentation on Birding in Northern Tanzania and the Serengeti, by Gordon Sick.

Grey Crowned-Crane
Grey Crowned-Crane, photographed at night by Gordon Sick.

Our monthly Birds & Beers meetings resume next Thursday, September 12. All meetings take place in the big ballroom at the Horton Road Legion, 9202 Horton Road SW. Everyone is welcome to attend these free meetings (we have to collect a small fee for the room, but this amounts to less than a dollar per person and it is optional to contribute). The Legion has food and drinks available for reasonable prices, so you can come early, anytime after 5 pm, if you want to eat or just to spend more time socializing. It is a completely informal social gathering for birders.

We will have a presentation at each meeting on a birding or nature topic. These begin just after 7 pm, so it is fine to arrive at 7 if you can’t make it earlier. This month, Gordon Sick will present on birding in northern Tanzania and the Serengeti.

Here is Gordon’s summary of the talk:

In February, 2024, a group of us took a 12 day Safari in Northern Tanzania. The group included two photographers, whose pictures we will present. We had two 4×4 safari vehicles, each with an African guide who was knowledgeable about birds (most African guides aren’t), and a Canadian naturalist, who was also knowledgeable about birds. We photographed 186 bird species, and 37 mammal species. People who go to this area to see the famous mammals have a lot of quiet time when they see nothing, so looking for birds makes the safari much more interesting. The trip started at the town of Arusha and proceeded to Arusha National Park, Tarangire National Park, Lake Manyara National Park, the Ngorongoro Crater, Olduvai Gorge, and finally using the Ndutu Lodge as a base to visit Serengeti National Park.

Saddle-billed Stork
Saddle-billed Stork (female). Photo by Gordon Sick.

Please join us for another fun and informative year of Birds & Beers!

Upcoming Meetings:

Thursday October 24: A presentation by Myrna Pearman.

Thursday November 28: John Gapp will present on Trees in Fish Creek Provincial Park.

After the December break, we resume with meetings from January through June. The dates have not yet been set.

Birds & Beers, June 13th, 2024.

With a presentation on a trip to Belize and Guatemala, by Bob and Diane Leonhardt.

Limpkin
Limpkin. Photo by Bob Leonhardt.

The final Birds & Beers of the 2023-2024 season is this coming Thursday, June 13th. As usual, we meet from 5 to 9 pm in the big ballroom at the Legion, 9202 Horton Road SW. We will feature a presentation by Diane and Bob Leonhard about their recent trip to Central Amercia.

Here is the presentation description:

Between January 28 and February 7, 2024, we spent ten days with Eagle Eye Tours in Belize and
Tikal National Park, Guatemala. During this time we saw approximately 270 species of birds,
including 75 lifers. After starting in Belize City, our first few days were spent at The Jungle
Lodge in Tikal where we encountered some incredible birds, such as the Ocellated Turkey, Boat-
billed Herons, several wood-creepers, the rare Orange-breasted Falcon, the spectacular Agami
Heron and numerous others. We then returned to Belize, where we spent three nights at the
Jade Jungle Lodge in the hills of western Belize. Here the highlights included the fabulous food
and an incredible look at a spectacular Spectacled Owl. In the Mountain Pine Ridge area we got
a good look at the huge King Vulture and excellent views of a very co-operative Rusty Sparrow.
Our final few days were spent at Birds Eye View Lodge in the Crooked Tree area north of Belize
City. Here we got great looks at many new birds including, Yellow-lored Parrots, Yucatan Jays,
Yellow-headed Parrots, Aplomado Falcons, Black-collared Hawks, Snail Kites and many more. A
real treat was the excellent look at the scarce and secretive Yellow-breasted Crake. It was a
wonderful tour with two excellent guides and a nice group of participants.

This presentation, with many photos of the birds, will begin at about 7 pm. Come early if you want to visit or have a meal and a drink. Everyone is welcome!

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Osprey in the City

By Cathy Warwick

Osprey
Sending shivers down a fish’s spine! Photo by Rodney Campbell, via Wikimedia Commons.

Our sports fans are back in town. There is a pair of Osprey in Calgary’s southwest that have a nest overlooking an athletic centre and parking lot. The hustle and bustle of sports surrounds them and they appear to be used to it. I went and checked them out on a spring morning and watched one eat some fish while perched on top of a pole. As I watched the big bird with my binoculars surveying her territory, she was probably counting the breakfast crumbs on my sweater, her eyesight is that good.

Osprey
Counting the crumbs on someone’s sweater. Photo by Diane Stinson.

The Osprey is also called a fish hawk because of its strict diet of fish. The pair of Osprey I visited fly over to Sandy Beach and patrol the river. For every hunting trip an Osprey makes it is estimated that they are successful 70% of the time. According to Cornell, the Osprey spends an average of only twelve minutes hunting per trip! Human anglers should take note of their tactics. 

They spot a fish and then dive in with their sharp talons, which have a ‘opposable thumb’ type of claw at the back. Their talons also have scales going in a direction that snags the fish onto them. This feature, coupled with their strong grip, means they can be dragged under the water by a larger fish, if they get too greedy. They have also been known to dive under the water to get a fish, then to get out they ‘swim’ with their wings. These skills, coupled with their amazing vision, make them fishing machines. It’s enough to make the average angler throw their little pole and string in the bushes and march off in disgust.

Osprey
The fishing machine at work. Photo by Diane Stinson.

Ospreys are often used to illustrate the effects DDT and PCBs had on our ecosystems, since they are the pinnacle of their food chain. Being at the top, they end up absorbing all the bad stuff in our waterways and DDT causes their eggs to have thin shells. This had catastrophic effects back in the 70’s – Ospreys were actually endangered in some areas. It’s heartening to see how they have rebounded and now have a status of ‘Least Concern’. Ospreys are all over the world, on every continent except Antarctica, and who would want to live there and hang out with a bunch of silly penguins. 

During nest building the male Osprey usually gathers the materials and the female arranges it to make a nest. Last year the male had brought his mate a pair of black athletic shorts and they were acting more as a flag, hanging from the bottom. Perhaps from their favourite team? This year it looks like they are making use of a rope and an unidentified piece of cloth. I couldn’t really tell, with all the sticks and extras making up its nest, but it looked like there was no actual nesting platform for this pair. It brings up the question of why the Osprey don’t like the very sturdy nest platforms in Weaslehead. I have never seen an Osprey nest on those ones in all the years they have been there. Perhaps it is about the fishing opportunities down there? Maybe we need to organize some sporting events for them to watch?

Below are some photos of Osprey from another well-known nesting site in the city – the art sculpture on St. Patrick’s Island by the zoo downtown. The photos were taken by Onkar Kadim in summer 2023.

Osprey
Osprey
Osprey

The Birds Of Alberta Podcast

Chris Fisher’s new podcast is entertaining and informative.

Posted by Bob Lefebvre

I listen to a lot of podcasts, and recently I stumbled upon a new one from the Alberta naturalist Chris Fisher. Chris is probably best-known as the co-author (with John Acorn) of the excellent Birds Of Alberta field guide. The new podcast, also called Birds of Alberta, began on March 28, and there have been sixteen episodes so far. Each one focuses on a single wildlife species that can be found in Alberta. This is usually a bird, but there was also a really good episode about Wood Frogs.

podcast
The Apple Podcasts page about Birds of Alberta.

Each episode is fairly short, ranging from eleven minutes to twenty-two minutes. As the description above says, they are about “the special experiences that the birds have while in this province to the special experiences that Albertans have with their birds”. It is not an interview format, but just Chris sharing his wide knowledge of Alberta wildlife.

I really enjoyed all the episodes so far, and I’m looking forward to more.

podcast
The podcast is available on Spotify and other platforms as well.

Check out the Birds of Alberta podcast – it is a welcome addition to Alberta’s wildlife media.

Buy Bob a Coffee.

Great Horned Owlets

Happy Mother’s Day from Birds Calgary!

Posted by Bob Lefebvre

Great Horned Owl
Mother Great Horned Owl with nestling. Photo by Ramona Casault.

A pair of Great Horned Owls have nested on Ramona Casault’s acreage west of Calgary for several years. Ramona calls the adults Winnie and Waldo. There are three chicks this year, the last of which hatched just last week.

Great Horned Owl
The female (Winnie). Photo by Ramona Casault.
Great Horned Owl
The male owl (Waldo). Photo by Ramona Casault.

According to Ramona, both parent owls have taken turns brooding the chicks, and now sometimes will both be outside the nest tree and leave the chicks for a while.

Great Horned Owl
All three Owlets. There’s quite a size difference! Photo by Ramona Casault.
Cuteness overload! Happy Mother’s Day!

Video by Ramona Casualt.

Bob needs birdseed!

Or coffee. Thanks for your support!!

Calgary May Species Count

Volunteers needed for May 25-26, 2024

Posted by Bob Lefebvre

The May Species Count covers a huge area in the Calgary region. Volunteers go out to their designated routes on either the Saturday or Sunday (or both) and record all the bird species they see, and the numbers of each. There will likely be several routes available in the city and in rural areas. You should have a choice of a small or large city area, or a large rural territory or a part of one.

The birds above were seen on the 2023 May Species Count in the Longview Area, May 28, 2023. Photos by Bob Lefebvre.

Results are submitted by eBird and you are encouraged to get some photographs too. If you are inexperienced and not confident to go out on your own, you may be placed with an existing group.

May Species Count
The 80-km radius Calgary Count Circle with the rural territories numbered. There are numerous different habitats represented, including prairie, parkland, urban, boreal forest, and foothills.

The routes available will be known soon and I will post updated information. If you are not already slated to take part and are interested to join us, or for more information, email the organizer Andrew Hart at andrewhartch[at]icloud.com. Andrew is out of the country right now so if you just want more information about the count, email me at birdscalgary[at]gmail.com.

The photos above were taken on the May Species Count in 2021 on the Bridlewood Pond in Calgary. Photos by Bob Lefebvre.

Birds & Beers, May 9th, 2024.

Featuring a presentation by Stephen Boucher on winter birding in the Ebro Delta, Spain.

Birds & Beers continues next Thursday, May 9th, from 5 to 9 pm at the usual location, the Royal Canadian Legion at 9202 Horton Road SW in Calgary. At about 7 pm there will be a presentation by Stephen Boucher on a trip he made in November 2023 to the Ebro Delta and the Catalan Pyrenees in N.E. Spain.

Everyone is welcome at Birds & Beers. We meet in the large ballroom. Come early if you want to have something to eat or drink, or just come for the presentation if you wish.

Photo by Stephen Boucher.

City Nature Challenge Events

Register now for CNC events this weekend.

The City Nature Challenge is unique in that anyone can participate anywhere in the area from April 26-29. But if you want to take part with an organized group there are many events being offered.

To contribute to the CNC you have to post your observations on the iNaturalist app or website. If you would like to learn how to use iNaturalist, or if you need a refresher or have any questions about the CNC, organizer Matt Wallace is offering a tutorial tonight, Tuesday April 23, at 7 pm. This will be done over Zoom. Here is the link to the meeting.

CNC Map
The CNC area includes Calgary, Cochrane, Airdrie, Chestermere, Okotoks, Foothills County, and Rocky View County. Any iNaturalist obserations made in this area from April 26-29 will contribute to this project.

Matt has organized a number of events throughout the weekend. These include all-day blitzes, birding walks, and more specialized events such as pond study and a pollinator walk. Click the link below to see all the events!

Register for CNC events on this page!

For Nature Calgary members, there are three events on Sunday April 28 which are not full. These include a Birding Blitz on St. Patrick Island near the Zoo, a Bryophyte Blitz in the Weaselhead, and a Plant Walk in Glenbow Ranch Provincial Park. See this page to register.

City Nature Challenge

More information from Matt Wallace:

April 26-29 take photos of wild plants and animals in your yards, neighborhoods, and favorite parks. Then upload your observations to the iNaturalist app or to iNaturalist.ca before Midnight May 5. This is the sixth year I have organized the Calgary CNC and it has grown immensely. There are over 700 cities involved worldwide and we are competing with them to see how many observations we can make, the number of species we can document, and the number of people we can get to participate. The two metrics I am most concerned with for our area are the number of observations and the participants. 

My personal goal for CNC is that we can make a combined 10,000 observations or more during the four days. I also hope that we can make 250K observations by 2025 (We are currently at 169,000 observations just in Calgary). If each of us were to make even 10 observations over the weekend, we could make the CNC target and could be the top-performing Canadian city (49 participating Canadian cities this year).

The area which you can participate in during CNC includes: Calgary, Cochrane, Airdrie, Chestermere, Okotoks, Foothills County, and Rocky View County. Participate in groups, at events or even go exploring on your own. Heck, make a “big day” out of the four days if you’re up for the challenge. I have helped to organize around 15 events across the region all happening Friday-Monday which can all be found on the website below.

Types of subjects we love to see shared on iNaturalist include Birds, Plants, Butterflies, Insects, Fungi, Lichens, Mosses, Mammals (pretty much everything and anything but NO people or pets).

See my previous 2024 CNC post here.

Have a fun weekend and help this project reach its goals!

City Nature Challenge 2024

Thursday April 26 through Monday April 29

Posted by Bob Lefebvre

The sixth annual Calgary City Nature Challenge is coming up soon. This four-day bioblitz is an effort to try to record as much of the Calgary and area biodiversity as possible. Cities around the world will be taking part in this effort, and competing to see who makes the most observations and records the most species. As usual, Calgary will be competing to try to increase our own participation and species numbers here.

City Nature Challenge

From CNC Organizer Matthew Wallace:

The sixth annual Calgary City Nature Challenge takes place April 26-29! Over 650 cities worldwide will compete and collaborate to showcase their urban biodiversity! Participate by taking photos of wild plants and animals in your yards, neighborhoods, and favorite parks over the four days. Then, upload your observations to the iNaturalist app or iNaturalist.ca!

There are several public events happening across the city which include pollinator walks, guided birding tours, and park bioblitzes. You can also just head out to explore on your own or with a group of friends.

Participate anywhere within the Calgary Metropolitan Region which includes Calgary, Airdrie, Chestermere, Okotoks, Rocky View County, and Foothills County.

The deadline to upload your observations to iNaturalist is midnight May 5.

Cities will compete to see which can make the most observations, document the most species, and engage the most people. Calgary aims to be the top-performing Canadian city with a goal of over 10,000 observations posted. Make as many observations as you can April 26-29 so get outside and help to put Calgary’s biodiversity on the map!

Check out all of the CNC resources on the following pages:

The City Nature Challenge webpage. Watch the events tab as more field trips are added.

CNC 2024 Facebook Page

The Project Page on the iNaturalist website.

As birders, we can participate by taking as many photos of birds as we can over the four days. Any identifiable photo is good so don’t worry too much about the quality of your pictures. We also need to document everything, so don’t hesitate to photograph House Sparrows, Black-billed Magpies, and other common species. Then you have until midnight on May 5 to upload your photos to iNaturalist.

Bald Eagle
An adult Bald Eagle I photographed near the Inglewood Golf Course on the 2023 CNC. Photo by Bob Lefebvre.

While you’re out there, you can also get photos of non-bird biodiversity with your camera. Maybe you won’t know what species you have, but iNaturalist has an artificial intelligence that can help with the ID, and even if you have no idea, other iNaturalist users will help to identify everything.

These were a few of the other species I saw on the 2023 CNC. I didn’t know some of the species identifications until I entered them into iNaturalist. (Photos by Bob Lefebvre.)

Since I have my phone with me when I’m birding, I can use it to get photos of other species which are difficult to get with a big camera (photos by Bob Lefebvre):

I have found it to be a great experience to use iNaturalist to learn more about our overall biodiversity. Like most birders, I am interested in all of nature, not just birds.

Watch this short video about the 2024 Calgary City Nature Challenge:

Matthew has set a goal of having 10,000 observations made over the four days this year. In 2023 we had 9,301, so we are getting closer! We also hope to better our total of 762 species recorded last year.

So check out the project links above and plan to participate in an event, or just head out on your own!