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Random Birding Photos – Calgary catch-up day, Easter in Jasper

Apr20

Posted byDan Arndt

Aside from co-leading one of the weekend walks with the Friends of Fish Creek, I do like to get out and get some birding in while I’m away on vacations, trips, or even after work once the evenings get a bit longer. In my attempt this year to reach 200 species in Alberta (which is about the same number as I had on my total life list in January) I signed up for a number of alerts on eBird to assist me in getting the birds I hadn’t seen so far for the year. In early March, I took a Saturday morning to catch up on some species that had been plaguing me for quite some time: Gray Partridge, Harris’s Sparrow, and some overwintering Cedar Waxwings were on my “Needs” list, and I was able to get all three, along with a couple of bonuses; American Tree Sparrow and Dark-eyed Junco.

Gray Partridge

Gray Partridge

Harris's Sparrow

Harris's Sparrow

American Tree Sparrow

American Tree Sparrow

Dark-eyed Junco

Dark-eyed Junco

Then, over the Easter weekend, the better half and I took a trip up to Jasper. As a Calgary boy, born and raised here my entire life, I had never made it to Jasper, and I have to say that it was well worth the drive. I was hoping for a bit better birding opportunity while I was up there enjoying the crisp mountain air, but there were two birds I was really hoping for on the trip: White-tailed Ptarmigan, and Mountain Chickadees. Another bonus bird that I added to my list was Clark’s Nutcracker.

White-tailed Ptarmigan

White-tailed Ptarmigan

White-tailed Ptarmigan

How's that for camouflage?

Mountain Chickadee

Mountain Chickadee

Clark's Nutcracker

Clark's Nutcracker

As an addendum, I would highly recommend this book: “Birding Jasper National Park” if you’re heading to that area. It was indispensable in my ability to find the birds I was looking for, as well as the best birding locations in and around the townsite. It’s incredibly affordable too, at a meagre $5.00, and is available in the store at the Jasper National Park Information building right in town.

Birding Jasper National Park

Birding Jasper National Park

Rare Bird Alert Calgary: April 16

Apr19

Have you seen an unusual bird in Calgary? If it is on this Reportable_Birds (PDF), please report it to the Nature Calgary Rare Bird Alert line at 403 221-4519 and leave a message after the beep at the end of the recording. If you would like some help with species identification, us email us at birdscalgary@gmail.com.  To report injured wildlife call the Calgary Wildlife Rehabilitation Society at 403 239-2488, or the Alberta Institute for Wildlife Conservation at 403 946-2361.

APR 13

TURKEY VULTURE – just south of the dam at Chestermere Lake, Yousif Attia
GLAUCOUS GULL – adult at Weed Lake, YA; adult and 1st year at Inglewood Bird Sanctuary, Ilya Povalyaev
THAYER’S GULL – 1st year at Sunset Park on the east side of Chestermere Lake, YA; 1st yr at IBS, by IP
GYRFALCON – gray morph at McElroy Slough just NE of Chestermere, YA

APR 14

BLUE-WINGED-GREEN-WINGED TEAL hybrid – slough east of Shepard, Terry Korolyk
EURASIAN-AMERICAN WIGEON hybrid male – as above
BEWICK’S-TUNDRA SWAN hybrid – as above
RED-NECKED GREBE – reported in Calgary area over weekend
HORNED GREBE – as above
EARED GREBE – as above
PIED-BILLED GREBE – as above
THAYER’S GULL – two 1st year in the SW corner of Chestermere Lake, TK

APR 15

COMMON TEAL – on the south side of the marsh on the west side of the Hwy 799-338 Ave SE junction north of Blackie, TK
EURASIAN WIGEON – 2 male and a female at Hwy 547 and Rge Rd 255 as well as a male and female on Blizzard Lake at 160 St SE just south of Hwy 552, TK
WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE-BARNACLE GOOSE hybrid – in the Irricana Sloughs onthe slough on Rge Rd 264 between Twp Rd 262 and 264, Joan and Malcolm Macdonald
RED-BREASTED MERGANSER – Twp Rd 264 west of Rge Rd 262, J & MM
PEREGRINE FALCON – on Hwy 547 east of Hwy 799, TK
WILSON’S SNIPE – 8 on Hwy 564 near Cochrane, J & MM
YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLER (AUDUBON’S) – at the Boat launch in east Fish Creek PP; Janet Gill
TREE SWALLOW – 750 at the Boat launch in Fish Creek PP; Bob Lefebre and Friends of Fish Creek PP

The next scheduled update of the bird alert is on Thu Apr 19.

Q & A: Feeding Ducks

Apr17

By Bob Lefebvre

Here at the Birds Calgary blog, we receive a lot of questions from bird-friendly folks throughout the province. We are going to start sharing some of them with our readers as just another way to spread bird knowledge. 

If you have a question, email us at birdscalgary@gmail.com.  We may post your question and our answer.  We won’t print your name or email address.

Q: I was wondering if there is anywhere in Calgary that is a good location to go and feed ducks on a lazy Sunday afternoon?

A: There are several good spots to observe ducks at close range in Calgary, but it actually is not a good idea to feed them.  Many people do feed them bread and similar items, but these are like junk food for ducks, with lots of carbohydrates but not enough minerals and protein to provide for proper health and growth.  This sort of artificial diet is especially bad for the ducklings once they hatch. Besides malnutrition, there are other problems associated with feeding them bread products, such as the spread of disease and the loss of natural behaviors.

However, there are healthy products you can feed to ducks.  They do well on grains like cracked corn, wheat, barley, and oats; high-quality birdseed; grapes (cut up); chopped lettuce; and frozen peas and corn.  Any such feeding should be done in moderation and cautiously, with every attempt made not to disturb the birds.

Mallards at the Inglewood Bird Sanctuary

There are many small ponds in parks in the city where waterfowl can be seen.  Good places include Prince’s Island downtown, Pearce Estate in Inglewood, and Confederation Park between 10 Street and 14 Street NW.  All of these have benches or grassy areas near the water.  There is also a great lagoon at the Inglewood Bird Sanctuary where you can observe Mallards, Canada Geese (and, in a few weeks, ducklings and goslings), the beautiful Wood Duck, and other ducks at close range, but it is illegal to feed wildlife in the sanctuary (it is also illegal in Fish Creek Park).  In any case I would encourage you to watch the birds but let them feed naturally wherever you go.

Canada Geese with goslings at IBS 

Spring Birding in South Glenmore Park and the Weaselhead

Apr13

Posted by Bob Lefebvre

April marks the beginning of the spring session of the Friends of Fish Creek birding courses.  For this three-month session, Dan Arndt and I decided to lead a group at 7:30 a.m. on Sundays.  This might seem a little early to be going out in April, but by May and June the sun will be high before we get under way, and we hope to see and hear more birds than we would later in the day.

Dan is away for the first two weeks, so I will be reporting on what we saw, with photos provided by two of the course participants, Glenn Alexon and Paul Turbitt.

The first outing, on Easter Sunday, was in North Glenmore Park and the Weaselhead.  We spent about an hour checking the west end of Glenmore Reservoir first.  It is still almost completely frozen, with only a few small areas open in the west end, but there were some waterfowl there, notably some impressive Trumpeter Swans.

 Trumpeter Swans landing on the water.  Photo by Glenn Alexon.

Common Mergansers:  female (left) and male (right).  Photo by Glenn Alexon.

Canada Goose taking off.  Photo by Glenn Alexon.

Then we headed down in to the Weaselhead.  A highlight there was a Townsend’s Solitaire singing from the top of a very tall spruce.

Townsend’s Solitaire.  Photo by Glenn Alexon.

Male Downy Woodpecker.  Photo by Glenn Alexon.

Female Downy Woodpecker.  Photo by Glenn Alexon.

Black-capped Chickadee.  Photo by Glenn Alexon.

These chickadees expect to be fed.  Photo by Paul Turbitt.

Northern Flicker.  Photo by Paul Turbitt.

Northern Flicker.  Photo by Glenn Alexon.

There were quite a few Red Squirrels around, and a couple of Least Chipmunks were also seen.

Red Squirrel.  Photo by Glenn Alexon.

We saw three Red-tailed Hawks overhead, including this dark Harlan’s Hawk.

Harlan’s Red-tailed Hawk.  Photo by Paul Turbitt.

We had hoped to see Pine Grosbeaks and American Tree Sparrows at the feeders.  There were none around when we first went through, but on our last stop on the way back we found a pair of each.

Pine Grosbeak.  Photo by Glenn Alexon.

Pine Grosbeak.  Photo by Paul Turbitt.

Pine Grosbeak.  Photo by Paul Turbitt.

American Tree Sparrow feeding on the ground.  Photo by Glenn Alexon.

Back up by the parking lot, an early Richardson’s Ground Squirrel was the last species of the day.

Richardson’s Ground Squirrel.  Photo by Glenn Alexon.

In all, we saw 28 bird species and four mammals.  The eight groups who went to this area during the first week of the course collectively saw 48 bird species and six mammal species.  The Weaselhead is a great place for spring birding!

To see more of Glenn Alexon’s photos, go to his Flickr page.

To read about one of the Saturday morning course outings, go to David Pugh’s blog.

Rare Bird Alert Calgary: April 12

Apr13

Have you seen an unusual bird in Calgary? If it is on this Reportable_Birds (PDF), please report it to the Nature Calgary Rare Bird Alert line at 403 221-4519 and leave a message after the beep at the end of the recording. If you would like some help with species identification, us email us at birdscalgary@gmail.com.  To report injured wildlife call the Calgary Wildlife Rehabilitation Society at 403 239-2488, or the Alberta Institute for Wildlife Conservation at 403 946-2361.

Bird Sightings:

April 09
–SWAINSON’S HAWK, Water Valley, Eddie Matoud
–WILD TURKEY, E. side of Bow River opp. Pearce Estates
–GREAT GRAY OWL, SW of Water Valley, Ron Kube

April 10
–SNOW GOOSE (40), Hwy 564 and RR 255 NW of Strathmore, Richard Clarke
–BLACK-NECKED STILT (4), Linden, Corinne Griffin
–LESSER BLACKED GULL, Inglewood Bird Sanctuary, Ilya Povalyaev
–RUBY-CROWNED KINGLET, Windham-Carseland PP, RC
–AMERICAN PIPIT, Boat launce at Fish Creek Provincial Park, Gus Yaki and FFCPP Soc.
–FOX SPARROW, Temple neighborhood, Calgary, Amanda Bradley

April 11
–TURKEY VULTURE, FCPP Mallard Pt., near Sue Higgins bridge, Mike and Jane Potter
–AMERICAN AVOCET, Weed Lake (2), RC; slough on Hwy 40 W of Siksika Res. (3)M&JP
–SNOWY OWL, ice at Weed Lake, M&JP
–RUBY-CROWNED KINGLET, Confederation Park, NW Calgary, David Pugh
–AMERICAN PIPIT (40), Boat Launch FCPP, Gus Yaki and FFCPPSoc
–YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRD, behind Shawnessy Library, Michael and Louise Geldorp

April 12
–YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLER, Mallard Pt., FCPP, Terry Korolyk

The next scheduled update of the Bird Alert is on Monday April 16.

Lafarge Meadows – Finally!

Apr12

Posted byDan Arndt

The final Sunday Morning excursion by the Friends of Fish Creek Winter Birding Course took us to Lafarge Meadows. After going there for the first time with the Fall course, I was looking forward to getting back there as the spring migrants began to filter through, and what a visit it was!

One of the birds that most non-birders consider a sure sign of spring, is the charismatic and well known American Robin, many of which were present and singing their spring song.

Another of the early migrants we were treated to at the beginning of the walk was the ever beautiful song of the aptly named Song Sparrow.

While the field marks weren’t easy to see from that distance, the song was so distinctive that there was no way you could mistake this bird for any other. Over at the boat launch we had some decent views of Common Mergansers (pictured below) and a pair of Lesser Scaup.

We then turned southward to head into LaFarge Meadows proper, checking a few of the ponds near the bridge where we found a few close-ups of some Lesser Scaup and American Wigeon.

As we edged further south along the river, we took note of the huge numbers of gulls both along the river, and in the ponds along the west side that were still frozen, and were greeted by some nicely posing Herring Gulls on a gravel bar in the Bow River, as well as a small number of another new bird for the year, the Franklin’s Gull.

Finally, as we headed back north toward the beginning of our route, I spotted a small bird atop a nearby tree, thinking it may be another sparrow, or maybe even an early swallow species, but was immediately alerted to its identity by the single sharp note of its call, identifying itself as a Northern Shrike!

As we reached the vehicles, all of us were forlorn at the prospect that this was our last walk of the season with that particular group, but all attendees were looking forward to the next round of courses, starting up immediately the following week! Travel will keep me away for the first two weeks of the course, from which I will post some photos on my regular schedule, and but until then, good birding!

Wednesday Wings: Northern Saw-whet Owl

Apr11

Blog readers Elizabeth Sargent and Greg Earle sent us some absolutely stunning Northern Saw-whet Owl pictures that Greg took in Carburn Park. They visited on March 31, and were lucky enough to find this little guy at breast height in a thicket of bushes near the river. We’ve had a lot of great saw-whet owl photos on the blog in recent months, but these are just spectacular! Click to enlarge.

Rare Bird Alert Calgary: April 9

Apr10

Have you seen an unusual bird in Calgary? If it is on this Reportable_Birds (PDF), please report it to the Nature Calgary Rare Bird Alert line at 403 221-4519 and leave a message after the beep at the end of the recording. If you would like some help with species identification, us email us at birdscalgary@gmail.com.  To report injured wildlife call the Calgary Wildlife Rehabilitation Society at 403 239-2488, or the Alberta Institute for Wildlife Conservation at 403 946-2361.

Bird Sightings:

April 4:
TOWNSEND’S SOLITAIRES (5) in Calgary Braeside, Shonna McLeod.

April 5:
TOWNSEND’S SOLITAIRES (6) in Calgary Strathcona, Sandy Ayer.
GRAY-CROWNED ROSY FINCHES (100) western edge of Calgary, John Bargman.
THAYER’S GULL, GLAUCOUS GULL,(2) IBS, Bill Wilson & Ilya Pulalyaev?

April 6:
VIOLET-GREEN SWALLOW in northeast Calgary, Lois & Bill Lang.
YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRD, AMERICAN KESTRELS (2) near Brooks, Ray Woods, Brian Elder, Phil Cram, Mike Mulligan.
AMERICAN WHITE PELICANS (2) at the Carseland Weir, Shirley Otway.
HARLEQUIN DUCK, male at Inglewood BS, Tony Timmons & CFNS.
EURASIAN WIGEONS at McElroy Slough, Terry Korolyk.
LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL, IBS, Bill Wilson.

April 7:
EASTERN PHOEBE in the Weaselhead, west end of Glenmore Res., Gus Yaki & FFCPP.
WHITE-CROWNED SPARROW, SONG SPARROWS (6), FOX SPARROWS (5) at the Hay Meadows raptor watch,Mt Lorette, Kananaskis, Jim Davis.
TREE SWALLOWS (6), GREATER YELLOWLEGS (3) in Hull’s Wood/Lefarge Meadows FCPP, Tony Timmons and CFNS.
LESSER YELLOWLEGS (2), GREATER YELLOWLEGS (8) at Ralph Klein Park, Terry Korolyk.
GRAY-CROWNED ROSY FINCHES (80), near Water Valley, Doug Collister.
HARLAN’S x LIGHT PHASE RED-TAILED HAWK Hwy 549 west of Hwy 23, TK.
HARLAN’S RED-TAILED HAWK (3) Hwy 22X, TK.

April 8:
MOURNING DOVE in Calgary Varsity, Shirley Haig.
GRAY-CROWNED ROSY FINCHES on Larsen Pasture Rd off Grand Valley Road NW of Cochrane, Andrew Slater.
LONG-TAILED DUCK female at Carseland Weir, Joan & Malcolm MacDonald.
ROSS’ GOOSE, a few with SNOW GOOSE (5000) at ? Lake near Lomond, Richard Clarke.
NORTHERN HAWK OWL, GREAT GREY OWL SW of Water Valley, Andrew Slater.

The next scheduled update of the Bird Alert is on Thursday April 12.

Handy Drumming Posts

Apr10

By Pat Bumstead

My non-bird watching friends seem to be picking up the habit by osmosis. The more I talk about birds (hardly ever), the more questions I get from people who are just starting to notice them. One such friend phoned me one day in high dudgeon, almost demanding to know what that bird was that woke him up so early. I managed to talk him into doing a short blog post for us, and he even had video to go with it.  He lives in Midnapore, but this activity can be seen throughout Calgary, particularly at this time of year. Here’s what he had to say.

What’s that infernal racket so early in the morning? The metallic hammering emanating from the furnace sounded like it was having a meltdown.

I raced downstairs and started pulling covers off left and right to find the relay that was suffering an acute attack of St. Vitus’ dance.  It quickly became obvious that the racket was now above me and emanating from the furnace chimney pipe. What was in there?

Running outside to fetch a ladder, the source of the problem quickly became obvious. A male woodpecker (Northern Flicker) was hammering on the roof’s flat chimney cap, the better to inveigle any nearby female Flickers into viewing his roof etchings.  Unlike size, in the avian world, apparently volume does matter and what better way to announce your augmented virility than by drilling on a resonating metallic roof cap? What better location too, than where the owners of a garden and messaging roof have two enormous poplar trees. Our poplars are home to many delicious insects and they also support regularly replenished hanging bird feeders.

Clearly this was Flicker Shangri-la and if woodpeckers were up and about, so should everyone else be.

Sunday Showcase: Great-grey Owl

Apr8

Rob English was driving west of Water Valley on March 31, and came across a bird he had never seen before  – a Great-grey Owl. These magnificent birds are one of the most sought-after sightings for many birders. Click to enlarge.