The September Birds & Beers meeting will be held next Thursday, September 13. We will meet in the big room at the Horton Road Legion, where Phil Cram will give a presentation.

American Redstart by Tony LePrieur.

We start at 6 pm as usual, and the presentation will be after 7 pm. Phil Cram has organized the Christmas Bird Count for many years, and his talk will include personal experiences about the counts, as well as a discussion of long-term trends in bird populations in Calgary.

Royal Canadian Legion, Centennial Calgary Branch #285

9202 Horton Road SW

Thursday September 13, 2018, 6:00-9:00 pm

Everyone is welcome to come to this free event. Arrive by 6 pm if you want to have food or drinks before the presentation, and chat with your fellow birders.

Here is an excerpt from a Calgary Herald article about Phil by Tyee Bridge (“Birdwatching Isn’t Just for the Experts,” Calgary Herald, December 12, 2014):

“Phil Cram worked in the oil industry and has been recording a life-list of birds since he retired 16 years ago. His path was confirmed when he went on a Carburn Park bird count with legendary Calgary naturalist Gus Yaki in 2000—and Yaki pointed out a saw-whet owl perched in the poplars at head-level.  “I’ve seen only probably half a dozen saw-whets in my life, and that was the first,” said Cram. ”It was a pivotal moment in a pivotal year. After that I started making birding a principal activity.” Now he travels in order to spot species: in 2012 Cram and three friends undertook what he calls “Fur and Feathers 500,” a trip criss-crossing Canada to see 500 species of animals. Pack ice in Nunavut’s Repulse Bay kept them from bagging a narwhal sighting, but they did see a polar bear. By year’s end they reached a total of 507 species, 431 of them birds, including a “very rare” rustic bunting in Haida Gwaii.  Among other things Cram is the compiler of the Christmas Bird Count, a holiday tradition among Calgarians since 1952.”