Grand Valley Road northwest of Cochrane has been a really good place to find Great Gray Owls. Logan Gibson photographed this one while it was snowing on February 25:
On March 2, Brett Mahura found three different Great Grays on Grand Valley Road:
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Chasing Rarities – Northern Mockingbird in Vulcan, AB
Posted by Dan Arndt
Well, today is a statutory holiday here in Calgary, and as such, my regular post of our Friends of Fish Creek birding courses will be delayed until tomorrow, as I’m spending most of Sunday and Monday with family. Instead, here’s a post about a rare bird sighted within a 90 minute drive from our city that I managed to track down and photograph last weekend, with the help of local birder and excellent nature and wildlife photographer, Jeff Bingham, who first spotted the bird on February 3.
As I was composing my blog post for February 4, on the quiet and peaceful outing we had to Griffith Woods, I was sent a small thumbnail photo of a bird that I knew entirely by reputation and similarity than by having ever seen one before in my life. The photo was of a Northern Mockingbird, which had apparently been taken that day by a local photographer and birder, Jeff Bingham. After confirming the ID, and ensuring that yes, that bird had been seen on that day about an hour and a half outside the city, I was already planning my trip. Thankfully, Jeff agreed to take me down to that same spot the following Saturday in hopes of a repeat performance by the rather unusually occuring bird.
You see, Northern Mockingbirds, according to Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s “All About Birds” page on this species, don’t occur in Alberta, except for the very southerly edge of the province. There have been a handful reported here and there throughout the province in the past, most recently one in Nanton, AB, in the winter of 2006, and another in North Glenmore Park here in Calgary in the summer of 2011.
Northern Mockingbird Range Map, by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology
So, as Saturday February 9th rolled in, we were up and on the road by 8 A.M. and hoping for some great light and good opportunities to find this rare bird.
On the way down, we were treated to a nice close look of a Bald Eagle sitting low on a fencepost. It wasn’t until after it was flushed that we realized it was guarding the carcass of a coyote that was thawing out of a snow drift.
Bald Eagle flushed from a carcass
As we headed east on Highway 23, we came across not one, but two rather tolerant Snowy Owls.
Snowy Owl on a grain silo
This particular Snowy Owl let us drive right up beside him and shoot this out the window.
One very brave Snowy Owl who isn’t the slightest bit disturbed by cars.
As we continued on to Vulcan, we had high hopes of the Northern Mockingbird showing up right where it was before. Unfortunately, it made us wait. And wait. And wait. We even decided to drive around town looking for other birds in our frustration.
It wasn’t until we had just about given up and went to get a cup of coffee that it decided to give us a show, and boy did it ever not disappoint! We followed it on its circuit around the area for a good hour and a half, allowing us some pretty close views and photo opportunities. It always makes for a great day when you find not only the bird you’re looking for, but more than a few good shots of the ones that you didn’t even plan for!
This Northern Mockingbird looks very smug
The typical Northern Mockingbird side profile. Note the heavy white wing bars and tail feathers.
This bird was so smug, in fact, he did not hesitate to look down on us.
Thanks again for the tip, Jeff, and I look forward to our next outing!
Sunday Showcase: Snow Bunting
Michael Pott saw this Snow Bunting posing nicely on a fence post on Dunbow Road last week, just SE of the city. These birds are usually seen in here in the winter in large flocks, in open rural areas.
Wednesday Wings: More Snowies!
Snowy Owls photographed north of Strathmore in early January by Rob English.
Wednesday Wings: Golden Eagle & Snowy Owls
Mitchell Kranz spotted this juvenile Golden Eagle on January 20 near Lake McGregor, northeast of Vulcan.
The same day, he also saw no less than 15 Snowy Owls between there and Blackie.
You can see more of Mitchell’s photos here.
Sunday Showcase: Prairie Birds
More wonderful Rob English photos of a Great-horned Owl, Horned Larks and Snow Buntings taken near Blackie, AB the last week of December.
Bird Studies Group Meeting Tonight
Just a reminder that the Bird Studies Group of Nature Calgary will be meeting tonight, Wednesday January 9 (instead of the first Wednesday of the month). The presentation will consist of the results of various Christmas Bird Counts held in the Calgary region. Phil Cram will present the results of the Calgary Count.
The meeting is at 7:30 pm in Room 211 of the Biological Sciences Building at the U of C. Doors open at 7:00. See this page for a map and more information.
Sunday Showcase: Black-backed Woodpecker
The highlight of the 2013 New Year’s Day Bird Count in Fish Creek Park was the rediscovery of a Black-backed Woodpecker, first reported in the area on December 19, 2012. These birds are seldom seen in the Calgary region – I believe it is at least five years since the last one was seen inside the city. On the afternoon of January 1st, I went to the Marshall Springs area to look for it. Luckily for me, Ursula Krol, who had found it in the morning , had returned and found it again.
Photos by Bob Lefebvre
Rare Bird Alert Calgary: Jan 3
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, 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.
Compiled by Terry Korolyk
Bird Sightings:
A NORTHERN PYGMY-OWL was seen and photographed by Robert Brown in the Shannon Terrace area of Fish Creek Park on December 30.
A CHESTNUT-BACKED CHICKADEE was seen in the Waterton Townsite on Monday Jan 31. The bird was seen by Joan and Malcolm Macdonald. It was in the neighbourhood of 101 Fern Street. A YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLER appears daily in the yard of Jo Nemeth at 8525 Wentworth Dr. SW in Calgary and a female BLACK-BACKED WOODPECKER has been seen once again in west Fish Creek in Calgary. Counters on the Fish Creek PP New Years Day count saw the bird, then in woods southeast of Bridge 5 in the Marshall Springs area. The bird was still present in the afternoon of January 1. A leucistic ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK was seen by Matthew Sim at the Hwy 8 – Range Rd 40 junction west of Calgary on Wed Jan 2.
REDHEAD ducks have survived the winter in fairly good numbers thus far. New Year’s Day counts included 7 at Policeman’s Flats by Terry Korolyk; 3 at Beaverdam Flats by Andrew Slater; 4 there by Bill Wilson; then 5 at Carburn Park by Bill Wilson. Andrew Slater saw a GREATER and a LESSER SCAUP at Beaverdam Flats while on Dec 29, Terry Korolyk observed either a GREATER SCAUP or a
GREATER-LESSERSCAUP hybrid at Elliston Park in southeast Calgary, January 1. Terry saw an AMERICAN WIGEON at the slough in the SW corner of the Hwy 2A-Hwy 22X junction.
Observers in the area can be on the lookout for wandering NORTHERN GOSHAWKS this winter. There have been many reports thus far, both in Calgary and in the surrounding area. A SHARP-SHINNED HAWK was seen in the Bebo Grove-Marshall Springs area of west Fish Creek PP on New Year’s Day.
The next scheduled update of the Bird Alert is on Monday, January 7.
Finding Birds with eBird
Posted by Bob Lefebvre
Note: You don’t have to be an eBird user or have an eBird account to do this. Anyone with an internet connection can use eBird as a resource, so please read on.
eBird, the online database of bird sightings, has many useful features that birders can use to study patterns of bird movements in time and space. The one I use the most is the Interactive Range and Point Maps. This shows a map of all sightings reported for a particular species for any place and time specified. You can set the time period to be as long or as short as you like, and thus see the distribution of the bird.
By setting a short time period of the most recent month or two, you can find out what is being seen in your birding area right now. I will run through an example of the process to show how you can easily find out exactly where your target bird has been seen.
Step 1: Go to the eBird Website home page. (In the example it is eBird Canada, but you could also use the US site.) Your screen will look something like this:
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Step 2: Click the “Explore Data” tab. There will be three choices: Range and Point Maps, Bar Charts, and Line Graphs.
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Step 3: Select “Range and Point Maps” to bring up the world map.
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Step 4: Specify the date range for your search. Click the “Date” tab (which is defaulted to “Year-Round, All Years) to select a time period. In the example, I set it to December only of the current year. It was early December when I did this example, so only sightings from the previous few days would be shown. Then click “Set Date Range” in the green box.
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Step 5: Select the target species. A new screen has come up with the date range set to “Dec-Dec, Current Year”. Go to the “Species” box and type in the bird. I used “Snowy Owl” in the example. As you type, various species possibilities that fit what you have typed so far will show in the blue box below. Once the correct species name appears in the blue box, click it to select the species.
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Step 6: Zoom in on the map to see sightings in your area. You could also at this point set the location (to Calgary, for example) in the upper right-hand box, but it is just as easy to zoom in on the Calgary area by double-clicking your mouse or scrolling your mouse wheel until you get close. Any area that is purple on the map will have at least one Snowy Owl sighting.
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Below, I have zoomed in to the Calgary area. Paydirt! Snowy Owls have been reported inside the two purple rectangles. Now I just have to zoom in a little closer on them to see the exact locations.
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Step 7: Get the sighting data from a point location. The two red teardrops show the exact locations reported for Snowy Owls. By clicking on them, you bring up the sighting information. In the example, I clicked the westernmost teardrop and discovered that it was Daniel Arndt who reported one owl on December 1. You could now scroll in some more to see a close-up map of the area with the names of the roads. But you can also get more information from Dan’s checklist.
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Step 8: See the checklist from the reported sighting. Click “Checklist” next to the name of the observer, to bring up all the particulars of the sighting. If there had been other species seen at that location, they would have been listed there.
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Step 8: See the location on a Google map. On the above screen, click “Map” at the end of the location line to get a Google map with the precise location and GPS coordinates. You can now drive to the exact spot where Dan saw this owl, where, if you’re lucky, it will be still be sitting on the same pole.
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Give this a try to see how easy it is to find out what’s being seen in your area. Of course, the only sightings you’ll find are those submitted by eBird users, so the more people using eBird, the better!
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