Archives

Loon Survey, Part Two

Sep1

Last month I reported on my trip to Leisure Lake, southwest of Calgary, to monitor the breeding Common Loons there (see the blog post, Loon Survey, Part One).  On June 14 there was a breeding pair of loons, with two eggs in the nest.  I returned to the lake on July 10 to see if the young loons had fledged.

Leisure Lake, in the Bragg Creek/Priddis area, southwest of Calgary.

I soon saw the loons, the two young birds following their parents around the lake.  The newly fledged loons were already quite large, and seemed to be doing well.

Two young loons following their parents.

One of the young loons in its brownish plumage.

The next step in the loon survey was to return to check on the loons in August, to see if the young have survived their first few weeks of life.  I’ll report on that in Part 3.

 Posted by Bob Lefebvre

Sunday Showcase: Rare Water Birds

Aug28

These birds are always a treat for any birdwatcher to find, and David Lily managed to photograph them as well. Thanks for sending these in David!

Sora

American Bittern

Sunday Showcase: Ferruginous Hawks

Aug21

During a hot prairie drive southeast of Calgary, we were astonished to see these five Ferruginous hawks – one adult and four youngsters – about 100 yards away from the road.  They were totally unconcerned with our presence, either trying to cool off in the shade or sharing a ground squirrel in the 30+ temperatures. It was the bird sighting of a lifetime for a raptor fan!

Photos and post by Pat Bumstead

Rare Bird Alert Calgary: August 8

Aug9

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 zoxox@shaw.ca  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.

This Bird Alert was recorded on Monday Aug 8.

Bird Sightings:

SUNDAY August 7

–SANDERLING (1 juv) – Weed Lake (Glenmore Tr just E of Langdon) by Terry Korolyk
–BLACK-BELLIED PLOVER (4) – location as above by TK
–RED-NECKED PHALAROPE (400) – location as above by TK
–RUBY-THROATED HUMMINGBIRD (1) –Big Hill Springs by Steve Kassai
–NORTHERN WATERTHRUSH (1) – location as above by SK
–ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER (2) – location as above by SK
–TENNESSEE WARBLER (1) – location as above by SK

SATURDAY August 6

All shorebirds and wading birds seen were observed at Weed Lake unless otherwise specified. Bill Wilson was out to Weed Lake earlier in the day
than Hank Vanderpol
–RED KNOT (1 juv) – by Hank Vanderpol
–AMERICAN AVOCET (33) – Bill Wilson
–BLACK-NECKED STILT (40) – BW
–WHITE-FACED IBIS (1) – BW
–SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPER – 16 BW; 300 HV
–BAIRD’S SANDPIPER – 16 BW; 12 HV
–PECTORAL SANDPIPER – 1 BW; 4 HV
–SANDERLING – 4 BW
–STILT SANDPIPER – 8 BW
–LESSER YELLOWLEGS – 300 BW
–SEMIPALMATED PLOVER – 3 BW
–BLACK-BELLIED PLOVER – 7 BW; 26 also seen by HV on Glenmore Tr E of Hwy 24, just west of the sod farm
–LONG-BILLED CURLEW (17) – Glenmore Tr E of Hwy 24, just W of the sod farm, by HV
–THREE-TOED WOODPECKER (3) – Brown Lowery Recreation Area (Plummer’s Rd, NW of Millarville) by Andrew Hart and CFNS field trip

The next scheduled update of the Bird Alert is on Thursday Aug. 11.

Cowbird vs Chipping Sparrow

Aug9

We received an email from Larry & Angie in Innisfail a while ago, asking for help identifying a bird in their yard. They were confused because this bird was acting like a baby sparrow, being fed by an adult sparrow but appeared to be bigger than the adult. Their photogenic picture does a wonderful job of showing a juvenile Brown-headed Cowbird in action, and the difference in size between the two species.

As Matthew mentioned in his July Cowbird Catastrophe post on this blog, Cowbirds do not look after their own eggs, but lay them in the nests of other species. This poor Chipping Sparrow has already been outsized by this demanding youngster, and continues to burn up energy finding enough food for it. As Cowbird eggs hatch sooner than those of other birds and fledglings are known to eject the nest occupants, it’s likely this Chipping Sparrow did not raise any of his own young this year.

Posted by Pat Bumstead

Sunday Showcase: Long-eared Owls

Aug7

These superb owl photos were sent to us by Russell Bachmann, who has been lucky enough to locate a few of these beautiful birds. I love the way these pictures typify any Long-eared sighting – you rarely see these birds when they’re not tucked away behind the branches! Click to enlarge.

Posted by Pat Bumstead

Beautiful Loons

Aug3

On a recent camping trip to Kikomun Creek Provincial park in south-eastern British Columbia (near Fernie), I spent hours out on the main lake at the campsite; Surveyor’s Lake, observing and photographing Common Loons. Home to a breeding pair of loons, Surveyor’s lake is a busy lake; hundreds of people crisscross the lake each day in canoes, rafts, paddleboats and kayaks. All these people, however, do not deter the loons and once again, they have nested in the area and have one big young one.

Due to all the traffic on this lake, the loons are not shy and will sometimes even approach people. At one point, I was sitting in my raft photographing these beautiful birds when one of the adults and the young one started to swim towards me. They came closer and closer until I could have touched the young loon with my paddle!

The young loon seemed to be doing an impression of an eel; he would get down low in the water and start swimming about. This last photo shows how close the young loon came; this was taken with my 500mm lens and is uncropped; I had to sit very still, otherwise a sudden motion would have scared the youngster away!

The adult loons were very protective of their young one; when an immature Bald Eagle flew low over the lake, the adult loons had already seen it, were loudly giving their alarm call and both parents were protectively circling around the young loon.

Occasionally, the loons were too fast for me and my camera and would dive right as I would take a photograph.

While I watched this loon family, they consumed a lot of food and I later found out that one pair of loons with two chicks will eat more than 1000 kg of small coarse fish over a breeding season. That is a lot of fish! Hopefully the lake is well stocked!

I immensely enjoyed watching this family; it was amazing to watch their lives as they try to raise the next generation of loons. I also saw hope; despite this species sensitivity to human disturbance, these loons can survive among humans and this adaptability could help keep these magnificent birds off the threatened species list.

Posted by Matthew Sim

The Woodpecker Tree

Jul27

While on my latest bike ride into Fish Creek Provincial Park, I came across one very special tree. I have started calling it: The Woodpecker Tree. Standing proud and tall on the banks of the creek, this poplar tree seemed to be a gathering place for woodpecker food. I abruptly stopped on the dirt path I was riding on because I had heard a Hairy Woodpecker calling. I approached the tree for closer inspection and I was surprised to see 2 Downy Woodpeckers and a large female Hairy Woodpecker. Much to my surprise I heard another Downy Woodpecker calling high up in the tree and I looked up to see a male Downy Woodpecker and a White-breasted Nuthatch. I then heard a tapping coming from the opposite side of the tree and found it to be a male Hairy Woodpecker tapping away. Eventually, my final count of woodpeckers came up to 3 Hairy Woodpeckers, 4 Downy Woodpeckers and the lone White-breasted Nuthatch.

This tree obviously fulfilled the nourishment needs for 7 woodpeckers and a nuthatch. As I continued to watch all these birds, I saw them eating insects, tapping at fungal growths on the tree and investigating sap.

After a dozen of  minutes or so, the woodpeckers started to spread out into the surrounding area to hunt down more food. Yet some of the birds, stayed on the woodpecker tree, clearly enjoying the abundance of good food.

Now, I can’t help but wonder if this is a regular occurrence at this tree, or was it a one-time event?

Posted by Matthew Sim

Rare Bird Alert Calgary July 21

Jul22

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 zoxox@shaw.ca  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.

This report was prepared on Thursday July 21.

July 17
— LONG-BILLED CURLEW, NW of Beiseker, Ron Kube
— PACIFIC WREN, West of Sibbald Meadows Road, Bill Wilson
— FOX SPARROW, Highwood Pass, BW

July 18
— SPOTTED TOWHEE, Votier’s Flats (Calgary), Matthew Sim
— RED CROSSBILL, Willow Park (Calgary), MS

July 20
— SANDERLING, Weed Lake (Langdon), David Pugh
— CASPIAN TERN, Glenmore Reservoir, Terry Korolyk

The next scheduled update of the Bird Alert is on Monday July 25.

Bird Profile: Red-winged Blackbird

Jul16

Up here in the northern part of the continent, we know when spring is here when the robins arrive. These are not the only harbingers of warmer days however; the Red-winged Blackbird heralds the arrival of spring as well, the males arriving before the females to claim their territory.

One of the most abundant and widespread birds in North America, the male is a striking bird; all-black plumage save for his bright red and yellow wing epaulets. The female is a heavily streaked brown bird with a light streak over the crown and above the eye. Males have harems of females living in their marshes, these harems can sometimes number up to 15, but up to one half of the nestlings turn out to be sired by a male other than the territorial bird. During the breeding season, Red-winged Blackbirds are rarely seen far from water and are communal nesters, often nesting alongside other species of blackbirds. Once nesting is over, the Red-winged Blackbird forms flocks and go out to forage over the countryside, returning to marshes to roost at night.

Red-winged blackbirds are a common victim of the parasitic Brown-headed Cowbird but this does not seem to affect the former`s numbers. The young are mostly fed insects, and this is exactly what the female Red-winged Blackbird pictured above is doing; she is feeding insects to a fledgling hidden in the grass. The male does a remarkable job and helps feed  the fledglings in is territory; there can be quite a few young birds to feed!

Red-winged Blackbirds may be seen at any marsh, lake or pond in Calgary with cattails and bulrushes. Don`t forget to listen; you can always tell if there is a Red-winged Blackbird nearby if you can hear the males distinctive “Conk-la-ree“ song.

Posted by Matthew Sim