Furry Friday – Coyote family at Kinbrook Island Provincial Park

Jul19

This family of coyotes was seen by David Pugh and I on our Alberta Big Day stalking some waterfowl on this pond at the entrance to Kinbrook Island Provincial Park. Luckily, they were still there a week later when I returned there in refuge from the flooding here in Calgary. They were quite fun to watch, and didn’t seem to mind having their photos taken!

Coyote Pups taking a break
Pentax K-5 + Sigma 150-500@500mm
1/1600sec., f/6.3, ISO 400

Coyote Family at Kinbrook Island Provincial Park
Pentax K-5 + Sigma 150-500@500mm
1/1000sec., f/6.3, ISO 250

Eldest of the coyote pups
Pentax K-5 + Sigma 150-500@500mm
1/1000sec., f/6.3, ISO 250

The eldest pup is stalking her prey…
Pentax K-5 + Sigma 150-500@500mm
1/1600sec., f/6.3, ISO 400

Adult Male coyote seen a little while later on the wildlife trail
Pentax K-5 + Sigma 150-500@500mm
1/500sec, f/6.3, ISO 320

The eldest pup decides she might as well just wait for takeout…
Pentax K-5 + Sigma 150-500@500mm
1/1600sec., f/6.3, ISO 320

Reflections on an Alberta Big Day – Lessons learned and lifers heard

Jul15

On June 15, 2013, David Pugh of A Calgary Birder and I began our attempt on a Big Day, starting at Cold Lake in the early morning and ending in Waterton National Park as the last light of day faded. There were quite a few things we learned in the attempt, and many more discoveries of good birding locations, new life birds for both of us, and experiences that have left me wanting more opportunities to visit places I rarely get to.

Part 1: Lead-up to the Big Day

Quite a bit of planning went into our attempt, with many hours collecting data from eBird and the Albertabird Yahoo Group, and using Google Maps to plan our route to maximize the time we’d have outside of the vehicle to find our target birds at each stop. Our original plan was to start at Cold Lake before dawn, listening for as many warbler and vireo species as we could identify by ear, head to a few other ponds and lakes near Cold Lake, then begin driving down the east edge of the province, stopping briefly at a few spots along the way to pick up other targets that are only found in the boreal and parkland biomes, before hitting up Dinosaur Provincial Park for the badlands and prairie specialists there. From there, we would stop at a few places around Brooks, then make a bee-line down to Waterton to pick up the foothills and mountain species before the light faded entirely. Of course, the oft-misquoted proverb originally penned by German war strategist Helmuth von Moltke: “No plan survives contact with the enemy” was certainly apt for our Big Day attempt.

Part 2: The trip begins

We put rubber to the road leaving Calgary on Thursday, June 13. After a brief stop at Slack Slough in Red Deer to stretch our legs, we made a straight shot for Elk Island National Park, just east of Edmonton, and camped the night there. After being serenaded to sleep by the calls of a nearby Nelson’s Sparrow, the distinct “onk-a-chonk” of at least three American Bitterns, and constant bugling of Red-necked Grebes and Common Loons on Astotin Lake, we arose the next morning bright eyed and bushy-tailed to do some birding around the lake. A quick trip around the boardwalk turned up a few good birds, but nothing exceptional, so we packed up the tent and headed down the road to Tawayik Lake on the south end of the park. Along the road we came across this male Rose-breasted Grosbeak singing away in the morning light, giving us great photo opportunities.

Rose-breasted Grosbeak Pentax K-5 + Sigma 150-500 - 1/1600sec, f/6.3, ISO 500, 500mm

Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Pentax K-5 + Sigma 150-500@500mm
1/1600sec, f/6.3, ISO 500

Down at Tawayik Lake we had some good finds including LeConte’s Sparrows, Swamp Sparrow, and even a slightly out of place Baird’s Sparrow along the boardwalk. We were lucky to get familiar with the call here though, as it would have made our actual Big Day record a bit harder to suss out. This little House Wren also took interest in us and decided to sit pretty for the camera for as long as we could possibly have asked.

House Wren
Pentax K-5 + Sigma 150-500@500mm
1/1600sec, f/6.3, ISO 400

We headed out from Elk Island with just one more stop planned before our lunch break in Vermilion, that being a regularly reported location for Piping Plover just south of Innisfree. I’d seen one a few weeks before near Hanna, and, as this would be a lifer for David, we decided it would be worth a brief stop. As we scanned the far shore and spotted a very, very distant Piping Plover, we figured that would be fine, and headed back to the van… and that’s when this little bird decided we were endangering its nest and came up to challenge us!

Piping Plover Rose-breasted Grosbeak Pentax K-5 + Sigma 150-500@500mm - 1/1250sec, f/6.3, ISO 200

Piping Plover
Pentax K-5 + Sigma 150-500@500mm
1/1250sec, f/6.3, ISO 200

We stopped to visit Charlotte Wasylik at her family farm near Vermilion. Her and her family were incredibly hospitable, and we even had some time to bird at the slough near the farm, where both David and I heard our first ever Sprague’s Pipits! Charlotte writes over at Prairie Birder, and is one of the youngest birders I know, as she’s in Grade 10… giving her at least a 30 year head start on most of the birders I know!

Left to Right: David Pugh, Charlotte Wasylik, and myself with some big Alberta sky in the background
– Photo by Charlotte’s mom, used with permission –

From there we headed up to scout Cold Lake, get settled in to the campground for the night, have some dinner, and take a bit of a walk… after a few false starts, we ended up back in Cold Lake Provincial Park campground and found this Merlin perched high over the edge of the lake, searching for his next meal.

Merlin
Pentax K-5 + Sigma 150-500mm@500mm
1/640sec, ƒ/10, ISO 1600

Part 3: The Big Day

Our list of possible birds for the Big Day was around 267. Our goal was to break 200. While that seemed a bit high for our first attempt, we figured if the weather was good and we stayed on schedule, we’d be able to easily crest 150, and 200 seemed reasonable with the significant distance we were covering and the huge variety of biomes we’d be exploring.

That was the plan… until we woke up at 4:00AM in Cold Lake to a steady downpour. An hour later we decided we’d better at least get on the road, and after a brief jaunt around a couple trails near the lake, and scoping the lake from a few vantage points, we dipped on almost all of the warblers and vireos we’d hoped for, but still managed to spot all three regular white-headed gulls and a few Western Grebes out on the lake, and heard very clearly both Canada Warbler and Ovenbirds calling in the steady rain. One nice find at Cold Lake was a huge number of Purple Martins houses, all full of breeding colonies of Purple Martins, and the rain kept them still enough to get really good, close looks at them.

Purple Martin
Pentax K-5 + Sigma 150-500@310mm
1/320sec., ƒ/6.3, ISO 1600

And so the day went. Rain and wind plagued us as far south as Hanna, where we finally evaded the precipitation, but ran into just as steady and stronger gusts of wind.

By the time we reached Dinosaur Provincial Park the winds were still wailing, but we managed to catch some good light for at least a few additions to the list.

Rock Wren
Pentax K-5 + Sigma 150-500@500mm
1/800sec., ƒ/6.3, ISO 1600

Least Flycatcher
Pentax K-5 + Sigma 150-500@500mm
1/640sec., ƒ/6.3, ISO 1600

Lark Sparrow
Pentax K-5 + Sigma 150-500@500mm
1/800sec., ƒ/6.3, ISO 80

While those three were expected finds at the park, I did manage a terrible shot of a Baird’s Sparrow, which up until that point I had only heard twice before. It was a nice highlight to a seemingly terrible day so far…

Baird’s Sparrow
Pentax K-5 + Sigma 150-500@500mm
1/800sec., ƒ/6.3, ISO 640

From there, we headed down to a little known spot near Tilley, known as Kininvie Marsh. It was where we expected to find at least another ten species on our list that we’d so far missed elsewhere. One of the nicest finds in this spot was both McCown’s and Chestnut-collared Longspurs, both of which were lifers for me!

Chestnut-collared Longspur
Pentax K-5 + Sigma 150-500@500mm
1/640sec., ƒ/6.3, ISO 640

A brief stop at Kinbrook Island Provincial Park turned up a couple new birds as well, and allowed for some decent shots in the late afternoon light.

Western Kingbird
Pentax K-5 + Sigma 150-500@500mm
1/640sec., ƒ/6.3, ISO 400

With that last stop, we were on the road again for another few hours, stopping for a fuel break and a quick dinner in Lethbridge, then making the final leg of the trek to Waterton. We did a quick loop around the Buffalo paddock, giving us good looks at some Mountain Bluebirds, and a distant look at some Plains Bison as well.

Mountain Bluebird
Pentax K-5 + Sigma 150-500@500mm
1/640sec., ƒ/6.3, ISO 1600

We made a brief stop in the Waterton townsite, which once again turned up some great finds, though nowhere near enough to really top out our 200, but we did have a few surprises… one of which was this incredibly curious Black Bear at Cameron Falls.

Black Bear
Pentax K-5 + Sigma 150-500@150mm
1/250sec., ƒ/6.3, ISO 1600

And it seemed quite fitting that our Big Day started at one large lake, and ended at another. The drive to Cameron Lake also gave us a couple more species, and quite a stunning view out on the lake.

Cameron Lake on Instagram.

We did make another stop up at Brown-Lowery Provincial Park the next day on our way home, and David managed another technical lifer… while he had seen these in his younger days in Ontario, this was his first look at Evening Grosbeaks since he became a birder. The stop here also added a few more species to our total for the 3 day journey, and it was really great to end the day with just one more lifer added to the tally.

Evening Grosbeak
Pentax K-5 + Sigma 150-500@500mm
1/500sec., ƒ/6.3, ISO 80

Our total for the Big Day? 123 species. A far cry from the goal of 200 that we had in mind, and further still from last year’s record of 226, but not bad considering the weather, and even better for our first trip into most of these habitats, and the lack of real shorebird activity due to the lack of any real mudflats. Our three-day total rounded out at 148, most of which being found between Elk Island and Cold Lake on June 14.

Thanks again for reading, and good birding! More regular updates will be forthcoming now that things are back to relative normalcy here in Calgary!

Travel Tuesday: Frank Lake

Jul2

Michael Pott sent us these outstanding photos of his trips to Frank Lake on June 27 and 28th. He says his equipment is simple and of average quality-Nikon D7000, Sigma 120-300 mm with 2x extender, monopod. Truly the most unique photograph of a Red-winged Blackbird I’ve ever seen!

Wilson’s Phalarope

Killdeer

Red-winged Blackbird

American Coot and young

Franklin’s Gull

Wilson’s Phalarope

American Avocets

Black-necked Stilt, American Avocet

Wilson’s Phalarope, Black-necked Stilt

White-faced Ibis

White-faced Ibis

White-faced Ibis, Yellow-headed Blackbird

White-faced Ibis

Sunday Showcase: Birds of South Glenmore Park

Jun30

Last Sunday Tim Hopwood birded South Glenmore Park with the Friends of Fish Creek birding course. He got amazing photos of some of the birds and insects there. (To read about another field trip in South Glenmore park on the same day, see this post.)

American Robin on nest.

Blue-winged Teal with young.

Female Brown-headed Cowbird.

Male Brown-headed Cowbird.

Butterfly – can someone identify the species in the comments section?

Clay-colored Sparrow.

Male Downy Woodpecker at nest hole.

Dragonfly species.

Eastern Phoebe.

House Wren.

Least Flycatcher.

Red-eyed Vireo.

Swallowtail Butterfly species.

Another interesting bird that was seen that day was a hybrid Rose-breasted/Black-headed Grosbeak that has nested in the area for the last two years. Tim didn’t get a shot of it, but Trevor Churchill did.

Hybrid Rose-breasted/Black-headed Grosbeak. This bird sounds just like a Rose-breasted, but clearly has features of both species. Photo by Trevor Churchill.

To see more of Tim Hopwood’s photos, go to his web page here.

Flood Birding in South Glenmore Park

Jun29

Posted by Bob Lefebvre

It was an interesting week in Calgary, to say the least. Massive flooding has caused enormous damage along the Bow and Elbow rivers, and forced tens of thousands of people from their homes. Dan Arndt, who leads the Friends of Fish Creek birding course group with me on Sunday mornings, and who normally blogs about our walks here, was one of those evacuated. He left the city to spend a few days camping in SE Alberta. Thankfully, his home was not damaged and he was able to return late Sunday.

I wasn’t sure we would be able to proceed with our walk last Sunday, but since South Glenmore Park was not directly affected by the flooding, we did go ahead. (Griffiths Woods Park, where the group birded he previous week, is completely submerged.) We decided to stay on the relatively dry ground of the paved path that runs well above the Glenmore reservoir.

This was the most water we had to deal with.

We found a pair of Black-capped Chickadees by their nest hole, and this one had found a meal for the young.

The chickadee went in the nest hole, and after a minute emerged carrying a fecal sac. The parents will remove these to keep the nest clean while the young are in it.

We saw and heard quite a few Least Flycatchers on the day. This one was sitting quietly.

Some birds were just getting started on their breeding activities. This pair of Cedar Waxwings were engaged in their mating ritual, in which the female would beg and flutter her wings, then the male would appear to feed her. Cedar Waxwings often pass food back and forth as part of their breeding behavior.

Another very common bird, singing loudly throughout the park, was the House Wren. They seem to have quite small territories, as you could sometimes hear three birds singing at once.

We heard about ten Red-eyed Vireos singing. They can be very hard to find in the leaves at the top of the Aspens. We did manage to track one down so our group could get a look, but this is the best photo I could get.

We arrived at the lookout above the Weaselhead and saw that the the two ponds were almost joined, with only the raised paved path separating them.

This lookout is a clearing in the woods with two benches. Birders have set up feeders there, and although they were well-stocked, no birds came while we were there. This can be a great spot at times (maybe earlier in the day). See my post The Lookout from June 2011. The only birds we saw were Brown-headed Cowbirds.

From the lookout we could hear a distant Brown Thrasher, and an Eastern Phoebe down by the pond. We were relieved when we arrived at the pond to see that the high-water mark was below the deck of the wooden bridge where the phoebes nest, so their nest should be OK.

Eastern Phoebe.

On the walk back we heard a Rose-breasted Grosbeak singing, and it turned out to be the hybrid Rose-breasted/Black-headed Grosbeak which has been in this area for the last two summers. Although I didn’t get a good photo, we did manage to see it. Since this was the last outing for the Spring birding course, it was a good bird to finish with.

One of our participants, Tim Hopwood, who is an excellent photographer, was out that day with the 9 am group. He managed to get some great shots of some of the birds we saw plus others as well. I will post his photos here tomorrow.

Recovering from a 100-year Flood – How you can help: Calgary Wildlife Rehabilitation Society

Jun26

For those of you who read our blog from elsewhere in North America, or elsewhere in the world, Southern Alberta has experienced floods that have reached levels almost unheard of in many of our lifetimes. The towns of High River, Bragg Creek, and Canmore have been completely devastated by flood waters, while Calgary’s downtown core and low lying areas are just now in the process of allowing the last residents home to begin the cleanup efforts.

Undoubtedly the impact on wildlife has been extreme, and while we focus our efforts primarily on our friends, family, and our neighbors, we shouldn’t forget that the animals still need our help, now more than ever. While I’m not a skilled laborer, and volunteers are coming out of the woodwork all over Calgary to help out people, I thought I’d contact the Calgary Wildlife Rehabilitation Society to see if they needed a hand.

The reply I received is as follows:

“Thank-you so very much for your email! At this time our greatest need is fixing our waterfowl enclosure as the heavy rains have literally lifted our diving pool right out of the ground, which has significantly reduced the space to house orphaned and injured animals!

So we are looking for donations of supplies, gift cards and skilled labour to help get it all fixed up! If you think this is something you can help with, we would be MOST grateful. We are a very small non-profit organization with very little overhead and we receive no direct government funding, so the best way to make a direct impact on the kind of care we can give our animals is monetary donations. Any money donated goes directly to helping the animals that we take in. Donations can be made at our website www.calgarywildlife.org or by phoning me 403-266-2282.

Thank-you so very much!

Andrea

CWRS Business Administrator

403-266-2282

www.calgarywildlife.org”

I expect that in the coming weeks there will be calls for volunteers to help clean up our local parks, other wildlife rehabilitation centers, and the other natural areas that we love to explore so much. Consider this the first in a series of ways that those of us who love all the beauty that nature can provide.

Travel Tuesday – Kinbrook Island Provincial Park

Jun25

In all the commotion of the flood, the heartache, and the hard times many of us, our loved ones, and our friends are going through, sometimes you just need to get away for a little while. On Thursday night, my neighborhood was evacuated, and having expected the news earlier in the day, I packed up the jeep and convinced the better half that it would be a good idea to go camping for the weekend, until we could safely return home, so we packed up the only valuables in our basement (our camping supplies) and headed out.

Our destination was unknown initially, and we just wanted to get away from the swelling rivers and get a good night’s rest, but we found ourselves in Brooks, and headed down to the campground at Kinbrook Island Provincial Park.

Situated on Lake Newell, the campground is home to a number of grassland species that you’d be hard pressed to find here in Calgary, and many others that are here, but maybe a bit harder to track down. Located about an hour and a half south-east of Calgary on the Trans-Canada Highway, it is close enough that you can safely complete a full day trip there and back with plenty of birding time within the park grounds, but the camping is phenomenal, especially in early summer with all of the summer species singing their hearts out.

Tree Swallow hunting over the lake

Western Kingbird looking quite regal

Baltimore Oriole catching some grub

Mourning Dove skulking about

Brown Thrasher, lead vocals of the Dawn Chorus

Ring-billed Gull portrait

Red-winged Blackbird

female Canvasback and young

Baltimore Oriole

I’m very unused to seeing Brewer’s Blackbirds in trees. Around Calgary they’re most commonly seen on gravel roads near sloughs!

Vesper Sparrow

This male Northern Harrier was one of two Harriers I saw over the weekend. It was also the only species of raptor I saw on the campground over all three days.

The irate chatter of the Marsh Wren was by far the most vocal bird I heard on the entire Nature Walk loop on Sunday morning.

This Eastern Kingbird decided to come investigate what I was doing sitting down by the lake shore.

Now that I’m safely back in my unflooded home, my thoughts are turning more to the cleanup of our city, our parks, and hopes that all our readers made it through the worst of it unscathed.

Good birding, and stay safe.

Sunday Showcase: Birds of Bragg Creek

Jun23

Kim Selbee sent us these photos of birds taken in the Bragg Creek area. Although Bragg Creek is only about 25 km SW of Calgary (as the crow flies), some of the species coming to their feeders are rarely seen in the city.

Male Lazuli Bunting.

Male American Goldfinch.

Male Common Grackle.

Female Evening Grosbeak.

Male Evening Grosbeak.

Male Red-breasted Grosbeak.

Female Rose-breasted Grosbeak.

Male Purple Finch.

Male Red Crossbill.

Male Northern Flicker.

Male Red-breasted Grosbeak.

Kitesurfer At Weed Lake

Jun19

We received the following email from a reader, and wanted to pass it along.

“On Sunday June 16th I stopped at Weed Lake around 2 PM to see which birds might be around, only to find that there were almost no birds there. That was because someone was kitesurfing on the lake. I called the Report a Poacher line to report it, and then went in to tell the doofus that Weed Lake is a wetlands conservation project (just in case he couldn’t read that really large sign that says “wetlands conservation project”) and that these activities are not allowed in a wetlands area. I also told him I’d reported him and given the Fisheries Department his license plate number. He didn’t seem too concerned.

I have no idea if reporting it will make any difference but I hope so. Those of us who love and want to protect the species who use the wetlands may need to step up to the plate and police the area as best we can. Please stress to your readers how important it is to report every violation and every threat to the wilderness and wetlands areas we love.”

Heather Cuthill

May Species Count Highlights – Lafarge Meadows

Jun17

The May Species Count weekend is always both exciting and exhausting. Early morning wake ups, lots of ground to cover, and lots of birds to find mean there’s little time for anything else. While most participants in Calgary only have one or two areas to cover, between Bob Lefebvre and I, we cover four areas over two days, including the Weaselhead and North Glenmore Park on Sunday morning with the Friends of Fish Creek group, and the last two years we’ve gone on to cover Inglewood Bird Sanctuary and Pearce Estate Park in the afternoon. That wouldn’t be too bad, but the area I cover on Saturday is all walking, and includes the north end of Hull’s Wood all the way south to the south end of Lafarge Meadows. To give you an idea, I covered 18.2 km in 9 hours of walking, and netted 68 species of birds, down a few species from last year, but a few surprises (and even a new life-bird) more than made up for it.

One thing you get to see when you’re out at first light is behaviour that you rarely ever see. For instance, Tree Swallows do forage on the ground as well!

Tree Swallow

Shortly after this sighting was my lifer for the weekend, this Blackpoll Warbler was one of a flock of four birds foraging near the riverbank. Given that the water level had risen quite a bit in the past few days, I suspect there were a lot of insects climbing the trees to get up above the water level.

Blackpoll Warbler

For the second year in a row, I’ve come across a fairly uncommon bird within the city limits, and while I only heard it last year, this year I was actually able to observe this Willow Flycatcher building a nest in the same grove I heard it last year. It was nice to get clear looks at it this time around!

Willow Flycatcher

Of course the Song Sparrows were plentiful, and apparently fearless in their search for a mate and announcing their territory. I walked within three feet of this little singer as I left the path near his perch.

Song Sparrow

No trip to the Sikome Lake area would be complete without a visit to the resident Great Horned Owls…

adult male Great Horned Owl

immature Great Horned Owl testing out the flight apparatus

Forster’s Terns were a regular sight over the ponds near Highway 22X this year, while last year they were nowhere to be found.

Forster’s Tern

This Spotted Sandpiper took exception to another male sitting on his log, and charged him in their traditional territorial display.

Spotted Sandpiper

When you’re out on a long walk like this, eventually you take some of the side trails and start pishing. This Lincoln’s Sparrow reacted quite strongly to my intrusion, and shooed me off.

Lincoln’s Sparrow

A couple of the most touching sightings though were the babies. This female Common Goldeneye with her five young in tow was the first group of young that I’d seen in the park this year.

female Common Goldeneye with young

But the most powerful experience I’ve had so far this year was nearly stumbling over this Killdeer nest, with one baby already hatched…

Killdeer hatchling

… and another hatching while I stood there in awe.

You can see the second hatchling pushing its little wings out of the egg.

The last new bird I was able to add to my list for the day was pair of Least Sandpipers, which are fairly uncommon at this pond at the south end of Lafarge Meadows, but with a lack of mudflats outside the city, they were likely just passing through on their way to better feeding grounds further north.

Least Sandpipers

As the day wore on and the morning turned to afternoon, my feet grew tired and I was about ready to pack it in, but not before finding this female Belted Kingfisher hunting over one of the backwater creeks on the west end of Hull’s Wood. It was a great end to a great day!

female Belted Kingfisher

Birds Calgary

A birding blog for Calgary, Alberta and area

Archives

Furry Friday – Coyote family at Kinbrook Island Provincial Park

Reflections on an Alberta Big Day – Lessons learned and lifers heard

Travel Tuesday: Frank Lake

Sunday Showcase: Birds of South Glenmore Park

Flood Birding in South Glenmore Park

Recovering from a 100-year Flood – How you can help: Calgary Wildlife Rehabilitation Society

Travel Tuesday – Kinbrook Island Provincial Park

Sunday Showcase: Birds of Bragg Creek

Kitesurfer At Weed Lake

May Species Count Highlights – Lafarge Meadows

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