Duane Starr has had some excellent snowy owl luck lately, and sent us a couple of links to his photo galleries.
The first set has some wonderful in-flight and action shots. Click here to view, then click on Slideshow on the right hand side.
His second set of snowy pictures shows the complete sequence of an owl coughing up a pellet, which looks like an extreme amount of hard work! View here.
Posted by Dan Arndt
This week, the Friends of Fish Creek Birding course ventured out to Griffith Woods Park, on the southwest corner of the city. This was a new location for me, as my birding prior to September was limited to a handful of well traveled patches near the center of the city. After spending a few hours here last Sunday, I know that I’d be terribly remiss to not get out there again in the spring and summer.
It was, unfortunately, a relatively grey day, which lately has also meant fairly quiet in terms of both species and populations of birds, but we still got a couple new ones for our little group. As usual, I’ve posted the route we took on our little walk below, with the highlights noted in the captions.
Griffith Woods
Of course, the regulars were in attendance for the walk. The Canada Geese, which I’ve almost started to take for granted, were paddling up and down the Elbow River.
Canada Geese
Common Redpolls were seen at the far east end of our walk, right at the beginning, along with an incredibly distant Blue Jay, which also alerted us to the presence of a Belted Kingfisher, which flew just a little too fast for me to get my camera up before it was gone.
Common Redpolls
About mid-way through our walk, Bob Lefebvre pointed out this beautiful little nest of one of the hummingbird species found in the Calgary area. Thankfully, nobody was home. (Special thanks to hand model Wayne Walker for presenting his world-famous hands for scale.)
Hummingbird Nest
On the far west end, while moving through a stand of very large white spruce, I was alerted to the sound of the Golden-crowned Kinglet. Not one, not two, but a flock of six(!) of them flitted amongst the trees while I wheeled and turned to get my lens on just one of them. Sadly, this was the best I got…
Golden-crowned Kinglet
On our trip back, following the power lines that, for some reason were slated to cut directly through the center of the park, we heard the call of this male Pileated Woodpecker, who treated us to a wonderful series of aerial displays and a drumming serenade.
Pileated Woodpecker
Pileated Woodpecker
Pileated Woodpecker
And that seemed like the end of the day for us… I was a little disappointed in the number of usable shots I was able to get on the walk, and the light was opening up just a touch, so I convinced Bob to walk back to try for another shot or two of the Belted Kingfisher. Sadly, though we heard it call at least twice, the only thing we were able to find were a whole bunch of rocks.
Nothing here but us rocks
Wait… what’s that in the middle of the frame? When the Belted Kingfisher called for the last time before we left, we happened to spot two smaller birds with white on the underside of its primary flight feathers, which we thought might just have sounded like Killdeer.
Turns out, much to our surprise, we were right. Not one, but two Killdeer on the Elbow River at Griffith Woods. Hardy survivors of a relatively mild winter here in Calgary.
Killdeer
Killdeer
Definitely the highlight of the day was seeing this pair. It is unfortunate that the attendees of our walk didn’t get a chance to see them, but there will definitely be more of these little shorebirds around very soon!
Have a great weekend, and we’ll see you soon!
Posted by Matthew Sim
As spring approaches once again, I like to reminisce about the previous year and all of its most exciting moments.
For the past several years, flickers have nested in my neighbor’s tree. I had never really observed this nest closely before; however, last year, I did just that. Flickers usually excavate nest holes in dead or dying tree trunks or large branches. These nest holes are most often found at 6-15 feet off the ground and will often be reused. By late May/ early June in Calgary most flickers have laid their 5-8 white eggs. I started to notice that the flickers were more active around the nest in early June and it is my belief that on around the 3rd or 4th of June, “my” pair laid their eggs.
Incubation of the eggs ranges from 14-16 days and I had been closely following all the bird’s actions in attempt to discover when the eggs would hatch. On June 24, I heard the first sounds coming from the hole. The flickers had been born! I think that we can assume that there is a possibility that the young flickers were born a day or two earlier and I had not heard them until then.
If you compare this shot with the photo above, you can see that the leaves around the hole grew a lot as the summer progessed, adding even more security and privacy to the flicker residence.
The first visible evidence of the young flickers was the clean-up crew. As all parents can attest to, there is a lot of cleaning up involved with kids. The adult flickers, both male (pictured in photo above) and female, had to work constantly to ensure that their young were well-fed, safe from predators and, perhaps most importantly, in a clean home.
July 1st came around and I had still not seen the young flickers, though I had definitely heard them. Each and every day they were getting louder and louder and soon I could hear them from across the alley, in my yard, maybe 35 feet away. The young flickers cry is often described as a hissing noise and is uttered for two weeks, day and night, growing stronger as the birds grow older. I was not worried about not having seen the flickers yet as their eyes do not open until they are ten days old, so wouldn’t be seeing them until then. July 3, I was up in Banff, where I happened upon a flicker nest with two young already poking their heads out of their hole. At that point, I couldn’t help but wonder how my flickers were doing.
July 5th, marked a special day for my monitoring project. That day, I got my first glimpse of the young flickers. I took my first photos of the young flickers on July 9th, and they were looking healthy and fit; all 3 of them!
But that’s where it went all wrong. The nest holes of flickers (and often of many other species of birds) are the scenes of very fierce battles. Three young birds with very sharp bills, duking it out for supremacy and the right to remain looking out of the nest hole, therefore receiving the most food. The stronger birds almost invariably end up on top, and maintain their authority by jabbing the others with vicious pecks of their beak. The opening is only big enough for two heads and the third one gets pushed to the bottom. There, the young flicker receives very little food and consequently, it perishes. July 9th, I took the photo above, showing 3 young flickers. By the next day, July 10th, I was only seeing 2 young flickers.
Disappointed though I was, I realized that sometimes, this is the way nature must work. I continued to watch the flickers for several days, amazed at the rate at which they grew. After about 4 weeks, the flickers would fledge and would begin to leave the nest; my flickers started appearing out of the nest around July 16th. The two young birds started hopping about and practicing flying, getting ready for the day when they would leave the nest altogether.
Than one day, I did not see the flickers. Nor did I see them the next day. Or the day after that. It would seem that the two young flickers that I had watched for a nearly a month had successfully fledged. I don’t think I ever saw these two again, though I was seeing flickers in the neighborhood, which might just have been one of the young. From time to time, I did hear the distant call of several Northern Flickers and I couldn’t help but wonder if it was the fledgelings, calling away.
Posted by Dan Arndt
This week the Friends of Fish Creek course was touring through Bebo Grove, over to Shannon Terrace, then back again. It’s approximately a 5 km route, return, and throughout the week, some great new birds were seen, such as the American Three-toed Woodpecker, Boreal Chickadees, and a fairly good number of White-winged Crossbills.
Bebo Grove to Shannon Terrace Route
I was most excited for the American Three-toed Woodpecker, since that would be a new bird for me for the year, and probably a more satisfying sighting than my original sighting of it, which ended up being back at my computer scanning through my photos and later realizing that yes, that little black and yellow lump on the trunk of the tree was, in fact, the American Three-toed Woodpecker I’d been looking for.
Here’s that photo, for reference, taken back in August 2010 at Brown-Lowery Provincial Park.
American Three-toed Woodpecker
Unfortunately, both Saturday and Sunday groups missed out on good sightings of the woodpecker, but at least on Sunday we got to hear it calling amongst the trees, and a brief flyover allowed at least one confident ID, but certainly no photo opportunities. Flyovers of uncommon birds seemed the rule of the day, as we also had a Grey Jay towards Shannon Terrace, which, to my understanding, hadn’t been seen in the park for a number of years.
The good side is that we did get great views of Hairy and Downy Woodpeckers, Red-breasted Nuthatches, the amazingly adorable Boreal Chickadee, and a few Townsend’s Solitaires.
Boreal Chickadee
Townsend's Solitaire
I was particularly happy with this shot of the Common Raven, which are always hard to shoot against a light sky, which tends to wash out their features. Thankfully, this bird decided to perch in the foliage, allowing much better views of its somewhat iridescent plumage.
Common Raven
Add to that the many great angles we were given of the White-winged Crossbills, such as this one, detailing the presence of the crossed-bill for which it gets its name.
White-winged Crossbill
The gender of the Red-breasted Nuthatch can be identified by the color of the crown. The male, seen below, has a jet black crown.
Red-breasted Nuthatch - male
The female, on the other hand, has a grey crown. Even without the two of them together, just a quick comparison of the color of the eye line and the crown can show that telltale difference.
Red-breasted Nuthatch - female
Both the male Downy and Hairy Woodpecker can also be identified by the bright red patch on the back of their heads, while the female lacks the red patch.
Hairy Woodpecker - male
Downy Woodpecker - male
Downy Woodpecker - male
I was quite impressed at this little Townsend’s Solitaire on Saturday. While preening, it stretched out its wings again and again, showing off the thick yellow bar in the primary flight feathers of the wing. Unless it’s displaying like this, that yellow bar is almost invisible, and in some individuals, nearly absent.
Townsend's Solitaire
Townsend's Solitaire
Thanks for reading, and have a great week! Hope you enjoyed the photos!
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.
January 28
–COMMON GRACKLE, seen off and on in SW Calgary, by Richard Clarke.
February 10
–RED CROSSBILL(F) , Silver Springs area of Calgary, by Gary Malcolm
–AMERICAN KESTREL(M), Grain elevators just S.of 22x, and W. of #797, by Hank Vanderpol.
–LESSER SCAUP, Bow River, just. N. of 22x bridge, by HV.
–HARLEQUIN DUCK, Bow River, IBS, south lookout at N. end, by Howard Heffler.
February 11
–WHITE-THROATED SPARROW, end of Earl Gray Cresc. by Phil Cram.
–REDHEAD(F), Prince’s Island channel, by Bill Wilson.
February 12
–DARK-EYED JUNCO, Queens park Cemetery, by BW.
–TOWNSEND’S SOLITAIRE(3). Two in Beaverdam Flats, and one in FCPP, east of Raven’s Rock, by Michael Geldorp.
–GADWALL(M), Bow River, near old outfall in FCCP, Burnsmead, by Terry Korolyk.
–RED CROSSBILL(2), High River, at a feeder, by Jill Bhar.
–MALLARD, leucistic female, Bow River, Beaverdam Flats near old RR bridge. by B.Diebolt and J. Gill.
The next scheduled update of the Bird Alert is on Thursday , Feb.16.
posted by Dan Arndt
Sometimes it doesn’t seem like there are enough hours in a weekend to get a proper update in! It certainly doesn’t help when it seems like such a quiet day with very little bird activity.
Sunday morning walking through Beaver Dam Flats seemed eerily quiet. Despite the sheer numbers of Canada Geese, Mallards, and Common Goldeneye on the Bow River, once we steered away from the eastern bank and into the primarily barren deciduous wooded area, the bird activity seemed to completely quiet down. We were treated to a good number of low flyovers by both juvenile, immature, and adult Bald Eagles, and a great sight of a Common Merganser gulping down an extremely large fish, the highlight of the morning were the Townsend’s Solitaires along the eastern slope of the valley. We counted three separate individuals, one in particular allowed us an extremely close view.
Enjoy the pictures, and I’ll be back to my regular wordy posts next Monday!
Canada Geese and Mallards on the Bow River
Canada Geese
Canada Geese in messy formation
Catch of the day!
Down the hatch
And it's gone...
Juvenile Bald Eagle
Immature Bald Eagle
Townsend's Solitaire
Townsend's Solitaire
Townsend's Solitaire
Posted by Matthew Sim
This past weekend, I took a trip out to Galveston, Texas, about an hour south of Houston on the gulf of Mexico. Galveston has many world-reknowned birding spots in and around it and is a great spot to observe birds year-round. This weekend was rainy and cool, but that didn’t stop the birds! On a short ferry ride to Bolivar peninsula, home of the famous Bolivar Flats shorebird sanctuary, we saw many birds, including both species of pelicans and Common Loons and Red-breasted Mergansers, the latter two which winter down here.
Brown Pelican
Upon arriving on Bolivar, we stopped at a small pond and got great looks at many birds, including an American Avocet in winter plumage (a little different than what I am used to seeing up at Frank Lake in Alberta in the summer!) and a Texas specialty; the very bright Roseate Spoonbill.
Roseate Spoonbill
From a distance, the spoonbill is gorgeous, and even from close up its amazing plumage is simply stunning, yet I found that its head was somewhat unnerving. Its face looks almost extraterrestrial, I find!
From the pond, we went to the Bolivar Flats shorebird Sanctuary where we saw some Black-bellied Plovers, Ruddy Turnstones and… All I could say to myself was, “What the heck are those little shorebirds?” Why did I ask myself this? Because these little guys ran and ran and ran. They did not quit running! I soon got closer and identified them as Sanderlings, which I had seen before, yet never acting quite as comical. Never had I seen a bird run so much!
Running Sanderling
Ruddy Turnstone
We birded Bolivar for a while longer before returning to the ferry and heading back to Galveston. On the ferry back, we were treated to views of 4 species of Gulls (Herring, Laughing, Ring-billed and Bonaparte’s) and 3 species of tern (Forster’s, Common and Royal).
Bonaparte's Gull
Royal Tern
Birds weren’t the only wildlife seen from the ferry however, as a pod of Bottlenose Dolphins made an appearance towards the end.
It was an exciting trip with close to 70 species seen; this excursion really got me excited for spring migration here, which is absolutely fantastic, from what I’ve heard!
Clear skies and warm sun help make any day out in Fish Creek Provincial Park more fun for everyone, and birders are no exception. 3 hours of trekking through Votiers Flats added four new birds to my year list, bringing year total to 43 after a successful previous day that added a Prairie Falcon, Gyrfalcon, and Northern Hawk Owl to the list. I was hesitant to begin “listing” but I can definitely see the appeal to it now, as it not only helps track the birds you’ve seen, but the when, the where, and the numbers seen, which can then be added to a more usable database, such as eBird, for instance, where I’ve been tracking the numbers each week so far for the course.
Votier's Flats
We started off at 9 am, as usual, and walked towards the McLeod Trail underpass, searching for an American Dipper that had been seen earlier in the week, and fairly regularly since December. On our way over Bridge 8, we stopped to pay attention to some Black-capped Chickadees and White-breasted Nuthatches who dropped in to pick at some seeds that had been left on the railings.
Black-capped Chickadee
White-breasted Nuthatch and Black-capped Chickadee
Around the corner and… no sign of the dipper. While there’s a bit of open water, there’s no sign of the elusive swimming songbird. On a lighter note, we did manage to get some great light to show off the always stunning iridescence of one of the most maligned city birds, the Rock Pigeon.
Rock Pigeon
We decided to follow the river bank on the south side, as there appeared to be more open water up closer to the storm water drainage, and after spotting some Mallards splashing about, the mysterious and wonderful American Dipper made its appearance. While it was a bit far off, we viewed it from afar and snapped away, thinking this shy creature would keep its distance.
American Dipper - Keeping its distance
American Dipper making a splash
After it disappeared around a bend, we stopped above the outflow of the drainage pipe to peer across the river at a Northern Flicker, and I just so happened to look down at the right moment, as the light caught it just right… the American Dipper! There it sat, not 40 feet away, and about 10 feet below us, casually sunning itself and searching for insects in the open water. In fact, it behaved as if nothing at all was unusual about fifteen people staring at it for what seemed like an eternity, that it was us that decided it was time to carry on.
American Dipper
The white nictitating membrane over its eyes allow the American Dipper to see under water while protecting its eyes. It also has a pair of scales that close off its nostrils while under water.
American Dipper
Around the curve of the pathway, another sharp-eyed attendee spotted an unknown falcon sitting high up on the slope, and we heard the tell-tale harassing calls of a trio of Blue Jays from an adjacent tree. After considering the field marks and weighing the size, body proportions, and discussing the differences between the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, we ultimately decided that this was in fact a Merlin. Merlins, Coopers Hawks, and Sharp-shinned Hawks all share similar markings, size, and from a distance can be troublesome to identify. Juveniles of all three species are typically separated out on only a few field marks, most of which only apparent from close observation, but adults, such as this one, are much easier to properly ID. Note the faint moustache, brown streaky chest and belly, dark eye with pale eyebrow, and mostly pale and indistinct facial markings. The brown crown feathers indicate that this is either a female or juvenile Merlin, as the male has a light blue-gray crown. Also note that my photo of the Merlin from 400 meters away was so indistinct that I was forced to return later to attempt some better shots of this little beauty. Thankfully, she cooperated.
Merlin
As we were heading out, Bob Lefebvre managed to spot a Golden-crowned Kinglet alighting atop one of the trees near the Merlin, and with that, we headed back into the park. Near Bridge 8 we spotted two of our only Downy Woodpeckers of the day.
Downy Woodpecker
Back into the brush we headed west, and after a quiet bit of walking, we found a pair of Red-breasted Nuthatches feeding from a small hole in this spruce, that had been repurposed as a feeding station.
Red-breasted Nuthatch
We continued through the forested area, hearing a call not unlike that of a European Starling, but more steady and higher pitched. It’s a song I haven’t heard in months, and while I couldn’t place it, once again Bob’s expert ear identified it as a Pine Siskin, a good number of which we saw flitting amongst the treetops.
Pine Siskin
Onward to the last leg of our journey – a copse of spruce that was home to a group of Boreal Chickadees, as well as a Brown Creeper seen earlier in the week. The Boreal Chickadees made themselves known fairly quickly, and while we heard the Brown Creeper a number of times, we could not spot it after spending a good twenty minutes searching for it.
Boreal Chickadee
All in all, it was a great day! If I can keep up at this rate, I’ll hit my goal of 200 species by May… and then what will I do?
Posted by Bob Lefebvre
By now most birders in Calgary have heard about the Northern Saw-whet Owl that was found in Carburn Park last Thursday. Phil Smith was there when it was found, and he captured an amazing sequence of pictures that show the owl coughing up a pellet.
Owls and many other birds regularly regurgitate pellets, which consist of the indigestible parts of the food they eat. Saw-whet owls eat a lot of Deer Mice, and their pellets contain mostly bones and fur.
Although these owls are thought to produce one pellet per day, it is a rare sight to see, and even rarer to photograph. The pictures have been assembled into a short video.
.
Below is the complete sequence of photos showing the owl coughing up the pellet. (Photos by Phil Smith, used by permission.)
To see more of Phil Smith’s photos, see his Flickr Page.
Anne Elliott also captured a photo of the pellet being produced:
To see more of Anne Elliott’s photos, see her Flickr Page.
Posted by Dan Arndt
This week the Friends of Fish Creek Winter Birding course was at Carburn Park. After some initial reports of large flocks of Mallards, Canada Geese, along with Common and Barrow’s Goldeneye and Buffleheads, it seemed a great locale with the warmer winter weather. The Thursday group discovered a Northern Saw-whet Owl that has been found in its current location two other times in the last 12 years. Once in 2000, and again in 2005, which makes this bird, if it is the same individual, at least 13 years old. The route through the park was fairly circuitous, though we managed to identify twenty-three species in the three and a half hour tour of the park.
Carburn Park
We started at the parking lot and headed north along the river, spotting a couple of Red-breasted Nuthatches, Downy Woodpeckers, and a small flock of House Sparrows as we headed to the north end of the park. At the river we were greeted by a large flock of Mallards and Canada Geese, and a few even flew directly overhead.
Canada Goose
Along the opposite bank were a flock of ten to fifteen Common Ravens, squawking and cawing at each other between the trees. From the river, we headed south along the path, stopping briefly to feed some Black-capped Chickadees and White-breasted Nuthatches, while a pair of Downy Woodpeckers moved up and down the nearby birch trees searching for a meal.
Before I knew it, we were at the location of the local celebrity that had drawn its own crowd. Along with the group of fifteen birders with the FCPP birding course were no less than ten other local bird photographers, which led to some concern about the stress that type of crowd would put upon the small Northern Saw-whet Owl.
Northern Saw-whet Owl
Northern Saw-whet Owl
Northern Saw-whet Owl
After our brief visit with this beautiful little animal, we headed along the riverbank and stumbled across both a trio of White-tailed Deer, and a very unfortunate Coyote suffering from the worst case of mange I have ever seen.
White-tailed Deer
Coyote
Just beyond the coyote’s path, we stumbled across a fairly large flock of American Crows. We suspected they may be early migrants, as this flock numbered into the seventies, and they were harassing a trio of juvenile Bald Eagles on the far side of the river.
Juvenile Bald Eagle
As we continued down towards the southern end of Carburn Park, towards the bridge leading across to Southland Park, we scanned the flocks of Common Goldeneye for a few elusive Barrow’s Goldeneye. Our hard work paid off when one member of our group spotted a male and female pair very close to the near shore.
Common Goldeneye
Barrow's Goldeneye
Barrow's Goldeneye
After a slight loop south to look for a reported Song Sparrow and Ring-necked Pheasants, which we did not find, we headed back north to the vehicles. A few Common Redpolls were in the birch trees nearby, and many House Sparrows along the feeders behind the row of houses, but no Song Sparrow or Pheasants were to be found. After a brief stint at the bridge, we did manage to find one parting mystery, this Harlan’s Hawk, which we initially had passed over as one of the juvenile Bald Eagles!
Common Redpoll
Harlan's Hawk
Looks like next week is a trip down to Votier’s Flats in Fish Creek Provincial Park. Thanks for reading, and good birding!