Birds Calgary 2010 Competition Pages In New Location

Jan24

This blog was started in 2009 as a forum for keeping competitors informed about the Birds Calgary 2010 competition. After the competition ended we kept the blog going, and it has evolved into a general birding resource for Calgary and area birders. The information from the competition was still here, under the “2010 Bird Comp” page at the top of the blog. Now, as we approach the allowable size limits for this blog, and with lots of ideas for important new pages, we have decided to create a new blog to house all the information from the competition.

The new blog can be found at “2010 Birding Competition” and there is also a link to it under the “Blogroll” heading on our home page. It won’t be an active blog with new posts but all the competition pages are there. The 2010 pages on this blog will be removed in a few days.

Not only does this free up a lot of space here, but the competition pages display better and are easier to navigate in their new home. Check out all the stats and the great photos, and if you were a participant, relive the competition! Only eight more years and we can do it again.

Boreal Birds of the Weaselhead

Jan23

Another weekend, another excursion (or three) with the Friends of Fish Creek Birding Course. Once again I joined Gus Yaki on his Saturday walk, and returned a little later that day when the clouds cleared and the light allowed for some better photos. The Sunday morning course was business as usual, but staying behind briefly to catch up with Bernie Diebolt, who would be leading the afternoon group along with Janet Gill, allowed me to tally another bird on my 2012 list, and one that I hadn’t seen in nearly two years. Stay tuned until the end for those photos!

Saturday morning stayed fairly cool, at around -15 degrees Celsius, but was considerably nicer than the week leading up to it. Sunday was much warmer, around -5C to -2C towards the end of the walk, but we walked a slightly different route in hopes of seeing a few different birds.

Saturday Route

Sunday Route

Saturday began with the sighting of a number of Pine Grosbeaks at the parking lot, and then many more we trekked down the hill into the Elbow River Valley.

Pine Grosbeak

Pine Grosbeaks

Midway down the hill, as the path curves, a number of feeders have been set up and are regularly filled by a few local birdwatchers. This week though, these feeders have been empty each day, due to the cold. Whether that is due to the birds emptying them each day, or that they’re not being refilled currently, we’ve been filling them with some black oil sunflower seeds, much to the delight of the resident Black-capped Chickadees, Common Redpolls, and both Hairy and Downy Woodpeckers.

Black-capped Chickadee

Down at the bottom of the hill are a number of other feeders, and one of the only Hairy Woodpeckers we saw this weekend was down there, tapping away at the birch and poplar trees, looking for a tasty snack, though I’m sure while we weren’t looking, he may have eaten a sunflower seed or two as well.

Hairy Woodpecker

Across the bridge and through the woods, we were led to a small clearing behind a line of spruce trees where the Boreal Chickadees have been seen all week. At least three came down Saturday morning, and paused to allow for a few photos, though I was determined to come back later in the day once the location was confirmed.

Boreal Chickadee

I thought that nothing could top that, as we sat there for close to half an hour as the Boreal and Black-capped Chickadees ate out of our hands. Through the woods and towards the river we trekked, and I will admit a very bad identification moment, when I spotted this Red-breasted Nuthatch at the peak of a spruce tree, swearing it was something new and that we hadn’t seen all day. I don’t recall seeing these little guys sitting at the top of trees very often, if at all before. Needless to say, almost every birder I know has misidentified a bird from time to time, even the best of us. If we didn’t, there’d be no point in having Field Guides and databases of photos to refer to from time to time.

Red-breasted Nuthatch

At the fork in the path, we headed back towards the vehicles, preparing to end our trip for the day, though we were pleasantly surprised to see this Rough-legged Hawk being harassed by Black-billed Magpies on the north wall of the valley, across the river from our vantage point.

Rough-legged Hawk

After that, it was back to the main path, and up to the vehicles, though I was not quite done for the day. After stopping to have some lunch, I headed back to the Weaselhead as the clouds had burned off and the light was much better. In retracing my steps, I happened to get some photos of some more Boreal Chickadees, a very large flock of Bohemian Waxwings, and a Bald Eagle flying about 100 feet overhead.

Boreal Chickadee

Bohemian Waxwing

Bald Eagle

Sunday morning was similar early on, with the Pine Grosbeaks meeting us at the parking lot.

Pine Grosbeak

The feeding station midway down the hill was occupied as we approached by a number of Common Redpolls, which flushed after a few minutes of observation, but not before everyone had seen them. They really are quite pleasant birds that way!

Common Redpoll

Over the river we spotted a Rough-legged Hawk being chased down by a number of Common Redpolls before it stopped to rest at the top of this spruce tree.

Rough-legged Hawk

After stopping at the Boreal Chickadee location again and only coming up with a very small number of Black-capped Chickadees, we opted to head down the main pathway a little further and loop back again, in hopes that they would arrive later in the day. Though there weren’t too many other species around, we did have a few Black-capped Chickadees on the path, and a Rough-legged Hawk at the far west end on the southern valley slope. As we headed back north, I spotted another Red-breasted Nuthatch once again sitting atop a spruce tree. Two in less than 24 hours doing this same behaviour? Maybe it’s not as uncommon as I previously thought!

Red-breasted Nuthatch

Before we reached the Boreal Chickadee clearing, a flock of 50+ Bohemian Waxwings flew into this spruce tree nearly about a hundred meters away.

Bohemian Waxwings

After a brief few minutes of searching the clearing, we were preparing to leave, but as I turned to head home in defeat, a lone Boreal Chickadee flew towards the group. I was very pleased to get to see this beautiful little bird again today.

Boreal Chickadee

Calling it a day, we headed back towards the vehicles, and while I chatted with Gus a bit before heading home, I wanted to give Bernie a call to let him know what we saw, and where we saw it. As we talked, I noticed a shape in one of the trees near the parking lot, and just had to put him on hold while I grabbed some photos of it. The last Dark-eyed Juncos I had seen were in Waterton Lakes National Park, back in the summer of 2010, so these were a very pleasant surprise!

Dark-eyed Junco

Thanks for reading!

Posted by Dan Arndt

Active feeding!

Jan21

While I was in Calgary over the holidays I took some photographs of feeding nuthatches and I thought I would share them with you so as to illustrate some of the effort that these little guys put into this common daily activity!

Cornell Lab of Ornithology describes the way nuthatches feed perfectly, ” an intense ball of energy “, is exactly what they are!

When they start hacking away, usually their legs are the only part of their bodies not moving!

Posted by Matthew Sim

Another Sharp-shinned Hawk

Jan18

Recently both Pat and Dan have posted about Sharp-shinned Hawks in their yard. Now it’s my turn. Last week we had our first ever accipiter in our SE Calgary yard, a juvenile Sharp-shinned Hawk that stopped here briefly.

It took me a while to figure out whether it was a Sharp-shinned or Cooper’s Hawk, but it actually is almost identical to the one Pat posted about here and here, and which was identified as a juvenile Sharp-shinned. The bird that Dan saw was an adult, and you can read about it here.

The hawk was followed by about forty Black-billed Magpies, but they didn’t mob it. While it sat on our fence, they just kept their distance in a nearby poplar. But when the hawk left, they followed.

About twenty of the magpies that were following the hawk.

Unlike Dan’s hawk, my bird didn’t take any of the hundred or so small birds that were around my feeders at the time. It just rested on the fence for three or four minutes, then flew off, and I haven’t seen it again.

Gus Yaki saw these pictures and said that he believes he has seen this same individual several times this autumn and winter in Fish Creek Park and along the Bow River. It is distinctive because of the prominent white tips to the back feathers, which is unusual in this species.

A view of the bird’s back, showing large white areas on the feather tips.

It was certainly exciting to see this bird, even if it was only for a few minutes, and it’s one more species for the yard list.

Posted by Bob Lefebvre

Birding at Bow Valley Ranch and Sikome Lake

Jan16

This week marked the first of thirteen weeks of the Friends of Fish Creek Provincial Park birding course. Since its inception in the mid 2000s, it has swelled from a course run twice a week, to six times a week; Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, and twice on Sunday. This marks my first attempt at leading one of these courses, with Bob Lefebvre and I leading the Sunday morning group. Unfortunately, Bob wasn’t able to make it out this week, and so Gus Yaki led the group on Saturday, as usual, and I tagged along to be an extra pair of eyes and ears to assist him, and Gus also led on Sunday, breaking in the new Sunday attendees with his expert wit, grace, and knowledge.

On both days, we began at Bow Valley Ranch, and then proceeded southward to Sikome Lake and Hull’s Wood. There we stopped briefly near the parking lot before heading first the site of a Great Horned Owl nest that’s been used regularly for a dozen or so years, then to the Bow River, before turning back and returning to the vehicles, then home. Once again, I logged the route taken and have mapped it in Google Earth, in case anyone would like to re-create the walk again in the future.

Bow Valley Ranch

Sikome Lake

At Bow Valley Ranch on Saturday, we spent about 45 minutes walking along the pathways, first stopping to find a pair of Great Horned Owls that were regular residents of the area.

Great Horned Owl

Great Horned Owl 2

We then stopped for a few minutes to watch for the Black-capped Chickadees and White-breasted Nuthatches that are all too familiar with what humans may have to offer them, and as such, came in nice and close for some very good views.

White-breasted Nuthatch

Just as we were about to head down to Sikome Lake, I heard the distinctive trill of White-winged Crossbills in flight, and so we spent some time trying to track them down. Unfortunately, they were on a mission, and continued on in short order, allowing only the briefest of views.

White-winged Crossbill

Sunday, on the other hand, was a much colder experience. We spent a little time trying to coax out the chickadees and nuthatches again, but they would have none of it. Instead, we searched around until once again, that old faithful pair of Great Horned Owls was found, and then headed southward shortly after.

Great Horned Owl

Saturday was a great day on the Bow River. At the Sikome Lake parking lot, we were greeted by Downy Woodpeckers and Black-capped Chickadees, once again looking for a handout. Sunday was similar, but once again, in smaller numbers.

Black-capped Chickadee

Downy Woodpecker

Another pair of Great Horned Owls are commonly found down here, and both Saturday and Sunday they did not disappoint. Saturday found them just east of their usual roost, atop a spruce tree near the main building at Sikome Lake, and Sunday found only one at that same building.

Great Horned Owl

East to the Bow River we trekked. On Saturday, our travels were interspersed with a view of some Northern Flicker, as well as a single Killdeer, before reaching the Bow River, flush with Canada Geese, Mallards, Common Mergansers, Buffleheads and Common Goldeneye. After viewing them for a while in vain search of a Cinnamon Teal that had been sighted earlier in the week, we packed up and headed home.

Canada Geese

Common Goldeneye

Buffleheads

Sunday though, we were trudging our way through the fresh snow only to be stopped by the gurgling trill of a nearby Bald Eagle. In fact, two of them were perched above a bend in the Bow River, though as our travels brought us closer, they flushed and headed northward.

Bald Eagle and Black-billed Magpies

Bufflehead in Flight

Common Mergansers

Common Goldeneye

Sunday also treated us to a view of an anomalous bird that had been spotted the previous day. A lone Lesser Scaup among the Canada Geese and Mallards near the Boat Launch at Hull’s Woods. After pausing to take a few photos and get a positive ID, we headed back to the vehicles.

Lesser Scaup

Lesser Scaup in flight

I am definitely looking forward to assisting in this course, as many of our Sunday birders are eager to learn as much as we can teach them about the birds of Calgary and area, and I also look forward to watching the seasons change back to spring and experiencing the full extent of spring migration here in the frozen north of Calgary!

I hope you enjoyed these photos as much as I enjoyed taking them, and look forward to a new year of learning about these incredible animals with you all!

Posted by Dan Arndt

Postcards from Texas: Vultures

Jan13

When large metropolis’ coincide with wildlife and nature, there is invariably accidents. These accidents usually end up with nature coming out on the losing end. Nature sometimes benefits as well though. Sometimes, nature can adapt to the hustle and bustle of human living and actually benefit and thrive from this. Such is the way with vultures.

The other day, I was walking along a bayou here in Houston when I spotted a black clump in the grass not too far ahead.

This clump was a group of black vultures, 6 in total, with 9 more hanging around in the surrounding area. This meant that they must have found a dead animal and that they were feasting on it. This animal was roadkill, an unfortunate victim of our hustling and bustling. As mentioned before though, some creatures, such as vultures, benefit from this. The black vultures didn’t stick around very long and as soon as they saw me they flew away.

The black vulture does not have as good scent as the Turkey Vulture and tends, therefore, to follow Turkey vultures to carcasses where they proceed to drive the Turkey Vultures away from the meal. As soon as the Black Vultures saw me and flew away, the Turkey Vultures came in for their share.

When they came in, I started to creep closer and closer, not only for a better look, but also out of curiosity of what roadkill they were eating. While I moved somewhat stealthily closer, one vulture unfurled it’s wings and gave me good looks at it’s impressive 1.8 meter wingspan.

That wingspan is roughly 5 feet, 11 inches, which is well over half a foot taller than I am! I continued to crawl in closer until I was incredibly close.

I then found out what it was the vultures were eating…

And it was…

An opossum, as you might be able to tell by the foot in this photo. I feel bad for the poor guy… Some interesting bird behavior to see though, especially the hierarchy of vultures, where Black Vultures are not as skilled but are instead big bullies, chasing away Turkey Vultures from the food that the latter found. I also took a photo in which I really saw why Turkey Vultures are called what they are

Doesn’t he just look like a turkey!?!

Posted by Matthew Sim

My not-so-Common Redpolls

Jan12

This topic has come up a lot this winter; all the wintering finches here this year. I am going to add on to this topic once again.

My yard in southeast Calgary has gathered a fairly respectable list; about 90 species of birds have visited it in the last 10 years. The Common Redpoll is on this list, having been seen in my yard once in 2009 for all of about 10 seconds. For whatever reason, my community is not favored by redpolls. This year, though, they were everywhere, including my yard.

On December 23, I had a redpoll in my yard for almost half an hour. And not only was it in my yard, but it visited my feeders as well.

We have been seeing so many finches this winter likely because it is an irruption year; a year when food sources (such as catkins and cone crops for finches and lemmings for Snowy Owls) are hard come by on these birds’ normal wintering grounds.

It’s neat for me to be able to see birds I don’t usually see in my backyard, such as the not-so-Common ( in my neighborhood) Redpoll.

Posted by Matthew Sim

The Scourge of the Feeder

Jan9

I’ve been dabbling in bird feeding since February of this year, and have had my ups and downs, but I’ve chalked it up to experience, and I think I’ve got it mostly figured out. I’ve also got a few ideas for feeders come springtime, such as an oriole feeder, and setting up some hanging baskets and a hummingbird feeder to try to lure some more colorful birds in.

While my yard list is nowhere near as impressive as that of Pat Bumstead, in the last year I’ve managed to lure in House Sparrows, a pair of Red-breasted Nuthatches, a pair of Downy Woodpeckers, a few Northern Flickers, the ever present Black-capped Chickadees, the odd House Finch or three, Black-billed Magpies, and of course, Rock Pigeons, which I’ve come to expect will regularly pick up the castoff seeds that the other birds throw onto the ground.

I live fairly close to downtown, and twice now I’ve been surprised to hear the sparrows, chickadees and magpies harassing something just outside, and the second time I heard it start up, I had my camera handy and was able to get outside and snap some shots.

In my research, I discovered that it’s not entirely uncommon or unheard of to find that a Sharp-shinned Hawk has taken down one of the birds at your feeder, and that in some cases they can stalk a feeder for days or weeks if it tends to be a reliable food source for them. Both times it appeared that it took down one of the House Sparrows, and each time it took nearly a week before my feeders were back to the numbers I’m used to seeing, so the birds probably have a decent memory for this sort of thing.

I often wonder how many other times birds have been taken at my feeders. Not only by these hawks, but by others, maybe Cooper’s Hawks, or even one of the neighborhood cats that I see wandering every once in a while.

The photos below are of one of these events. This Sharp-shinned Hawk took down a House Sparrow in one of the bushes next door, flew across the street with it, and then, as the Black-billed Magpies harassed it, it flew into the walkway between my house and my neighbor’s, allowing me to get close enough to watch it feeding. A warning though: some of these photos are fairly graphic, so if you’re averse to seeing “nature red in tooth and claw”, you may not want to look. Otherwise… enjoy?

Fresh kill

I do feel sorry for the little guy

After the initial kill, the Sharp-shinned Hawk flew across the street, where I was able to take these pictures from behind a parked car. The magpies harassed it until it flew back across the street, and into the walkway.

Here is the Sharpie taking a bit of a break before getting back to its meal

Dinner is served

A car pulled up on the street out front, once again disturbing the hawk from its meal. It hopped up on the fence to finish it off, but it wasn’t too long before the Black-billed Magpies found it and started harassing again.

Two Black-billed Magpies harass and scold the Sharp-shinned Hawk

This Magpie was the braver of the two, but seemed to be only a minor annoyance to the Sharpie.

The brave Magpie attempts a second, but ineffective, attack.

No matter. The Sharp-shinned Hawk finished its meal despite the annoyance, and flew off to the east. I wonder if I’ll see him again some time soon?

The Sharp-shinned Hawk finishes the last few bites of its meal.

Appearing quite satisfied with itself and its meal, the Sharp-shinned Hawk pauses for a photo before flying off.

Posted by Dan Arndt

Rare Bird Alert Calgary: Jan 6

Jan7

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, Jan 5.

Wednesday, JANUARY 4
–TOWNSEND’S SOLITAIRE (4) – Elbow River monthly survey by Gus Yaki and CFNS field trip
–RED-BELLIED WOODPECKER (1) – George Lane Park in High River by Jeff ____

Tuesday, JANUARY 3
–HOODED MERGANSER (1m) – Elliston Park in SE Calgary by Terry Korolyk and Bob Lefebvre
–NORTHERN PINTAIL (1m) – Ralph Klein Park in SE Calgary by TK
–KILLDEER (10) – 6 at Hull’s Wood, 1 at Bankside, 3 at Mallard Point,all in Fish Creek PP, by TK
–TOWNSEND’S SOLITAIRE (2) – Brittania subdivision in SW Calgary by Phil Cram
–RED CROSSBILL ( 25) – Britannia by PC

Monday, JANUARY 2
–LESSER SCAUP (1f, 1m) – Hwy 22x bridge over the Bow R by TK
–GREEN-WINGED TEAL (1f) – Mallard Point in Fish Creek PP by TK
–COMMON GOLDENEYE X BARROW’S GOLDENEYE (1m) – Policeman’s Flats, SE of Calgary off Dunbow Rd, by TK

Sunday, JANUARY 1
–KILLDEER (3) – Carburn Park by Jeff Bingham
The Fish Creek PP annual New Year’s Day Bird Count reported the following:
–REDHEAD (1)
–GADWALL (1)
–RED-TAILED HAWK (1)
–PRAIRIE FALCON (1) – Hwy 22x bridge over the Bow R
–KILLDEER (record 15)
–EURASIAN COLLARED-DOVE (1) – new for the count

19th Annual Fish Creek Park New Years Day Bird Count

Jan2

Last week I was asked by Bob Lefebvre if I would be interested in participating in the Christmas Bird Count for Fish Creek Provincial Park, and I immediately jumped at the chance. I always look forward to the walks in Fish Creek Provincial Park, and I was very glad to be grouped once again with Gus Yaki, Bob Lefebvre, along with 11 other participants to do the count in the Marshall Springs area of Fish Creek.

If you’re not familiar with the area, Marshall Springs is located between Bebo Grove and Votier’s Flats, on the west side of Fish Creek Park, just south of the Bow River. I started up the GPS on my phone and mapped out our walking route, to explain a bit more graphically the route we took. I’ll be experimenting with this format in future posts, so let me know how you like it!

Walking route taken through Marshall Springs

Starting at the parking lot to Bebo Grove, we trekked south through the woods, then crossed the river into the Marsall Springs area proper. On the whole, I didn’t end up taking as many photos as I would have liked to, mostly due to the relatively quiet morning we had in terms of both species present, and population. One of the first birds seen all morning was this Pine Grosbeak, along with one other, in the trees just north of the base of hill at the southern boundary of the park.

Pine Grosbeak

If there was any bird that I felt best described the walk though, I would have to say it was the Downy Woodpecker, the first of which we spotted shortly after the Pine Grosbeak, tap-tap-tapping away at the trees for some food.

Downy Woodpecker

Followed shortly by our first sighting of a Hairy Woodpecker, also searching for food under the bark of the poplars and birch.

Hairy Woodpecker

I don’t know whether it was the company, the conversation, or the lack of birds present, but most likely a combination of all three that found my next photos taken near the end of the walk, when this Pine Grosbeak called from a nearby treetop, and across the banks of Fish Creek this White-Tailed Deer grazed on the edge of the slope.

Pine Grosbeak

Mule Deer

We convened later with the larger group near the main office of Fish Creek Provincial Park to collaborate data and share any interesting finds. Our group though had a fairly small number of species and individuals, and aside from a large overflight of Bohemian Waxwings, we had less than 100 individual birds among 12 species in our count area, detailed below:

11 Downy Woodpecker

1 Hairy Woodpecker

45 Black-capped Chickadee

4 Red-breasted Nuthatch

1 White-breasted Nuthatch

2 Common Redpoll

2 White-winged Crossbill

100 Bohemian Waxwing

11 Common Raven

8 Black-billed Magpie

1 Brown Creeper

8 Pine Grosbeak

One bird did stand out from the crowd at the reporting though, which Bob and I went in search of shortly after. I leave you with a (relatively bad) photo of a rare Winter Red-tailed Hawk, seen on the east end of Fish Creek Park.

Red-tailed Hawk

Posted by Dan Arndt

Birds Calgary

A birding blog for Calgary, Alberta and area

Archives

Birds Calgary 2010 Competition Pages In New Location

Boreal Birds of the Weaselhead

Active feeding!

Another Sharp-shinned Hawk

Birding at Bow Valley Ranch and Sikome Lake

Postcards from Texas: Vultures

My not-so-Common Redpolls

The Scourge of the Feeder

Rare Bird Alert Calgary: Jan 6

19th Annual Fish Creek Park New Years Day Bird Count

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