Archives

Cowbird Catastrophe

Jul15

The Brown-headed Cowbird has become a menace to songbird populations all over North America. A small, stocky blackbird, the males have glossy black plumage and a rich brown head whereas the females are drab brown birds. What makes the Brown-headed Cowbird such a menace to songbirds is the lazy manner in which they raise their young.  Females will use all their energy over the breeding season to produce eggs, sometimes up to 50 a summer. They lay these eggs in the nests of unwary birds; usually at the cost of the smaller bird’s young. The young cowbirds usually hatch earlier than their foster parents chicks and therefore, get most of the food, which can ultimately lead to the death of the foster parent’s young. The Brown-headed Cowbird parasitizes more than 200 species of birds; the Chipping Sparrow being one of the most hard hit species.

In the above photo, there are 4 male cowbirds all looking up from my bird feeder at the arrival of a juvenile Grackle.

There is a history behind the cowbird’s parasitism. At one time, it followed the buffalo herds across the prairies, a nomad, and therefore could not raise its young, resorting to the help of unwitting songbirds. Following herds of buffalo, the Brown-headed cowbird’s range was limited to plains and prairies. Deforestation and forest fragmentation by humans, however, opened up the way for the cowbird and they started to parasitize more and more species. Due to deforestation, the cowbird has expanded significantly, both in range and in number and it now poses a threat to some species.

Several species, such as the Yellow Warbler, have developed defences against cowbird parasitism and recognize the cowbird egg. The female Yellow Warbler will make a roof over all the eggs, including her own, upon recognizing the cowbird egg. She will then lay her eggs again. Other birds will throw it out of the nest or abandon the nest all together.

This one species goes to show how much human actions can change the world around us.

Posted by Matthew Sim

Wednesday Wings: American Coot Family

Jul6

More fantastic photos sent to us by Rob English. If you’ve never seen baby American Coots, you’re in for a surprise. Click on images for a larger view, and enjoy!

Friday Fun!

Jul1

See if you can identify the bird in the photograph below; then let us know what you think by posting a comment.

The bird in this photograph is a large, noisy and conspicuous shorebird typical of the prairie sloughs. Do you know what it is? Let us know what you think in the comment section.

Posted by Matthew Sim

Backyard Birds: Yellow Warbler

Jun7

Have you seen a flash of yellow in your yard lately?

The Wood Warbler family is famous for their diversity in plumage, song, feeding and breeding biology. All of them are small birds with long, thin bills used for snapping up insects and larvae. Perhaps one of the easiest to identify is the Yellow Warbler, which has more yellow in its plumage than any other member of the family.

In spring breeding season, males have rusty streaks on the breast and flanks, a bright yellow face with conspicuous black eyes, and yellow upperparts. They are known to build another nest on top of an old one when Brown Cowbird eggs appear in it, which can result in up to six different layers.

Yellow Warblers can be seen around the city from mid May to mid September. These birds are widespread in most shrubby and second-growth habitats in North America, where they can be seen quickly hopping from branch to branch. This bird was busily flitting from the saskatoons and lilac shrubs to the poplar trees in my yard.

Posted by Pat Bumstead

Backyard Birds: Tufted Finches

May31

House Finches are the ‘new kids on the block’ in Alberta, and a favorite of many back yard bird watchers.

These colourful little birds were originally found only in the southwestern United States and Mexico. In the 1940’s a small number were imported to New York, in an attempt to sell them as caged birds called “Hollywood Finches.” The business venture failed, and the birds were released on Long Island. They quickly started breeding, and now the two populations have spread across almost all of the United States and southern Canada.

The first Alberta birds were reported from the mountains in the 1960s. Sightings expanded to Calgary in the early 1970s, but significant populations did not develop until the late 1990s. Now these melodic singers are found throughout the city.

House Finches have received a much warmer welcome than the introduced House Sparrows or European Starlings. People love the cheerful red head and breast of males, and their long, twittering song brightens up any rainy day. These birds have also managed to survive Canadian winters, and are common feeder birds throughout our cold months, bringing a welcome splash of colour to the yard.

Most of the males are red, but House Finches can also come in orange…


Or yellow…


And a few times a year, they come with tufts!

House Finches have two or more broods each year, and each clutch has 4 or 5 eggs. This not only explains why they have colonized the continent so quickly, it also accounts for the appearance of the tufted juvenile finches in my yard throughout the year. Most birds feed their young insects for the protein content, but House Finches feed their chicks vegetable matter and seeds. Backyard bird feeders with their regularly available seeds have also helped them conquer the continent.

It’s no wonder bird watchers like House Finches – they’re an ongoing challenge to identify. The female looks like a member of the sparrow family, the males come in a variety of bright colours depending on their diet, and the tufted juveniles look like a separate species altogether.

The Cornell Lab of Ornithology estimates the current House Finch population to be somewhere between 267 million and 1.4 billion individuals. It seems safe to say we will have these colourful singers in Calgary for the foreseeable future!

Posted by Pat Bumstead

Yellow House Finch Picture by Bob Lefebvre

Nature Calgary’s Big Day

May26

Update:  Results of the Big Day

The day started off well, but the weather gradually deteriorated, and by 4:30 in the afternoon, with cold driving rain, and after eleven hours of birding, we decided to stop.  The total for the group was 93 species.  I saw or heard 88 of them, so I’ll have to try another time to reach 100 species in a day.  Due to the weather we missed almost all shorebirds and warblers.

We went to the following locations:  Votier’s Flats, Bow Valley Ranch and Sikome, all in Fish Creek Park; Inglewood Bird Sanctuary; Elliston Park; Ponds one mile west of Shepard; Shepard; Shepard Slough (east of Shepard); a series of ponds south of highway 22X in the far SE; a pond just east of Spruce Meadows; the South shore of Glenmore Reservoir.  We didn’t go into the Weaselhead as planned.

Click here for the report, with a list of the species seen or heard, from Albertabird.

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How many species of birds do you think you could find within the city of Calgary in a single day?  The answer at this time of year is over 100.  This weekend there will be a great opportunity to see if you can do it.

Birders call this a “Big Day” – an attempt to identify as many species as possible in a twenty-four hour period.  This is often done as a competitive or fundraising activity, usually with teams of birders all trying to get the highest total.

For the past few years, Nature Calgary has offered a guided Big Day field trip every Victoria Day holiday.  It can be a long, hard day, especially in bad weather, but it is a great chance to see most of the bird species present in Calgary in the spring.  This year the trip is on Monday, May 23.  We will meet at Votier’s Flats in Fish Creek Park (at the south end of Elbow Drive SW) at 5:30 am.  From there, the leader, Tony Timmons, will guide us to several different habitats within the city over the course of the day.  Bring a  lunch, and be prepared for whatever weather we might get.

Last year, the group managed to find 111 species!  The highlight of the day was a Virginia Rail calling at a slough in SE Calgary.

Virginia Rail. Photo by Mike Baird, from Wikimedia Commons.

In 2009, in very cold, wet conditions, the total was 108 species.  The birds are out there, so come out on Monday and help us find them!  If you need more information, call the leader, Tony Timmons, at 403-256-0754.  Like all Nature Calgary field trips, it is free and open to all members of the public.

Posted by Bob Lefebvre

Bird Songs 101

May14

Ever heard that beautiful song coming from deep inside a dense bush, but don’t know what exactly is the source of that amazing sound?  You can check out this great site to help you match the song with the bird.

http://www.natureinstruct.org/dendroica/

The Blackpoll Warbler gives a very high-pitched song that can be inaudible at times.

Dendroica.com is a great site; whether you are a novice and just learning the songs, or you are a seasoned pro and brushing up for the spring migration. Photographs of the bird are provided on this site, as well as a description of the song or call and then the song itself. Once you have gotten familiar with the sounds, you can go out into the field with this newly-found or rediscovered knowledge, and be able to identify that beautiful song coming from deep inside the bush.

 

Posted by Matthew Sim

Backyard Birds: White-crowned Sparrows

May10

It’s a sure sign of spring in my yard when I see the White-crowned Sparrows are back.

A fairly large sparrow at 5 1/2-7″ (14-17 cm), White-crowns don’t fit the miscellaneous sparrow category of LBJ’s – little brown jobs – that are hard to distinguish from one another. These dapper little sparrows are always in bright white and black, and easy to identify.

The white crown has two black stripes, they have a black eye line (a line going to the back of the head from the eye), and a yellow-orange bill. They have white streaking on a brown back and wings, and their underparts are pale grey. Males and females look alike.

Small flocks of White-crowned sparrows pass through Calgary in late April to May, and then again in Sept-Oct. Their spring visits to our city are just a stopover for their trip to their breeding habitat in the northern boreal forest. They prefer open environments with shrubby meadows, alpine and willow shrubs, and build cup nests in shrubs or small conifers.

These sparrows are tireless singers, and are known to even sing under the light of a full moon.

Sparrows forage on the ground, usually in fairly open areas, and fly up into a small tree or hedge when flushed. We have a dedicated bird area at the back of our yard, and spillage from the hanging bird feeders provides an excellent sparrow feeding ground. Like other sparrows, the hyperactive White-crowns make quick jumping back and forth movements, scratching the ground to expose insects and seeds.

If you have White-crowned Sparrows in your yard right now, enjoy them while you can. They won’t be here for long, and then we’ll have to wait for their re-appearance in the fall.

By the way, the bird singing in the video background is a Ruby-crowned Kinglet, which I’m still attempting to capture with my camera.

Posted by Pat Bumstead

Must-see birds: May

May1

May is a great month for birds here; plenty of migrants, warming weather and leafless trees combine to make this month arguably one of the best months to see birds in the Calgary region. These factors therefore make it extremely hard to make a decision on just 5 birds to make the cut; but it had to be done, so here they are.

1. Horned Grebe    

The Horned Grebe is a small, attractive grebe, a family of aquatic birds seldom seen on land or in flight. The Horned Grebe has a chestnut neck and flanks while its black head is topped with contrasting golden horns. A beautiful bird, the Horned Grebe qualifies easily for the month of May. The Horned Grebe does not breed in Calgary but as it passes through, up to mid-May, you can try to see one at Elliston Park or the Glenmore Reservoir.

2. Black-necked Stilt

A large shorebird that is an erratic and local breeder here in southern Alberta, the Black-necked Stilt has very contrasting colors; black upper parts, white underparts and  very long, geranium-red legs. Its long, slender bill is always probing for food as its sharp eyes scan for both food and danger. This Stilt can be seen in wet pastures and on the grassy shorelines of shallow water, especially where there are plenty of mudflats. The stilt was virtually unknown in Alberta until 1994, but now, you can try to find it at places like Shepard Slough, Chestermere Lake and Weed Lake, Chestermere and Weed Lake being outside of the city.

Image courtesy Wikipedia

 3. Western Tanager

The male Western Tanager is a very striking bird, easily making it on our list, with a bright red head, black wings, back and tail and his canary yellow neck, rump and underparts. The Western Tanager eats insects and fruits and feeds among bushes and trees, also hawking insects from the air occasionally. The tanager’s main habitat are boreal and montane forests; often being found in coniferous and mixed wood areas. The Tanager does come through Calgary on migration; I had one in my mountain ash in May of 2009. The best places to see this amazing bird are the north end of Weaselhead and the west end of Fish Creek Provincial Park.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     

 4. American Avocet

A handsome and showy shorebird that can often be seen foraging in shallow water or on the barren mud flats along the edges of lakes. A light cinnamon color adorns the Avocet’s head and neck in the breeding season with the rest of its plumage being black and white. These birds start converging in large flocks in central Alberta usually in early May and can be seen best at locations like Shepard Slough and Frank Lake.

5. Yellow Warbler

The male Yellow Warbler is a brilliant yellow with olive-green wings and reddish breast streaks. This is a common bird and has a wide distribution throughout the province, thanks to its ability to nest in a large variety of areas. The female is similarly colored, but is more green above and drabber below. The male, despite his bright colors, is surprisingly well camouflaged and is best seen when the trees still lack their leaves. The Yellow Warbler arrives in Mid-May and is found in river valleys and wooded urban areas; Inglewood Bird Sanctuary is a good place to find this warbler.

See if you can find all 5 birds for the month of may; and then let us know about it!!!

Backyard Birds: Common Redpoll

Apr5

An abundant breeding bird of the boreal forest, the Common Redpoll is seen in Calgary primarily in the winter. Even then, it generally occurs during cyclical irruptions, when flocks of seed eaters occasionally leave the forest and move south.

Redpolls are about 5″ high, and have a bright red forehead and a black chin. This little flock of four birds that visited last week are either juveniles or females, as the males have a pink breast. Very rarely, you may see a Hoary Redpoll, which is a very similar species that has lighter streaking on the flanks, and a stubbier bill.

These tiny members of the finch family move through our area in early October and late April. They often travel in mixed flocks with other finches such as the Pine Siskin or House Finch. In my yard they all prefer the sunflower chips to the niger seed feeders.

Posted by Pat Bumstead